Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Door” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Door

Magda Szabó,

Len Rix (Translator)

4.07 · Rating details · 17,051 ratings · 2,308 reviews

A busy young writer struggling to cope with domestic chores, hires a housekeeper recommended by a friend. The housekeeper's reputation is one built on dependable efficiency, though she is something of an oddity. Stubborn, foul-mouthed and with a flagrant disregard for her employer's opinions she may even be crazy. She allows no-one to set foot inside her house; she masks h ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 262 pages

Published October 20th 2005 by Harvill Press (first published 1987)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Door, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

20th Century Hungarian Literature

134 books — 178 voters

Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie by Ágota Kristóf

Women Writers from Central & Eastern Europe in English Translation

216 books — 105 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.07 ·

Rating details

· 17,051 ratings · 2,308 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Door

May 09, 2012 Kalliope rated it it was amazing

Shelves: international-lit, austro-hungary, fiction-english, eastern-europe

How on earth could the telling of the life and character of an aged Hungarian cleaning lady feel so eerily uncanny?

Because, do not be mistaken, this is not a mystery book. This is a novel about the relationship between two women: an illiterate servant and her considerably younger employer, a writer. The latter narrates the story, which is set in Hungary around the 1960s-80s.

So, how could this be such a memorable story? Magda Szabo (1917-2007) proves in The Door to be an astounding writer. Af
How on earth could the telling of the life and character of an aged Hungarian cleaning lady feel so eerily uncanny?

Because, do not be mistaken, this is not a mystery book. This is a novel about the relationship between two women: an illiterate servant and her considerably younger employer, a writer. The latter narrates the story, which is set in Hungary around the 1960s-80s.

So, how could this be such a memorable story? Magda Szabo (1917-2007) proves in The Door to be an astounding writer. After a gripping beginning, she then takes us through a very intense, scary, and magical unfolding of the tale. Szabo draws her brushstrokes regularly, building up the suspense, or may be peeling off the many veils that cover reality.

What emerges is the extraordinary and colossally strong personality of Emerence, the servant. She is an atavistic force that communicates with animals like no other person can, and who has a magnetic power and physical strength to attract or banish or condemn those beings around her according to her beliefs, moods and whims.

In contrast, the other woman --the “woman writer”-- as narrator seems subjected to the will of the strong elderly servant. The unbalance in strength is found also in the way the book focuses our view. If the name of Emerence is introduced at the very beginning of the book, the name of the “woman writer”, Magdchen, which is also Szabo’s name, is only mentioned, in passing, towards the end. The writer and creator becomes the anonymous observer, the “woman writer” in the story.

But is she just an observer? Is she really subjected to Emerence’s forces? For, as she tells us, at the very beginning: “ I killed Emerence…” And this chilling start prompts the telling of the story that led to this, the relationship between two beings that The Door separates. This ambiguity on who is acting on whom makes me think of this book as a meditation on subjectivity.

The Door was published in Hungary in 1987 and has been translated by Len Rix, winning him the prestigious Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 2006. This is my first book by Magda Szabo and would like to read more. Unfortunately very little has been translated.

Now I will wait until Istvan Sazbo’s 2012 film version, with Helen Mirren as Emerence is shown in a cinema near me…!!!
...more

flag 260 likes · Like · see review

Dec 22, 2018 Glenn Russell added it · review of another edition

Magda Szabó's The Door - an intense story, a haunting story, a fiercely compelling story of the relationship between two women living in a Hungarian village: Magda, a married writer and Emerence, a mysterious housekeeper possessing qualities of epic proportions. To my eye the above portrait by Hungarian born artist Csaba Markus captures what Emerence must have looked like as a younger woman.

Critical responses to The Door have been dramatic in the extreme: Ali Smith: "a story of such savagery th ...more

flag 200 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2017 Brina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 500-great-books-women, fiction, biography

The Door by Magda Szabo is a fictionalized autobiography of the author's relationship with her octogenarian housekeeper named Emerence Szerebas. A goodreads friend from Hungary recommended this novel to me because she sees that I enjoy reading women authors from around the globe. Szabo wrote many prize winning novels during the course of her career, including both this book and the one depicted in it. During the course of this award winning novel, the readers experience post life in post Holocau The Door by Magda Szabo is a fictionalized autobiography of the author's relationship with her octogenarian housekeeper named Emerence Szerebas. A goodreads friend from Hungary recommended this novel to me because she sees that I enjoy reading women authors from around the globe. Szabo wrote many prize winning novels during the course of her career, including both this book and the one depicted in it. During the course of this award winning novel, the readers experience post life in post Holocaust Hungary as well as the baggage that survivors carry with them. It is in this regard that we meet Emerence and the door barring people from her physical and emotional lives.

Magda and her husband are in need of a housekeeper as they are both too busy with their writing lives to care for their apartment on their own. Friends and acquaintances tell them that an older woman is to be better trusted than a young woman who might spill and break things. A caretaker of a villa down the street, Emerence is recommended to them. A countrywoman from the twin towns of Csabadul-Nadori, Emerence carries a lifetime of grief with her as she takes on cleaning job after cleaning job. Even though she works for Magda for over twenty years and appears to be ageless, the writer does not see through the door to the peasant's soul until near the end of their relationship.

Orphaned by age thirteen and responsible for the death of her twin siblings, Emerence is sent to Budapest to work as a governess and housekeeper. First employed by the Grossman family, she is entrusted to care for their daughter Eva as her own as the parents escape to the west for the duration of the Holocaust. No questions asked, her family sees nothing but Emerence's shame, yet the Grossmans repay her generously for her selflessness. Emerence as we later find out would have done this act of kindness without expecting anything in return. As a result, she hides her treasure deep inside her new apartment, never to show anyone inside the door to her secrets.

By the time Emerence goes to work for Magda and her husband, nine rescued cats are her only companions and she cares for them as others would care for babies. Despite the grief and despair occurred over a lifetime, Emerence has accumulated a neighborhood of admirers who see nothing but the Emerence who sweeps the streets, maintains an apartment building, and cares for others in their homes, including Magda. Even her nephew does not know her secrets until later. Emerence and Magda develop a deep relationship that is not fully realized until the end, including the shared caring for a dog named Viola who comes to see both women as her owners. Even though Magda is seen as self absorbed and Emerence as cold, over the course of the novel I came to deeply admire the two women as did the people who lived in their neighborhood.

It takes courage to write about oneself in less than a positive light, yet Szabo does this in The Door. Developing a trusting and loving relationship over many years between two unlikely people, readers enter through the figurative doorway to the protagonists' souls. Reading about the grief during post Holocaust Hungary was gut wrenching at times, and selfless people like Emerence should be lauded for their actions. This novel is not for everyone, especially not people in search of happy characters. Yet, The Door is an introspective novel that I enjoyed reading because I somehow could connect with the protagonists despite their at times cold dispositions. A award winning novel, I rate The Door 4 quality stars. ...more

flag 141 likes · Like · see review

Dec 24, 2015 Candi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: european-literature

"I know now, what I didn't then, that affection can't always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else."

What an unusual sort of book and a very peculiar relationship examined therein between Magda, the narrator of The Door, and her housekeeper, Emerence. This novel really grabs you from the start – right away the reader knows that there is some mystery surrounding these two disparate women. Magda is a writer, privileged "I know now, what I didn't then, that affection can't always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else."

What an unusual sort of book and a very peculiar relationship examined therein between Magda, the narrator of The Door, and her housekeeper, Emerence. This novel really grabs you from the start – right away the reader knows that there is some mystery surrounding these two disparate women. Magda is a writer, privileged and becoming something of a public figure in her home country of Hungary. Emerence is uneducated, hard-working and tireless. The difference in social class between these two would certainly seem to preclude them from establishing a friendship, and yet over time they do just that. Yet, their relationship raises many questions about the various nuances that exist within a friendship. What do each owe the other in this relationship? Emerence's life is a swarm of secrets and plenty of hearsay about her background seems to be shared amongst the members of her community. The symbolic meaning of the title The Door is shared with both Emerence's physical door to her home - "No-one had ever seen Emerence's door standing open… Guests were never invited in, and she took it very badly if anyone unexpectedly called her to come out" as well as the barrier she creates to her inner self. Still, she shares of herself in so many other ways – shoveling the snow from walkways up and down her street, providing food for the sick, giving odd gifts of treasures that others may consider junk, and sheltering homeless animals. She asks nothing in return except the respect of her privacy. Magda struggles with this as she yearns to learn this woman's deepest secrets. Emerence is privy to Magda and her husband's "dirty linen", yet Magda knows very little about this woman that she allows into her home every day. As time goes by, however, the various layers of Emerence are peeled back for Magda's eyes only and we, as readers, slowly learn about this eccentric as well.

While I enjoyed the slow reveal of Emerence's character, I still could not truly become attached to her. Her manner was harsh and any bond with her was nothing short of volatile. While she appeared to be non-judgmental and magnanimous in her treatment of humanity at large, I found her to be just the opposite with those that were the closest to her, including both Magda and even the dog, Viola. I know people like this and despite their goodness I still cannot reconcile myself to those traits that seem almost mentally abusive. Emerence detests those that work with their minds rather than their hands and she was not afraid to point this out to Magda – "You think there'll always be someone to cook and clean for you, a plate full of food, paper to scribble on, the master to love you; and everyone will live for eternity, like a fairy tale; and the only problem you might encounter is bad things written about you in the papers, which I'm sure is a terrible disgrace, but then why did you choose such a low trade, where any bandit can pour shit over you? God knows how you got yourself a name. You're not very bright, and you know nothing about people." No matter how charitable a person, what gives them the right to speak in this way to another human being? Especially one they call a friend. If Magda is expected to accept Emerence as she is, then should not the reverse be true? Should Emerence not dole out the same respect? Yet Magda wants to please Emerence and be worthy of her love – almost in the same way as Viola the dog would do anything for her true master, Emerence.

In the end, will Magda stand by Emerence and do right by her? Magda could become a bit watered down at times and play the role of an escapist. But yet, in a friendship, what matters the most – that we do exactly as our friend wishes us to do even if it goes against everything we believe in? If we are the guardians of the door, do we have the right to open that door for others to see what has been entrusted only to us if we believe that this is the correct choice of action? How to preserve the dignity of another human being is a question with no clear answer, but one which we all may need to consider at some time. This was a thought-provoking book which I found quite different from any I have read thus far. I was not really a fan of either of the main characters, and since this was character-driven this was a point that took away from my enjoyment just a bit. Definitely a book worthy of discussion and for that I have given it 3.5 stars.
...more

flag 97 likes · Like · see review

Apr 02, 2019 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookgroup

The main character of this story, the woman whose front door provides the title, is called Emerence.
Every time her name was mentioned, I automatically put a 'g' in it and read it as 'Emergence' which turned out to be quite fitting because the aspect of the writing that struck me most was the pacing: the way the story emerged little by little. Author Magda Szabó keeps a tight control over the narrative, allowing details to take on clarity very gradually as when a piece of photographic paper lyin The main character of this story, the woman whose front door provides the title, is called Emerence.
Every time her name was mentioned, I automatically put a 'g' in it and read it as 'Emergence' which turned out to be quite fitting because the aspect of the writing that struck me most was the pacing: the way the story emerged little by little. Author Magda Szabó keeps a tight control over the narrative, allowing details to take on clarity very gradually as when a piece of photographic paper lying in a chemical bath slowly reveals the image that has been projected onto it.

Using such an old fashioned simile is fitting too because most of this story is set long before digital photography. The present day of the narrative is communist Hungary in the nineteen sixties to eighties, but the backstory takes place much earlier, between WWI and WWII. However, viewed from the vantage point of the narrator (also called Magda, and also a writer), who is firmly ensconced in the more modern and less oppressive half of the twentieth century, the backstory initially is only a vague shadow. And in spite of briefly revealing the end of the story at the beginning, Magda narrates from the position of the reader as regards how the story will play out, i.e., she acts as if she were completely in the dark (quite a neat trick given she resembles the author so closely).

So, while we know that she knows everything, we are lulled into thinking she knows nothing — which is convenient because otherwise it would be difficult to accept how awkwardly she behaves at crucial moments in the story as she bungles things again and again, trying our patience quite a bit. But it is such moments that allow the character of Emerence to be further developed, and so Magda's foolishness serves the author's purpose perfectly.

Magda's bungling is another way in which she mirrors the reader. Like her, we are inclined to underestimate Emerence during the course of the story. But our underestimation gets a serious jolt when the full picture emerges at last.
Because, yes, this story is one of very gradual Emergence — until finally it speeds up and races towards a situation of major major Emergency! The narrator and the reader follow along as well as we are able.

A very allegorical story which throws new light onto the history of Hungary in the 20th century, for this reader at least. ...more

flag 95 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2014 Garima rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-2-cents, favorites, no-kidding, its-not-you-its-meta-or-gfhrytyt

I still don't know how she fitted so much living into one life.

Hope and despair go hand in hand whenever I try to form a rather fragmentary sketch of a far-off Hungarian landscape. It is one place which has become an essential part of my past as well as prospective literary sojourns and whenever I decide to visit there, to meet another storyteller and to hear one more hypnotic tale, there’s always a throbbing anticipation to receive a treasured souvenir made out of unfamiliar lives but exceptio I still don't know how she fitted so much living into one life.

Hope and despair go hand in hand whenever I try to form a rather fragmentary sketch of a far-off Hungarian landscape. It is one place which has become an essential part of my past as well as prospective literary sojourns and whenever I decide to visit there, to meet another storyteller and to hear one more hypnotic tale, there’s always a throbbing anticipation to receive a treasured souvenir made out of unfamiliar lives but exceptional words. And this time, when I found myself standing in front of Emerence’s door, without knocking; patiently waiting on her front porch while listening to her dearest companion, Magda Szabó, I was lucky to witness the masterful weaving of my parting present.

I didn't like my own secrets. I liked other people's even less.

There was something about Emerence. From the outset, her enigmatic persona heightened the curiosity in me and the conjectures which followed were all kinds of strange to silly. I was baffled, moved, scared and eventually relieved. My idea of hell was getting replaced by a more sinister one and my idea of paradise was becoming more dazzling. The bewitching narration was doing the whole trick, which was a cross between a guileless confession and a virtuous revelation. Our narrator, a writer by profession had to have a constant exposure to fiction, as a result of which she allowed herself carefully monitored doses of reality. But soon enough she needed help. A domestic help in the worldly sense but something which carried a lot more than the stipulated deal.

How irrational, how unpredictable is the attraction between people, how fatal its current.

How fatal indeed. When people become too familiar with one’s surroundings and abide by an invisible but existent code of conduct, then something comes forth to shake the status quo. Emerence, a headstrong, self-reliant lady had little but rigid demands from the world around her. A giver more than a taker, she always knew what really matters. Of all this, the door of her home and whatever it concealed was part of her prized possessions. To unlock that wooden door, it was necessary to find the key to Emerence’s heart first. It was as simple and as complicated as that. A synonym for “Vulnerability’ can easily be depicted as ‘that one person’ and for Emerence, that person was her employer, our narrator. Among engaging discourses and occasional dialogues, a relationship of a lifetime flourished between two people which followed itself to the heavenly realms of death.

With the charm of a legend, the credibility of everyday life and the sanctity of a heartfelt writing, this book made me see another glorious aspect of Hungarian world. I’ll soon visit there again.
...more

flag 87 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2020 Zoeytron rated it really liked it

Shelves: public-library

This book has a timbre, a tone that is haunting. I will not be forgetting the character of Emerence anytime soon. An older woman, she acts as housekeeper for a lady writer and the writer's husband. Odd-turned and enigmatic, harsh and opinionated, Emerence is a workhorse. The 20 year relationship between the two woman is fascinating, charming, and sad. The story of Emerence's life slowly comes together, pieced together like an intricate mosaic. There are myriad meanings behind the title. ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2012 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

I found the atmosphere of this novel to be full of darkness and despair. The friendship between two woman, one an up and coming author, the other an older woman revered on the street. Emerence is a character I will not soon forget, a woman who has seen much, sheltered unbiasedly different people throughout the war, a hardworking woman of the utmost honor and pride.

The title has many different meanings in this book, the literal door and other doors, internal and psychological. This book raised s ...more

flag 76 likes · Like · see review

Aug 30, 2019 Marchpane rated it really liked it

Shelves: women-in-translation

Two complicated women clash in Communist-era Hungary in Magda Szabó’s unsettling character study, The Door .

The narrator is a successful author, a cultured intellectual whose “family goes back to the Árpáds”. This novel is her extended confession; in the opening pages she admits: “I killed Emerence”.

Emerence is brusque, sturdy, freakishly strong, her hair always bescarfed. The indefatigable peasant worker, she seems straight out of a Soviet-era propaganda poster. Her long hard life, tumultuo Two complicated women clash in Communist-era Hungary in Magda Szabó’s unsettling character study, The Door .

The narrator is a successful author, a cultured intellectual whose “family goes back to the Árpáds”. This novel is her extended confession; in the opening pages she admits: “I killed Emerence”.

Emerence is brusque, sturdy, freakishly strong, her hair always bescarfed. The indefatigable peasant worker, she seems straight out of a Soviet-era propaganda poster. Her long hard life, tumultuous and frequently blighted by terrible violence, makes her a symbol of 20th century Hungary itself.

These two women form a mutual love/hate co-dependent bond, lasting decades. These two need each other but both are capable of wilful blindness and shocking cruelty.

It is difficult to think of other novels with two such complicated & unlikeable female antagonists (Notes on a Scandal comes to mind, but what else?). The Door subverts all our expectations of how this narrative might resolve itself: in the conventional, Hollywood-friendly version, these two prickly women would eventually come to a cosy understanding, there would be redemptive ending involving mutual admiration, respect and affection. A darker version would perhaps culminate in mutual destruction. Szabó rejects both of these paths in favour of something more morally complex, even ambivalent, but which involves a tragic betrayal nonetheless.

There is something profoundly uncomfortable about reading this book. It could be the nagging feeling that it is entirely autobiographical, and that Szabó is exposing herself as a deeply flawed person. The narrator (referred to by name only once, very late in the book, as ‘Magdushka’), behaves reprehensibly. Emerence too, is capable of callous viciousness, although the trauma she’s experienced over her long life does incline the reader more towards forgiveness in her case.

It’s hard to come away from this novel knowing quite how to feel about it. It is a scathing indictment of … something. Entrenched class privilege? Our tendency to pursue personal advancement at the expense of compassion and connection? The Door is abrasive, perplexing, it raises questions that gnaw at you, and it doesn’t quite let you go. ...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2017 Margitte rated it really liked it

Shelves: biographical-fiction, reviewed, 2017-read, drama, fiction, hungaria

In modern postwar Hungary, an old woman who is now a famous author recalls a nightmare: herself as a young woman. The novel begins after she has passed through a “politically frozen” time and started to be able to write again and to be publicly lauded for it. She and her husband move up a step on the social ladder. They hire an old woman, Emerence, as a servant. Or is it the other way round? “I don’t wash just anyone’s dirty linen,” Emerence says, coming to see their flat in her “ceremonial”

...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2013 Praj rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hsk

Johannes Brahms can make autumn leaves dance in one of nature’s most graceful circle. The chill in the air was about to birth the season’s very first snowflake. The clatter of rusty shovels being removed equated to the asinine banters of old women gossiping on the porch. After the death of its final leaf, the trees lay barren like a country that had abruptly lost its people. There were no birds to be seen, yet I heard them chirp a summer song. The fervent barking of a mongrel was followed by a p ...more

flag 69 likes · Like · see review

Oct 31, 2016 Dem rated it it was ok

Shelves: bookclub-reads

Magda Szabo really makes the reader work hard with this book and I for one found the characters and the story unconvincing

The Door is a novel by Hungarian writer Magda Szabo. The novel documents two decades of life in Budapest after the Communist takeover in 1948, The novel tells the story of a developing and complicated relationship between a young Hungarian Writer and her housekeeper and is partly autobiographical.

Having visited Hungary only last year I was up to date on the history and was g ...more

flag 68 likes · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2016 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016, translation, literary-fiction, hungary

An uncomfortable look at the barriers that we put up to protect ourselves, and the price that is paid for that self protection. Does it ever really work?

Magda Szabo wrote this in the original Hungarian in 1987, but it is now translated and available in English. It tells the story of the relationship between two women: Magda, a writer, living with her husband, and Emerence, an older peasant woman who is hired as her housekeeper. Both women come from vastly different backgrounds. Emerence is an al An uncomfortable look at the barriers that we put up to protect ourselves, and the price that is paid for that self protection. Does it ever really work?

Magda Szabo wrote this in the original Hungarian in 1987, but it is now translated and available in English. It tells the story of the relationship between two women: Magda, a writer, living with her husband, and Emerence, an older peasant woman who is hired as her housekeeper. Both women come from vastly different backgrounds. Emerence is an almost unknowable, unstoppable force, who for some reason, Magda is obsessed with understanding and gaining her trust. Slowly, and often very painfully, Emerence opens up, showing glimpses into her life's story, showing vulnerability that she normally cloaks. She also puts Magda and her husband through the ringer many times with her very unorthodox behaviour and her incredibly bossy and caustic ways.

One day, this friendship is put to the test in what I found to be a complete catch-22. Magda is faced with a situation in which she has no good choice to make - both are a form of betrayal. When she picks, it weighs on her heavier than she can express to anyone. The fallout of her decision is something she will have to live with.

I was drawn into the story easily, although there was a stretch in the middle where the conflicts between Magda and Emerence felt repetitive. Then about 2/3 in, I was fully engaged and couldn't put it down. The weakness of the novel for me is why Magda wants to connect so much with Emerence in the first place. The woman is mainly weird and unpleasant to her, rejecting her good intentions and exposing, ruthlessly, her flaws. I didn't understand Magda's need to win over Emerence, unless it is simply the desire to unmask what was so carefully hidden.

The story asks questions about friendship and acceptance, about aging and dignity. Also about doors, or barriers that we put up in order to protect ourselves. Can we ever truly protect ourselves? Can we allow ourselves to remain untouched by others in our world? I would argue that the answer is no, for better or worse. ...more

flag 60 likes · Like · see review

Apr 08, 2018 Karen rated it really liked it

What a mesmerizing and quite dark little book. This is about a Hungarian writer and her husband who have an older servant woman who basically takes over their household and their life. The book is mostly about the relationship between two women, and it’s a tense situation throughout but I really did like it!

flag 61 likes · Like · see review

Dec 11, 2015 Diane Barnes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

It took me 10 days to read this book, which is unusual for me as I can read fairly quickly, especially when I really love a book. But this one demanded to be read slowly, not only to savor the language, but to get inside the mind and heart of Emerence, which proved impossible in the end.
Emerence was a servant, working for an author and her husband. When she turned the tables on them at the interview, claiming that she was in fact interviewing them ("I don't do just anyone's dirty laundry, you kn ...more

flag 54 likes · Like · see review

Feb 08, 2020 JimZ rated it it was amazing

This was a remarkable book.

This novel was published when the Hungarian author, Magda Szabo, was 70 years old. That gives me hope! If I can be that creative hen/if I am 70...

A reviewer from The Scotsman had this to say in praising the book: “…I picked it up without expectation. I read it with gathering intensity, and a swelling admiration. I finished it, and straightaway started to read it again…”

Why would somebody start to re-read the novel? But I too went back and read the very first chapter. A This was a remarkable book.

This novel was published when the Hungarian author, Magda Szabo, was 70 years old. That gives me hope! If I can be that creative hen/if I am 70...

A reviewer from The Scotsman had this to say in praising the book: “…I picked it up without expectation. I read it with gathering intensity, and a swelling admiration. I finished it, and straightaway started to read it again…”

Why would somebody start to re-read the novel? But I too went back and read the very first chapter. And I am glad I did….had I not done so, I would not have gotten as full a grasp of the novel as I did. Because that first chapter “set the table” for the entire rest of the novel. In the first chapter the narrator tells us of a recurring dream/nightmare she has about a door. The novel builds up to a point near the end of it in which the narrator, Magda, tricks the old woman, Emerence, who has come to trust and love her (and it is reciprocal) to open her door of her little cottage, in an attempt to help her…to save her life or so she thinks… although the old woman has put her faith in Magda that she would never ever let anybody through that door. I can’t divulge anything more…it would be a spoiler.

And I would not want to do that…you need to read this book. I read it in one afternoon and evening…it was mesmerizing and I needed to find out how the story ended before I went to sleep. You need to find out what was behind not only the outer door that led into the house but also the inner door of that house that led into a room that nobody had been in for years, and the belongings of which was to be bequeathed to Magda, upon Emerence’s death.

This book was voted as “10 Best Books of 2015” by the New York Times Book Review. That’s remarkable in that it was originally published in 1987. It took nearly 20 years for it to be published in English (translated by Len Rix, 2005, Harvill Secker) and in 2015 it was re-issued by the New York Review of Books.

Book review by Claire Messud: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/bo...
Several reviews can be found at this link: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all...

The NYRB edition has an introduction by Ali Smith and in her first sentence she points out a fact that really bothers me…"The proportion of books published in the English-speaking world that are translations, from all languages (and including best-selling crime novels), is currently about three percent.”
Why does that bother me? Because of her second sentence which I agree with wholeheartedly: “A result of this is that, unless we read other languages, we miss out on superlative novels like The Door by Magda Szabo.”
...more

flag 53 likes · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2017 Teresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Teresa by: Sue

4.5

At some point during my reading of this, I was reminded of The God of Small Things in that I felt as if this too can be read on two levels and that if I knew more of the history of the country of origin (here it is Hungary), I would’ve gotten even more out of the novel. Because I know basically nothing of the latter (I googled some), and even though this can be read as a character(s)-relationship study, I feel as if something essential has eluded my grasp. Yes, we are told in perfect pacing w 4.5

At some point during my reading of this, I was reminded of The God of Small Things in that I felt as if this too can be read on two levels and that if I knew more of the history of the country of origin (here it is Hungary), I would’ve gotten even more out of the novel. Because I know basically nothing of the latter (I googled some), and even though this can be read as a character(s)-relationship study, I feel as if something essential has eluded my grasp. Yes, we are told in perfect pacing what Emerence has endured and how she has survived the upheavals, but there are also minor characters—such as Sutu and Adelka—that might represent the accommodation and compromise Hungary was forced to negotiate during and after wartime. The dignity Emerence fights so hard to keep behind the locked door of her flat is certainly a metaphor for more than just a personal boundary.

The narrator, a writer, has made accommodations with the government, though these are not spelled out. As she looks back (the whole book is a reflection), she realizes how unseeing and selfish she’d been toward the demanding, selfless Emerence, a character described in fable-like and mythological terms, who’d tried to teach her some difficult lessons in unorthodox ways, most importantly, how to act with unconditional love. Emerence’s demands are perhaps beyond the scope of anyone to fulfill; yet the narrator (only named near the end when Emerence calls her by an affectionate nickname) realizes she has failed the older woman, especially as Emerence had taught her what she needed to know (remember Polett?) to handle the climatic situation. (As I write this, I realize there is also a third level.)

During my read, I went back to the powerful beginning at least twice to reread it. A scene near the end is a strong indictment against materialism, for any reason, even love. If I have any criticism, it’s that though the book isn’t long, it went on for a bit too long. Except for the aforementioned scene, the novel’s other points had already been made. Despite this one reservation and my wish that I knew more, this is the kind of novel I love, one that has me testing my own boundaries. ...more

flag 48 likes · Like · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Ema rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2013, bookish-gems, hungary, female-authors

Romanians and Hungarians have a long history of not liking each other. I'm no xenophobe and I have a few friends in Budapest, yet I was sometimes wondering: what does Hungary have to offer in terms of art, music and literature? They could say the same about Romanians, too; what the heck, we are questioning our place in art history ourselves! Well, after reading this novel, I've come to think that Hungarians do have their hidden gems, just the same as we do. Magda Szabó's novel was my first foray Romanians and Hungarians have a long history of not liking each other. I'm no xenophobe and I have a few friends in Budapest, yet I was sometimes wondering: what does Hungary have to offer in terms of art, music and literature? They could say the same about Romanians, too; what the heck, we are questioning our place in art history ourselves! Well, after reading this novel, I've come to think that Hungarians do have their hidden gems, just the same as we do. Magda Szabó's novel was my first foray into Hungarian literature and my first step towards abating my ignorance.

The Door has one of the most powerful and intriguing characters I've come across until now. She is merely an illiterate caretaker named Emerence, but what a character she is! Surrounded by a shroud of mystery, endowed with mythological strength, dismissive of religion and doctors, mocker of activities that don't include physical work, but also bestower of gifts, vessel of kindness, benefactor of abandoned animals, rescuer of fugitives, possessor of a higher understanding.

She had been everyone's model, everyone's helper, the supreme exemplar. Emerence was pure and incorruptible, the better self that each and every one of us aspired to be. With her permanently veiled forehead and her face that was tranquil as a lake, she asked nothing from anyone and depended on no-one. She shouldered everyone's burden without ever speaking of her own.

I was mesmerized by Emerence from beginning till end, although I can't truly say that I loved her. Her personality is magnetic, raising conflicting feelings, impregnating the reader's memory with a powerful image that lasts.

Her past is surrounded by mystery; the stories about her childhood resemble fairy tales and are just as unreliable. Her present life is also an enigma: she keeps the door to her apartment tightly shut, inviting no one inside her home. All her friends (and she has many) are entertained outside, on her porch. Nobody has the full picture of Emerence - she must have enjoyed a quiet smile at our expense as we struggled to work out the full story, as each of us tried to match his own allotted pieces of information with those granted to others.

Almost the whole novel gravitates around Emerence; slowly, we come to know her through the words of the Lady writer who hired her. Much more than the story of a rocky relationship between two different women, The Door is most of all a tale of discovery and conquest of a monumental personality. Did one of them manage to possess and kneel the other? I killed Emerence... the woman writer confesses right at the beginning of the novel. But is everything just as simple as that? I had long known that the more simple a thing was, the less likely it was to be understood, Magda Szabó writes, and she is right.

I could go on an on talking about Emerence; she is truly remarkable. But it's best to discover her through the pages of this novel, which I urge you to read!

I know now, what I didn't then, that affection can't always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else.

...more

flag 48 likes · Like · see review

Feb 04, 2017 Erika rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2017

I finished this novel a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t had time to review it until now. Turns out that was a good thing. Two weeks ago, I would have given The Door three stars and moved on. It was slow. It felt a little pointless. I didn’t like the characters.

But, because I wanted to review it, I kept the book in the front of my mind and over time a deeper truth began to emerge for me.

The Door is slow because its subject matter is difficult and slippery. It felt pointless because I didn’t wor ...more

flag 46 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2019 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 2019, in-translation, wit, literary-fiction

What a brilliant, infuriating, deeply perplexing book. The Door centers on the relationship between two very different women - the protagonist who is a writer, and her housekeeper, an older woman named Emerence. A clash of values between the two provides the main conflict for this tense and elusive story: Ali Smith writes in her brief introduction, "Their relationship transforms into one full of the barbed hostilities of love."

Emerence - cold, strong, and fiercely, irrationally independent - i ...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2015 Kinga rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pub-1987

It’s a beautiful story of a co-dependent, toxic relationship between a writer and her hired help where a weird power struggle never seems to end. Emerence, the said help, seems to be more in charge than her supposed employers. She is despotic, mysterious and strong-willed. Her employer, the writer and the narrator of this (maybe semi-autobiographical) book seems emotionally volatile which makes her susceptible to Emerence’s moods and tantrums. Emerence is not a demure servant, she comes and goes ...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

Aug 12, 2016 Viv JM rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2016, author-female, women-in-translation, fiction-literary

I found The Door to be an unexpectedly moving and profound story. It tells the story of the relationship between an eminent writer and her somewhat cranky cleaning woman. For much of the book, not much actually happens, but the last third just tore me apart emotionally. It raises ethical issues in relation to friendship, love, death and dignity that have no easy resolution. I have rated this five stars, not so much on how much I enjoyed the book so much as how much it got under my skin. I will b ...more

flag 44 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2015 Tony rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nyrb-classics, hungarian

In this work of Hungarian minimalism, the narrator is Magda Szabó, same name, same occupation, same childless marriage. Her, but not exactly her. She is a witness.

She hires Emerence to be a housekeeper of sorts. Well, that's not exactly true. Emerence gives them a probationary period, then allows herself to be hired. Emerence is a tireless worker, but decidedly sets her own rules. She suffers no fools and abjures education, religion, pretense. The Magda of the novel is an award-winning writer, a ...more

flag 42 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2017 Laysee rated it really liked it

The Door is ranked among NY Times Book Review's "Ten Best Books of 2015". Regarded as Madga Szabó’s best work, it is a semi-autographical account of the relationship between a female novelist and her housekeeper. It is an insightful exploration of the power of human attachment. I read it feverishly in a space of a few days but the emotional devastation I felt lingered many days after.

Madga Szabó (1917-2007) was a prominent 20th century Hungarian novelist. Her works were censored during the Stal
The Door is ranked among NY Times Book Review's "Ten Best Books of 2015". Regarded as Madga Szabó’s best work, it is a semi-autographical account of the relationship between a female novelist and her housekeeper. It is an insightful exploration of the power of human attachment. I read it feverishly in a space of a few days but the emotional devastation I felt lingered many days after.

Madga Szabó (1917-2007) was a prominent 20th century Hungarian novelist. Her works were censored during the Stalinist era between 1949 and 1956, and became known only during the last few decades of her life. The novel is better known as “Az ajtó” (1987). In 2005, it was translated by Len Rix into English as The Door. It was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Prize 2006 and awarded the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize. In this novel, a writer, very much like Szabó, finds herself suddenly restored to political favor and hires a housekeeper to clean her spacious new flat in Budapest so as to focus on writing. Allowing a stranger into one’s home is invasive but it is a nightmare when she is as unpredictable and eccentric as the elderly Emerence. The writer and her housekeeper cannot be more different from each other in terms of their religious and political leanings and value systems. The story is about the bonds they forged and their love-hate relationship.

If I were the novelist, I would fear the housekeeper more than love her. (view spoiler)

Feelings unrelished in the story are so raw they drip with blood. The dialogues are superbly constructed and carry a powerful emotional charge. Being in their company is like walking through a minefield. Accusations hurt like knife stabs and I reel from their viciousness. A few times after their arguments, I have to put the book aside and return when I am ready for more fire and brimstone.

What is astounding is that all this hostility is inexplicably bound up in a paralysing kind of love that deepens over time as the nobility of Emerence's heart becomes apparent and the writer is haplessly touched. Yet, when does an attachment become too strong and where does one draw the line? How ought love to be expressed? The novelist finds out the hard way: "I know now, what I didn't then, that affection can't always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else."

Distrust and alienation are dominant emotions, for which the door is an obvious metaphor. What makes this novel so irresistible is the secrecy surrounding Emerence's life. (view spoiler)

Pride is another emotion that, like a door, keeps people out. (view spoiler)

Read The Door. It is psychologically brilliant and grandly heartbreaking. This is my first novel by Szabó and I look forward to reading more of her work. ...more

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

Dec 10, 2015 Ines rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Story that really shocked me ....... what a wonderful writing that of Szabo , describing it in depth the most ' deep soul of' man .....
I had a grandmother basically similar to Emerenc , and I am still wondering , after 18 years since her death , why , because of whom lived , his heart had become in the eyes of others like marble .....
I have to get over this reading !! one of the best i have read in these years!!!

Storia che mi ha veramente scosso....... ma che meravigliosa scrittura quella dell ...more

flag 36 likes · Like · see review

Apr 18, 2016 Camie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a strange little book translated from Hungarian about the unlikely postwar friendship of Magda( our narrator) a writer married to an academic, and a very secretive illiterate village woman named Remenence , who though hired as a household servant, quickly has them wondering who is really in charge. Reading like a mythic tale full of symbolism , this book chosen by NYT as one of 2015's 10 Best Books (though it was originally written in 1987) is not one of those warm fuzzy books about frie ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2013 Nicole~ rated it really liked it

Shelves: hungary

Magda Szabó lauded as Hungary's foremost female writer was renowned in Western Europe for her powerful prose and memorable heroines. She won France's Prix Femina Étranger for The Door in 2003; it is considered her most notable achievement. Written in 1987, the Door tells the story of the strange and complicated relationship between two strong women of opposing backgrounds and personalities: Magda-the intellectual,the writer; and Emerence-her mysterious housekeeper, the relentless worker.
Emerence ...more

flag 35 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2014 Amanda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a powerful and morally complex novel that details a longtime friendship between two very different women. It asks questions that made me long for my college days in ethics class. I'm so glad this was made available to English readers. This is one I highly recommend and hope to have a chance to read again. ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Aug 23, 2013 Stephen P rated it really liked it

Recommended to Stephen by: Proustitute

Magda Szabo evokes an entry into the wilderness of self inflicted avoidance and therefore exile of the self. The book is peopled with complex characters eschewing the ease of cliche and stereotype; a successful writer growing more successful at her typewriter for hours at a time; her university professor husband now disabled from lung problems. They need a housekeeper.

An eighty something year old woman applies for the job and arrives for the interview. She interviews them more than they her. Th Magda Szabo evokes an entry into the wilderness of self inflicted avoidance and therefore exile of the self. The book is peopled with complex characters eschewing the ease of cliche and stereotype; a successful writer growing more successful at her typewriter for hours at a time; her university professor husband now disabled from lung problems. They need a housekeeper.

An eighty something year old woman applies for the job and arrives for the interview. She interviews them more than they her. The world Emergence lives in consists of hard manual labor with little to no rest. She does not consider writing, reading, attending conferences. teaching, as work. Having dipped into her new employers insecurities the power structure shifts enabling a different, complex, kind of relationship to form. The writer’s life when she is not absorbed in the world of fiction is often characterized by shallow relationships and growing busyness. While Emerence, who in this small town lives in a small flat, is the caretaker for the building in lieu of rent. This meant all the repair jobs and the constant shoveling of snow off the street and the buildings walkways. She takes care of everyone. Only allows others to visit on her front porch. No one has been allowed into her flat. What little talking she is willing to do does not include her past.

This intriguing premise is cultivated through the filter of Szabo's intimately precise style akin to that of A.S Byatt or vice-versa. Being told in first person, the POV of the writer, I was especially geared up, loving the hum and vibrations coursing through my veins by being right there. The camera focused in close, close enough where the characters breath can mist the lens of my glasses.

Where things went off track without a major derailment, is that the camera was pulled back. I felt I was reading a first person account seen through the camera distance of a third person rendition. It had some rises in the hillside but generally flattened out becoming all too often a telling and not a showing. Despite the excellently drawn characters, the specificity of the prose, I was disappointed until I realized I was seeing the world of this story through the eyes of a character, the woman writer, who was in many ways exiled from herself, others, and the full experience of her life. Interpreting it this way I understood the veracity of the writing and the difficulty of its goal, especially maintaining this for 261 pages. It would be similar to accompanying and listening to a passive dependent person take you on a tour of their lives. It proved trying for me. If this however was the difficult task she took on Szabo was up to it and made it happen. Skilled and forthright like Emerence she worked hard to evoke this world and completed the best job possible.

This may well be another of my quirks and may not bother other readers. If this is the case you are in for a grand read.

3.8/5
...more

flag 33 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2019 Lee rated it really liked it

Fascinating and admirably eccentric. Did I enjoy it? I've no idea. I'm glad I read it. Felt largely like a high-wire act about to crash and burn every few pages, but it somehow works...I think. ...more

flag 32 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
100BestWIT: * March 2020: The Door by Magda Szabó	3	23	Feb 29, 2020 11:25PM
Play Book Tag: The Door / Magda Szabo. 3 stars	6	24	Sep 04, 2018 05:27PM
The Door	2	14	Jan 23, 2018 10:41AM
500 Great Books B...: The Door - Magda Szabó - Garima	4	68	May 07, 2017 07:03AM
Goodreads Ireland: August 2016 The Door (Spoiler)	13	53	Aug 30, 2016 10:01AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Fiction

592 users

Cultural > Hungary

189 users

Historical > Historical Fiction

134 users

European Literature > Hungarian Literature

101 users

Novels

69 users

Literary Fiction

67 users

Literature

50 users

Classics

42 users

Womens

36 users

Contemporary

33 users

See top shelves…

About Magda Szabó

Magda Szabó

496 followers

Magda Szabó was a Hungarian writer, arguably Hungary's foremost female novelist. She also wrote dramas, essays, studies, memories and poetry.

Born in Debrecen, Szabó graduated at the University of Debrecen as a teacher of Latin and of Hungarian. She started working as a teacher in a Calvinist all-girl school in Debrecen and Hódmezővásárhely. Between 1945 and 1949 she was working in the Ministry of ...more

Books by Magda Szabó

More…

75 Debut Novels to Discover in 2021

Readers have a lot to look forward to this year! Just feast your eyes upon all of these debut books to check out and emerging authors to...

Trivia About The Door

10 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Door

“Creativity requires a state of grace. So many things are required for it to succeed.” — 334 likes

“I know now, what I didn’t then, that affection can’t always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for anyone else.” — 38 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Door by Magda Szabó

The Door

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Magda Szabó

Books by Magda Szabó

Related Articles

Trivia About The Door

Quotes from The Door

See a Problem?

Preview — The Door by Magda Szabó

The Door

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Magda Szabó

Books by Magda Szabó

Related Articles

Trivia About The Door

Quotes from The Door

new topic
Discuss This Book