Ken’s Comments (group member since Jan 21, 2020)

Ken’s comments from the The Obscure Reading Group group.

I agree, Diane. Less mystery and YA and more coming-of-age. Or bildungsroman (gesundheit!) as they say in Deutschland, Main Deutschland.

Thanks, Cindy, for that clear-eyed wrap-up of the Konig-Susanna relationship (with a dash of Mitsi thrown in). Mitsi came across as an Auntie Mame-type character, though I admit it's been so long since I've seen the movie by that name that even I cannot fully recall the Auntie act.

I find myself guilty sometimes of rushing the reading toward the end of plot books. Like a kid flunking the marshmallow test, I can't wait, so I speed read for "what-happens-next" gratification.

This explains the fog surrounding the Mitsi-Konig-Susanna triangle.

I also endorse your "cold water" comparison about Szabo dropping in what-happens-in-the-future tidbits. Again, though, it might have been more the fashion in the years this book was written. That counts for something.

Angela wrote: "I agree on the Hollywood-style add-ons, Ken. Every now and then it works, but more often it just falls flat. I would so much rather be left—as we often are in « real » life—with a question, an unti..."

As Dickinson would say: "Then there's a pair of Us!" ;-)



Cindy wrote: "Ken regarding your earlier comment about Lt. Kuncz, if the General hadn't tried to protect Gina from everything and told her why he did not care for Lt. Kuncz, Gina would have been better prepared ..."

You have a point there. Not only was she kept in the dark, she was fighting her own urges to have it the way she hoped it would be. Hormones and logic make a bad pair, in that sense.

Szabo's insertion about the futures of some characters reminded me of authors who, at the very end of the book (this is also done in some movies), give you "this is what happened to this character" blips.

I've never been a fan, because it comes across as an asterisk, a mere mention, an almost belittling of a character. All of this is my way of saying that I'd rather not KNOW that Kalmar was eventually killed in the war, at least if it amounts to a mere throw-in sentence.

This may be a product of my aversion to neatly-tied up endings. They always strike me as a bit Hollywood and and fake and unlike life, which is messy and often leaves us saying things like, "I wonder what ever happened to...?"

Hmn. Maybe. Though I wonder WHO the cover-up is for, given there turned out to be no moles inside the school and it would all be picked up again anyway, thus worthless should any outsider come in and demand access to files.

Laysee said: "I don't think anyone growing up in those times can ever look back in their adult years and forget how the war completely changed their lives.

Which is why they are known as the "Great Generation," I guess, the last generation where good and evil had clearly delineated lines and where conventional war could be fought with conventional armies. Those days are gone.

For me, the most complex character in the book is Susanna, a woman who might be called "the Velvet Fist" for her two roles as disciplinarian and sympathizer. No one kept an eye on Gina like she did, and although Kalmar considered Gina a favorite, it was strictly for selfish reasons -- namely, that Gina sided with him over Konig in the Susanna's Heart Sweepstakes and didn't hide the fact.

The aquarium episode still befuddles me a bit. What did I miss there. Who did it and why? I mean, I loved the symbolism of Gina's "bethrothed" being attacked, but beyond that I can't see much benefit to anyone's destruction of tropical fish.

Carol wrote: "I said from the beginning Lt. seemed slimy. Like everyone I thought Konig was Abigail. Mitzi really lived up to her name as far as a horn of salvation. Someone said Mraz in Russian meant scum. I re..."

Good point about Susanna and Konig being a good cop / bad cop pair, though I'm still confused about their Christmas meeting in the hallway (overheard by Gina), wherein Konig said the gift he had was for Mitzi. Clumsy embarrassment leading to a lie, maybe?

I also like your theory about the placard hanger being many minutemen vs. one. The Sons of Liberty in Hungary.

Yes, Konig as Abigail seemed a bit telegraphed by the almost over-the-top description of his inadequacies. Clearly Szabo wasn't engaging in all that less-than-flattering description for nothing.

Plus, Konig was practically angelic in his forgiving nature. Where the girls (Gina particularly) saw this as weakness, the readers (well, THIS reader at least) saw it as strength. It was almost Christ-like forbearance he engaged in, so "un-Bishop Matula" it was a wonder he was even allowed to remain in the rule-happy institution.

While we're on the topic of predictions, I'll admit to having a few things wrong -- one badly, one understandable. I interpreted the church bit about this minor cog called Mraz staring at Gina as a foreshadowing of bad things to come. Turns out Mraz was keeping an eye on her for GOOD reasons.

Mea culpa on Kalmar. I had him as the fair-haired Nazi-like beau in hiding. Wrong beau, though. It was Feri Kuncz, another fair-haired boy all the girls were ga-ga for.

Can't trust those good-looking boys who fool the girls, can you.

Speaking of Lt. Kuncz, the whole assignation at the door bit, with Mari Kis and Torma as co-conspirators helping Gina, was a great example of dramatic irony. The reader kept saying, "No, no you little fool!" while Gina kept waxing ecstatic about her dream boy being Daddy's fellow resistance fighter even though, if she stopped to piece together the warnings her dad had given her, she'd know better. Instead, she chose to rationalize matters as she WISHED them to be rather than how they were.

As most people appear to have finished the book, I have put up the final thread to discuss its ending and the book as a whole a day early.

If you are still reading ABIGAIL, stay away from that thread until you've finished the book and are ready! A few spoilers are already seeping in on this thread!

This last thread is not just for discussing the last portion of the book (nyrb pp. 235 - p. 333, starting with the beginning of the chapter, "Christmas," going to the end of the book), it is also for discussing the book as a whole.

Let's wrap it all up, look at the big picture, make our pronouncements, and compare notes, in other words!

A Bjorn Killer, that one.

Bet I'll buy more Szabo books and wind up thinking this one's best. These things happen.

Erin wrote: "ABIGAIL is my third Magda Szabo book. First I read IZA'S BALLAD, then THE DOOR (all three in New York Review Books editions) I found her books to be deep and moving, and amazing studies of relation..."

This is good stuff, Erin. The way you focus on Szabó's skill with female relationships and especially the point about the girls' ages and how it adds an extra dimension (and challenge!) in the author's treatment of matters (something readers might forget).

As if it needs to be proven, it just goes to show how challenging writing can be. And the fact that you were able to read Abigail through the lens of two other Szabó books just makes me that much more anxious to gain that perspective myself!

I swore Faulkner off and didn't even need 12 steps!

Meanwhile, I wrote my review of good-old Abigail this morning, as I finished it out on the dock overlooking a Maine lake yesterday.

More exciting yet? I get to post the final discussion thread tomorrow night (What? Sunday already?), and we get to compare notes on Szabó's ability to bring it home, as they say.

Looking forward to that!

Kathleen wrote: "Ken wrote: "Regarding death and books and TBR piles, isn't there a king and queen buried side by side in England with reposed likenesses holding hands?

Heck, if they can do that, they can surely b..."


I recently finished my reread of the lovely Meditations and am amazed at how similar his outlook (and the Stoics, for that matter) is to the Buddhists. Very much a living-in-the-moment kind of thing working in that great mind. That and working like hell to accept the naturalness of death. (I can attest that it's a task.)

Aurelius calls it logos, but the Buddhists would use another word. Not sure which one because they use so many and not all are clear to me (I am not a blackbelt Buddhist by any means). ;-)

Regarding death and books and TBR piles, isn't there a king and queen buried side by side in England with reposed likenesses holding hands?

Heck, if they can do that, they can surely bury us with a book likeness in our hands. Or a book in the casket. Or a book in our ashes. Or whatever we can get Marcus Aurelius to approve!

Welcome, Erin, and thanks for the newsy background. I'm a bit of a Russophile myself, not because I regard Putin & Co. in a positive way, but because I'm a big fan of the Golden Age of Russian Lit. in the 19th Century. Also, I visited the USSR in 1975. Seems like yesterday but it's not even yesteryear. How about yesterdecade?

I, too, like the relaxed reading schedule. I've never been in a RL reading group, and I've tried online ones in the past. Still, it often seemed like monthly reads crowded out my own independent reading spirit. This once-every-four-months meet-up is a perfect compromise.

And, oh. As the final discussion thread for ABIGAIL goes up on Sunday night, I'm psyched that I can finally finish it this weekend. Staggered reading has its disadvantages no matter HOW obscure the reading schedule. ;-)

Neat find on the TV show and musical in Hungary, Yvonne. News to me on both counts.

As for hymns, as a kid I always liked it when we didn't have to sing every verse. That and when Father "I Love to Talk" Kelly didn't have sermon duties.

Hi, Sara. You'll be a great addition!