Eyes Like the Sea

by Mór Jókai, Robert Nisbet Bain (Translator)

Excerpt: ...used to address me in this way, the man who taught me my r

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Romance

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Mór Jókai, born Móric Jókay de Ásva, outside Hungary also known as Maurus Jokai or Moriz Jokai, was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. He was born in Komárom, the Kingdom of Hungary (today Komárno, Slovakia, southern part remains in Hungary).

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This exciting story kept me close to my iPad and headphones for several days. An understanding of Hungarian history and language (which I have not) would make the story more enjoyable, I think. The story is told in a series of flashbacks. Much of the narrative takes place during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, so politics and military history are significant elements in the plot. The characters really came alive for me. The descriptions of people and places are superb. The ending was the cherry on top!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book the summer of 2023, in the midst of my journey to become a Hungarian citizen. THis book was such an absolute joy for someone working hard to get back to their roots. As it is a semi autobiographical book of Jókai Mór's life, there was SO much information on hungarian literature, history, life, and even language. I was so tickled that I understood and heartily laughed at the Wenceslaus Kvatopil's attempt to speak Magyar:

"No! no! En akarom magyarul beszélni"—and at the same time he made as though he were ducking the head of a refractory urchin in a basin of soapsuds.

"Akarok," I good-humouredly corrected him.

"No! no! Akarok is the indefinite mood, akarom the definite mood; and I want to speak Hungarian definitely."

I was forced to acknowledge to myself that his logic was stronger than his grammar.

LOLLLLLLLLzzzzz

Bessy goes down as one of my favorite heroine's of all time. As she stated herself: "The whole world condemns and tramples upon me, and yet I have offended nobody, not even in thought." She did EVERYTHING possible to survive, and in an often entertaining fashion.

Overall it was a story of the Hungarian people. That country really has had such a tumultuous history and is filled with so many resilient people.

I now leave you with with a quote that so perfectly describes the human struggle:

"When a man has such brilliant hopes, want is no affliction. It will be over soon, he thinks. But to enter upon misery with the knowledge that it will last till death, is beyond the power of resignation."

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many themes throughout this novel startles the reader into a different world....where freedom is cherished but rare, honor and virtue are valued greatly....where one's very survival depends on being alert, vigilant and brave in the face of overwhelming odds....both physical and spiritual.

[Donna Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because I usually don’t really enjoy old literature. I enjoyed this book a lot! The main characters seem fated to be together, but... anyhow, spoils. I enjoyed it.

[LindaMoctez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I found it by pure chance, searching for Hungarian literature as I had just been to Budapest and fell in love with it. Turns out that Mór Jókai is a legend in literature, and a revolutionary as well! He was amazingly prolific, and for this book, the writer won the Academy's prize in 1898. This tale of a beautiful, strong, driven woman, abandoning her aristocratic chains and exploring her sexuality, her ideals and her devotions, is deeply inspiring, mainly because it was written so close to the time during in which it is set, pre and post revolutionary Hungary. I will offer no spoilers as I hope anyone reading this review will read the book and be as moved as I was by the characters who move through this largely unknown piece of turbulent and enlightening history.

[Massimo Gioffre · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very interesting and fascinating. The world is full of stories worth telling.

[Harry Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

(‘You have a rich aunt at Ó Gyalla, and you’ve only got to say a word to her and she’ll get your book printed for you. I suppose you’ve only got to ask her?’

‘I shall not tell my rich aunt a word about it.’

‘Then you’ll get your book printed at Fani Weinmüller’s, I suppose. Now listen, that won’t do at all. I know an author who published his own book and went from village to village, and persuaded every landed proprietor to buy a copy from him. That is a rugged path.’

‘My romance will not be one of those which the author himself has to carry from door to door; it will be one of those for which the publisher pays the author an honorarium.’

She absolutely laughed in my face.

[pp. 25-26 of 1894 edition])

Is Bessy, whose Eyes are Like the Sea, a feminist hero or a flighty ditz? Herein may be discerned the opinion of her delineator:

I could not help laying my hand on hers. What true, what noble sentiments were slumbering in that heart! If only she had some one to awaken them! What an excellent lady might have been made out of this woman, if she had only met with a husband who, in the most ordinary acceptance of the word, had been a good fellow, as is really the case with about nine men out of every ten. Why should she have always managed to draw the unlucky tenth out of the urn of destiny? (p. 353)

Female nobility, then, is a potential, to be unlocked by a man. This system hardly admits of female agency, but at least Bessy is no femme fatale: She is not a bad thing that happens to men but a person to whom bad men happen. (Women acting through men is a common sight in another of Jokai’s works, Midst the Wild Carpathians.)

Of course, it’s all very beautiful and sad:

‘You do not know me. A man might make a she-devil of me, though he built a temple in my name straight off, enshrined me on the altar, and knelt down before me. But he whom I truly loved might make an angel of me. I could be happy anywhere: in a shepherd’s hut, a strolling player’s tent, at a soldier’s bivouac, in a schoolmaster’s clay cabin. I would dream of luxury on my bed of straw.’

And with that, she threw herself at full length on my bare sofa, and clasped her hands above her head.

(pp. 37-38)

[BookMoth Bab · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ez lehetett akkor. Én is próbáltam hasonlót. De az egészen más. Mikor az embernek olyan fényes reményei vannak, akkor nem fáj a nélkülözés; azt hisszük majd vége lesz.De megkezdeni a nyomrot azzak a tudttal, hogy ez így tart majd holtig -- ilyen lemondás nincs. Kivált asszonynál!"

Egy nagyrészt anekdoták sorozatában elmesélt történet állít elénk Jókai, mely bár sok szálat magában hordoz, végérvényben a tragikus hősnő, Erzsike életét mutatja be. A műben az író és egyben elbeszélő jelentős mennyiségű életrajzi eleme jelenik meg, ami hitelességet kölcsönöz a történetnek. Eredményképpen az olvasó tényleg hiheti, hogy két hús-vér ember életét követjük nyomon, az ő örömüket, bár nagyrészt inkább szenvedésüket.

Az eddig olvasott Jókai könyveim közül A tengerszemű hölgy-ben mutatkozott meg leginkább az író fantasztikus mesélő képessége, választékos nyelvhasználatát. Érdekes volt megfigyelni a párhúzamokat, jobban mondva kölcsönzött elemeket korábbi munkáiból, a Boldogság Szigete az Aranyemberből itt az a kis komáromi sziget a fagunyhóval, A kőszívű ember fiai első fejezetéből a farkasok átvágtáztak eme könyv oldalaira és korcsolyák híjján utolérték prédáikat, és Erzsike bátorságot meghazudtoló futári küldetése a Szabadság a hó alatt nő alakjaira emlékeztett.

A történet egy része az 1848-49-es forradalom alatt zajlik és az ezen részekben megfogalmazott ideálok honvágyat ébreszettek bennem egy kor utána amiben nem volt szerencsém, se szerencsétlenségem élni.

Összeségében egy feletébb érdekes olvasói élmény volt számomra A tengerszemű hölgy és bizonyára nem az utolsó Jókai, amit lesz szerencsém olvasni.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our heroine had Eyes Like the Sea. She could have had our hero, who is the author himself. He, unfortunately, didn’t have money and fame was well down the road. So, unfortunately, she has a bunch of other guys. Fortunately, for the book, our heroine wanders back into our hero’s life for various platonic reasons, so that she can tell us all about her adventures with them.

Bad girl fiction from the 19th century can be surprisingly fun. Since this heroine has a wisecracking wit to go with the eyes men often can’t get past, she’s pretty good at navigating all the situations a gal can get into in the midst of an unsuccessful revolution. This isn’t really comedy, but there is a lot of humor and what appears to be grudging respect from the author.

[Walter Rison]

79: P4
They will say: “Will we be restored to our original state once we are crumbled bones?”
They say: “That would then be a losing proposition!”

[Saadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. The heroine is everything she should be, smart, brave, kind, audacious. The narrator is a well fleshed out character, and with a spine, based on the writer himself. Both propel the story forward and the novel is less focused on internal monologues and long descriptions of mannerisms like many English novels of the time. The novel is an interesting look into Hungary in the 1800s, and the politics of the time. I'm so glad this was translated to English. Blows some of the more famous English novels of the time out of the water for me.

[Elena Druță · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felul în care este portretizată Bessie, subiectivismul scriitorului, cât și imaginile pitorești, evenimentele triste, revoluția, moartea, viața și dragostea, toate aceste elemente au format un roman inedit, captivant, în care până la final dragostea este cel mai important lucru din inima doamnei cu ochii marini.