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

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

Speaking of Anne Frank, Sandra, had she lived, she almost assuredly would have grown up to be a writer like Szabo. It was a stated goal, for one, and the diary shows the talent at a young age, for two.

Good sleuthing, Jeremy. Isn't it interesting, too, that Szabo named a character after herself and chose to make her overweight and worthy of the protagonist's ire in the key scene (marrying an aquarium).

I can also relate to your teaching aside. As a guy just out of the trade after many years, I get the Konig conundrum, too: kindness is not always rewarded in teachers. At least not when it is considered weakness, as it is here. Kindness paired with strictness? Another story entirely. Or, to put it in this novel's terms, more like Susanna.

Laysee, I haven't seen the movie Mean Girls but the title is inescapable. What you say about boys vs. girls in schools is something I only learned as a teacher. I grew up in a family of four sons with no sisters, so the ways of the young female mind were decidedly foreign to me.

Once in school, though, I learned from veteran teachers who claimed that boys usually took out their aggressions and grievances against each other in the open, often physically. They also confessed to their misdemeanors more quickly or provided info on other boys should that be the issue.

The girls? Much wilier. Much more psychological. And tough as hell to crack.

There must be a degree of stereotype to this, but I'm only typing what the veterans taught the newbie teachers.

Darrin, it's funny you mention The Sound of Music as I thought of it, too, only for a different reason. I don't recall his name, but it seems the oldest Von Trapp girl was in love with an Austrian lad who winds up joining the Nazis.

For some reason, the twin K's set me to thinking of this. I'm speaking of two teachers at Bishop Matula. One is Kalmár, young and handsome. The other is König, older and less-regarded. I felt these dueling reputations were set-ups. I suspected that Kalmár might wind up being like that handsome Nazi that came back in the offensive uniform to the Von Trapps while the easy teacher, almost treated like a sub, it seems, might in the end prove heroic.

A classic "reverse expectations" set-up, if I'm right. If not, oh well. It's fun predicting.

As for WWII, my meagre knowledge of Hungary comes from reading Elie Wiesel's book Night. Elie grew up in a small town there called Sighet, and I seem to recall reference to a government replaced with one more to Nazi Germany's liking just before his family was put in transports and shipped off to Auschwitz / Birkenau.

And Diane brings up a good question: Can a book be considered "YA" if it existed before the term "YA" did? Are the traits and the label separate or do they need each other to exist? (I fear this might be chicken and egg territory we're entering!)

Hi, Carol. A couple of questions. When you mention the "paramour," do you mean the one she meets at home and regrets parting with or the teacher at school the girls find so handsome? I assume the former. If so, I thought he was a fly-by, never to be mentioned in the book again, but I could be wrong.

As for entitlement, yes, but I admired how stoic she was in the face of bad news, not wanting first the General (Daddy) and then the school staff to see her cry. Clearly there's a bit of her father's military bearing in her soul, or so it struck me.

As for the war, I was a bit confused as to which side Hungary was on. It seems to me they were run over by the Nazis and a puppet regime was put up, so was the General serving the resistance? It didn't seem to merit much mention. Either that or I missed something.

Finally, a question I wanted to knock about a bit was one of genre. It struck me, as I read Part One, that this was somewhat like a YA book. But then, what exactly IS a YA book? I know it when I read a modern-day one, but then some people consider ANY book with a young protagonist to be YA. I do not. Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield are not stars of YA books in my estimation, but I'm still on the fence about Gina and this book.

All that said, I've always been a fan of books set at boarding schools (like the aforementioned Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace) so am enjoying this historical version of Mean Girls. Maybe it's because I had a blue-collar, barely-getting-by upbringing where things like private schools and summer camps weren't even entertained by my family growing up.

Here we go! This first week we will discuss the first third of the pie in Magda Szabó's Abigail.

If you have the nyrb paperback, this means pp. 3-114. If you have another translation, it means the beginning of the book to the end of the chapter called "Disaster. The General."

If you have read ahead, please try to confine your comments to this section -- this out of respect for those who are on schedule or behind and don't want to run into that unpleasantness we know as a spoiler.

Enjoy! It's an interesting start!

Cathleen wrote: "Hello everyone :). I ordered the book in late April/early May (whenever Abigail was announced as the June read) and I just received it on Thursday. I’ve some reading to do and am glad to know we’re..."

Oh, yes. I think you'll find it fast reading. I did. Had to apply the brakes, in fact, and divert myself first to a book of poetry and now to a book of essays.

I will create the Part 1 of 3 thread tomorrow night, knowing that June 1st starts in some parts of the world before it starts in mine. ;-)

Getting there! Last night I began reading Abigail and, in but three days, will be putting up the discussion thread for the first third (see reading schedule) we will discuss.

Can you hear the excitement mounting (excitement being the mountaineer type)?

Good morning and welcome to the ORG, Jim. Yours sounds like my kind of house -- books for wallpaper! This is my first Szabo, so I'll probably be going in the reverse order of most people by reading THE DOOR after ABIGAIL.

No matter. As long as I walk through it. (THE DOOR, I mean.)

Good to see you here, Jeremy. I mean, I knew you were "here," as in "a member," but I am especially glad to see you are "here," as in "a participating member."

A lot of teachers, active and (raises hand) retired, in this House of Reading Obscurity! If there's one thing I learned from teaching, it's the humility of realizing just how much I didn't know. In fact, on more than one occasion, students came up with observations about books, stories, and poems that had never occurred to me before and struck me as brilliant.

Stuff like that made going to work fun.

Diane wrote: "It's always unintentional, I'm sure, but those who have already read the entire book lose track of what occurred when and in what order. I plan to only read the current section, then comment and di..."

Funny, Diane. I used to be a purist about one book at a time, too. It seems Goodreads has cured me of that problem.

I started by making sure the second book was one that could be read in short bursts, such as poems or essays. But now it doesn't matter.

Always good to know this old(-ish) dog can learn new(-ish) tricks.

OK, the poll shows that most folks favor a 3-week division. I have set up a reading schedule thread for the guidance of members who are participating or non-members who are lurking and might want to join us.

There are two ways to approach a 333-page book divided in three across three weeks.

1. Always have at least one other book going. Stop reading Abigail when you reach the last page of that discussion week's schedule and jump over to your other book. This will ensure no spoilers and that you don't -- whoops! -- mention something that other readers don't know about because they are adhering to the schedule.

2. Can't resist? Go ahead of the group, but come up with some kind of notation system that prevents your discussing something out of that week's discussion parameters.

I typically keep a piece of paper in the back of the book where I note page numbers with a brief comment to jar my memory about a point I might make in the discussion. If you're a book annotator, then you can write in the margins of the book, of course, using sticky notes to show the end page for Weeks #1 and #2 to ensure you don't bring up a note outside the discussion's parameters.

I hope everyone enjoys the book and that it leads to a "meaty" discussion. It always works best when some like the book, some don't, and some land in between those two poles.

We shall see! I will probably start the book some time during the last week of May, knowing I have the luxury of three weeks to complete AS the discussion unfolds (vs. having to read the whole magilla before we even begin).

Fergus wrote: "So nice about your Mom ‘n Dad, Ken! So many old folks are so badly disgruntled these days.

And I now see where your wonderful sense of the ha-ha’s comes from!...👍"

😁
I know. I once alluded to my parents in the classroom and one of my students said, in genuine shock, "You mean your parents are still alive?"

That's how old people over 50 look to teenagers.

Wonderland? Used to be a dog track in Massachusetts. Now I think it's just a case of "Wonder when it'll be over."

Like NY and eastern Mass., southern Maine got a lot of snow yesterday, but none of it stuck as the temp was above freezing.

In any event, as things open up, we'll all have to be more careful than usual. I have a feeling that letting your guard down could be a very bad thing (as if we need any more very bad things).

Anyway, I spoke to my mom who was as cheerful as ever. I'm just lucky I have both parents because, as a team, they get by.

To all the (not-so-obscure) moms in our group, a very Happy (if unusual) Mother's Day!

I'll float a poll some time next week. It's not a big deal, really, as we're all readers and probably capable of reading it in three bites or two.

I was going to put up a 24 hour poll on dividing it in thirds or half. I figured I could do that any time in May. Is sooner better than later?

Nicely done, Jan! The brain tumor parts had a special impact as I lost my mother-in-law to an astrocytoma. Walked that difficult road, in other words. The poem brought it rushing back.

Candi wrote: "I'll be starting towards the end of May, also.

Ken, I'm a huge Edith Wharton fan, and The Custom of the Country is excellent. I'll be interested to hear what you think when you've finished."

OK, will do. I see now that the POV is going to be a shifting one -- a good thing!

My mind works like Diane's -- on short notice. Meanwhile I'm preoccupying myself by reading one of the runners-up: The Custom of the Country.

The only Edith Wharton I've read previously is Ethan Frome when I was a still young and still strapping lad. Such, such were the days.

As an old friend of mine used to say, "As you like it!"

And mine Wednesday! I've set it aside for, oh, I don't know, around a 20th of May start.