Abigail in The Obscure Reading Group

Jun 29, 2020 Candi rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-literary, mystery-crime, european-literature, translation

“Four-square, severe, stark-white. Tiny windows covered with iron bars; iron bars across the entrance. It must be terribly old. It isn’t like a school at all. More like a fortress.”

You are a fourteen-year old, motherless girl, and you adore your father deeply. A war is going on, but you don’t really feel the consequences of it (yet). Your beloved French governess has been sent back to her homeland. Suddenly, your father tells you that you are being uprooted from the only home you’ve ever known a “Four-square, severe, stark-white. Tiny windows covered with iron bars; iron bars across the entrance. It must be terribly old. It isn’t like a school at all. More like a fortress.”

You are a fourteen-year old, motherless girl, and you adore your father deeply. A war is going on, but you don’t really feel the consequences of it (yet). Your beloved French governess has been sent back to her homeland. Suddenly, your father tells you that you are being uprooted from the only home you’ve ever known and being sent to a girls’ boarding school far away. Not just any girls’ school, either – a “fortress.” What is a young adolescent to do? Rebel, naturally! Although to give her credit, Gina Vitay’s brand of rebellion isn’t necessarily of the kicking and screaming variety, but rather a more controlled, clever, and stoic sort of defiance. After all, her father is a general in the Hungarian army and Gina has inherited a backbone much like this stalwart and composed officer.

“She needed no instruction on what to feel, and she would certainly never expose what was private between them to the eyes of people they did not know.”

Gina is left in the confines of the Bishop Matula Academy for girls while World War II seethes across the globe. She is reduced to a replica of all the other girls housed there. They all dress and wear their hair the same; no precious belongings from the outside are allowed as comforts to be hoarded and cherished. An independent-minded, spirited girl like Gina becomes instantly hostile. The other girls have their own coping mechanisms - ways to keep themselves amused and games to fool their teachers and superiors. They invite Gina into their fold, but Gina makes a wrong step and is quickly ostracized. Anyone that has ever been a teenage girl or has had dealings with one will know how ugly this can get!

“They have swallowed me whole. I am no longer myself, she thought, and her breathing became a rapid pant.”

There is a mystery behind this story and a rather compelling one at that. There is the secret of why the General has left Gina in the clutches of these seemingly cold, uncaring adults. There are whispers of the dissident of Árkod, whose handiwork the girls observe furtively, much to the dismay of their teachers. Then there is Abigail. Abigail is a statue on the grounds of the institute. She is said to come to the aid of those in trouble, and the other girls firmly believe in her. Gina, however, looks on this statue with scorn. Until one day she receives a note of her own from this guardian angel of sorts. It is rumored that a person must certainly be behind these secret messages, but who could it be? And how does he or she fit into the other puzzles of the academy and the town itself?

“Who are you, Abigail, you whose true face no one has ever seen, whom we know only by the actions that you’ve been carrying out inside these walls for thirty years?”

There is much to admire in this novel that has been translated into English after being published in Hungary fifty years ago. Magda Szabó is an author that writes a solid and very engaging plot. She moves the story along with a good deal of suspense, but also a variety of interesting characters. These characters are not necessarily readily developed, but that is not the point of this book. Each is distinctly drawn, yet it is the plot itself that wins the day. There are lessons to be learned - in particular, appearances can be deceiving (as we all know)! But when a group of girls view people on the surface only (as young girls are wont to do), they can truly get themselves and others into some hot water! Matchmaking and general disdain rule the day when it comes to interactions with their teachers.

This isn’t my first time reading one of Szabó’s books in translation, nor will it be my last. I could easily recommend this to anyone that enjoys a boarding school story and a mystery. I have to admit, I did unscramble part of the riddle fairly early on. That’s not really the object here though – at heart, it’s an entertaining story full of atmosphere and accomplished writing.

“When, as an adult, she thought back to the hymns and psalms of her youth, she never remembered them in isolation; particular sounds and scents drifted around them, and with them too the smell of the home-made soap that filled the corridors of the Matula, the soundless opening and closing of doors, the timid, hesitant movement of her fingers on the piano keyboard, and even her face as it had looked at the time.” ...more

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Jun 16, 2020 Laysee rated it really liked it

Abigail by Magda Szabo was published in Hungarian in 1970 and translated into English by Len Rix only in 2020. If only translation of her oeuvre can be speeded up! Readers who have read The Door will likely agree with me.

Abigail is a coming of age story set in Hungary during World War Two between September 1943 and March 1944. Gina (Georgina Vitay), a 14-year-old motherless girl, is suddenly uprooted from her privileged, upper social class life in Budapest, and sent to a very strict religious bo Abigail by Magda Szabo was published in Hungarian in 1970 and translated into English by Len Rix only in 2020. If only translation of her oeuvre can be speeded up! Readers who have read The Door will likely agree with me.

Abigail is a coming of age story set in Hungary during World War Two between September 1943 and March 1944. Gina (Georgina Vitay), a 14-year-old motherless girl, is suddenly uprooted from her privileged, upper social class life in Budapest, and sent to a very strict religious boarding school, Bishop Matula Academy, in Arkod located on the Eastern border of Hungary. Gina’s father, a General in the Hungarian army, is unable to tell her his reasons for first packing her governess back home to France and then banishing Gina to the boondocks, away from adoring relatives and a dashing Lieutenant admirer whom he and the governess both dislike. Gina and the General share a loving and close father-daughter relationship; thus their leave-taking was heartbreaking to read.

Although well known as the first institution of pedagogic excellence for female students in Hungary, Matula is an oppressive, no-nonsense fortress, where every student is made to dress alike, fill all waking hours with studies and meaningful work, obey every rule or risk punishment and even expulsion. However, the girls cope by inventing their own traditions, trading private jokes, and having their own fun. Unsurprisingly, being the bright, headstrong, and impetuous teenager that she is, Gina gets into trouble right from the beginning. Her gravest transgression is to bust a long-standing tradition, which makes her public enemy number one among the fifth level girls. Oh, the girls’ brand of relational aggression toward Gina is vicious. As in The Door and Iza’s Ballad, Szabo’s writing in Abigail revealed a wealth of psychological insight into female relationships – the ties that bind are as strong as the destructive potential that resides in misplaced expectations and lapses in the language of love.

How will Gina survive missing her father and the prolonged ostracism of her schoolmates? Much more is at stake for Gina than her young mind can comprehend. Yet, there is apparently hope for all Matula girls in despair. In the school compound is Abigail, a neoclassical stone sculpture of a woman holding a ground stone pitcher. The girls hail Abigail as a miracle worker, an angel who comes to the rescue of any student who unburdens her cares to her. Of course, Gina regards this claim with total contempt. Will she need Abigail’s help? Is Abigail a figment of the imagination? If she is real, who is she? Unraveling the mystery of Abigail quickens the pulse of this story.

Abigail sets a teenage girl’s petty fights against the menace and danger of WW2 where death and annihilation are stark realities. Szabo told a gripping story that had me holding my breath in several places. I read this with my heart in my mouth as the suspense built up, gathered momentum, and did not let up until the very last word. I needed to know if Gina would find deliverance from the problems she has created for herself as well as from enemies more fearsome than her rejecting schoolmates.

Readers who enjoy stories about boarding schools and the eccentricities that take place behind their closed doors as well as stories that unravel the love-hate relationship between students and their teachers are likely to love this novel. If I had read this when I was younger, I would have appreciated it more. Nonetheless, this is no shallow boarding school tale and well worth the time.

That the impending destruction is hidden from the understanding of school-aged teens wrapped up in their own dreams lent this story its poignancy. Hitler’s advances rocked the carefree world of a group of adolescent girls. For them, the implications of a world war seem remote given their more immediate preoccupation with peer relationships, fantasy about romance and marriage, including matchmaking their teachers. All this minutiae of day-to-day life is dwarfed by the realities of war, which hit home personally for some of them. The lives of the girls in Matula, Gina’s especially, are irrevocably changed.

Read Abigail. Much awaits the reader within the fortified walls of the Bishop Matula Academy.

I had the joy and privilege of reading this book with the Obscure Group. This erudite group offered much insight into the history of Hungary in WW2, background to Szabo's life, the meanings of Hungarian names, character and plot development. I learned so much from them. Special thanks to Ken Craft who led this motley crew for his tiptop organization of our discussion schedules. ...more

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Apr 01, 2020 JimZ rated it really liked it

I very much liked this novel. I am so thankful that it and “The Door” was translated into English. This book originally came out in 1970–it was re-issued by NYRB in 2020. I have ordered Magda Szabo’s two other books that have been translated and re-issued by NYRB” Iza’s Ballad (1963) and Katalin Street (1969).

Magda Szabo was born in 1917 and died in 2007 (with a book in her hand!). Szabo, whose father taught her to converse with him in Latin, German, English and French, attended the University I very much liked this novel. I am so thankful that it and “The Door” was translated into English. This book originally came out in 1970–it was re-issued by NYRB in 2020. I have ordered Magda Szabo’s two other books that have been translated and re-issued by NYRB” Iza’s Ballad (1963) and Katalin Street (1969).

Magda Szabo was born in 1917 and died in 2007 (with a book in her hand!). Szabo, whose father taught her to converse with him in Latin, German, English and French, attended the University of Debrecen, studying Latin and Hungarian, and went on to work as a teacher throughout the German and Soviet occupations of Hungary in 1944 and 1945. She wrote “Abigail” when she was 60 years old!

This is one of those books where if I reveal much of anything regarding the plot I have given away things that you, the reader, should discover for yourself for part of the joy of reading this book are the surprises that come throughout it.

A skeleton of the plot: Set over six months, from September 1943 to March 1944 when Germany occupies Hungary, Abigail follows the 14-year-old Gina Vitay who is sent to a religious boarding school by her father a widower who is a General in the Hungarian army. The decision to put her in a boarding school came on all of a sudden–the bond between Gina and her father was strong and he does not explain why she has to go and be separated from those she loves. At the Protestant boarding school, she does not get along well with the other students, in part due to her spoiled-girl attitude (she doesn’t want to be there and shows it) and the girls in turn shun her. The teachers are strict. She tries to run away and is caught. There is a statue on the school grounds, a woman with an urn that is called Abigail by the girls at the school. “If you’re in trouble, it said, leave a message with Abigail and help will be on the way. And for Gina, who is in much deeper trouble than she could possibly suspect, a life-changing adventure is only beginning.”

From the Publishers Weekly (starred review): “…Gina Vitay, the headstrong, spoiled lead, is reminiscent of Jane Austen’s Emma…Szabo pairs the psychological insights readers will recognize from the novel “The Door” with action more akin to “Harry Potter”. Gina is one of Szabo’s finest creations.”

I would state on a cautionary note: The translator Len Rix has a 4½-page Introduction that while excellent gives away too much. Go into this with some naivete and I believe it will be much more satisfying. Read the Introduction after you read the novel to gain further insight into it, including the context in which it was written. I hope other GR reviewers have spoiler alerts if they want to spill the beans. This is a 333-page novel, and if one knows the plot and answers to the many questions presented in the novel at the get-go, that will no doubt diminish the reading experience. I like being on tenterhooks while reading a good novel (I want to know what happens next…). I looked forward every time I picked up the book as to what would happen next to Gina and those around her the reader was introduced to. This was a thumping good read! 😊

Reviews: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/bo...
...more

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Jun 12, 2020 Ken rated it it was amazing

Shelves: finished-in-2020, world-literature

I realize that the gateway drug to Magda Szabó is The Door, but I put the cart before the horse by reading this, which may play second fiddle in most of the reading world but apparently is first in the hearts of Szabó's native Hungary.

Fortunately, I dispensed with Dickens and had no Great Expectations, a favor we should extend to every book, really, though it's hard on Goodreads when you're constantly bombarded with 5-star reviews like this. So please, if you read it, understand that this is an I realize that the gateway drug to Magda Szabó is The Door, but I put the cart before the horse by reading this, which may play second fiddle in most of the reading world but apparently is first in the hearts of Szabó's native Hungary.

Fortunately, I dispensed with Dickens and had no Great Expectations, a favor we should extend to every book, really, though it's hard on Goodreads when you're constantly bombarded with 5-star reviews like this. So please, if you read it, understand that this is an "enjoyment" 5-star review, not a "Wow, Can This Author Write Instant Classics" or even a "This Deserves a Place on the All-Time Shelf" 5-star review.

No, none of that. It's a plot book set in Hungary during WWII. Hungary is one of those Eastern European countries that was first run over by the Nazis and later by the Russkies. Here, it's Germany's turn, and the motherless Gina, a spoiled but strong-willed daughter to a Hungarian general, is subjected to the worst sort of nightmare: She is secretly placed (apparently for her own safety) in a fortress-like, Lutheran school called The Bishop Matula.

Cue Hogwarts when she runs afoul of a group of girls, turning the early plot into a Hungarian Mean Girls episode. But it turns out she has bigger problems than them. There's a resistance movement afoot, and her father is in deep, which means SHE'S in deep.

Meanwhile, the title Abigail. It's a statue in the school. Tradition has it that girls in trouble leave notes for Abigail, who actually responds in writing. A lot of mileage is gained in wondering who the hell Abigail really is amongst the staff (if, indeed, it IS a staff member). And what about moles? Does everyone have Gina's best interests in mind in this school? Weird things begin to go down and discerning readers want to know why.

All in all, it brought me back to my youthful days when reading was just old-fashioned fun. Page-turners. Atmosphere in spades. All in the hands of a writer who knows how to tell a story and hook a reader.

So, yeah. I liked it. As much as Mikey likes Life (a dated reference for American readers who saw commercial television in the 1960s -- the rest of you may pass GO and collect $200).

Better yet? I still have The Door (and maybe a few other Szabó's) to walk through. Sweet! ...more

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Aug 07, 2021 Kathleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: translated, women-writers, classic, setting-hungary

“This world of black and white, with all its severity, was a universe away from that outer world of deceit and betrayal, of base conduct, danger and death.”

It is 1943 in Hungary and 14 year old Gina Vitay, adored by her father the General, is happily unaware of the trouble swirling around in her country. Her father knows what is coming though, and whisks her away to be protected in a puritanical boarding school that Gina will come to think of as “the fortress.” She is stubborn and rebellious, bu ...more

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Jun 20, 2020 Cindy Newton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is an engaging coming-of-age tale set in Hungary during the second World War. I wasn't really aware that Hungary had allied with Germany at this time, so I did learn that! Gina is the only child of a general in the Hungarian army. With her mother having died, she is very close to her father. That explains why it comes as such a shock to her to find that he has enrolled her in a school on the other side of the country. Not just any school, either, but the Matula--a school renowned for its st ...more

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Jun 14, 2020 Sue rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle, read-2020, fiction, hungary

Review to come...

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Dec 10, 2023 Kelly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Crazy to think I started this over a year ago, before I even had my citizenship interview. And now I've finished it as I sit in Germany thanks to said interview.

Another amazing read from Szabó Magda. The Door still remains my favorite book and I quite literally think if it nearly weekly. However this is now one of my favorite WW2 reads. The first I've read set in Hungary. Also one of the most clever and 'nonchalant' plots. Many of the tiny mysteries were rather predictable, but I do believe tha ...more

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