Celestial Harmonies by Péter Esterházy

[Diane]

Rating: 4 stars


A lengthy, but somewhat enjoyable, fictionalized history about the author's family. Esterházy's family is one of the noble families of Hungary and linked closely to the Habsburg Empire. The author's humor shines through in this family history. The only thing I found confusing is that in the first part of the book he referred to all the men in his lineage as his father. It was sometimes hard to determine who he was talking about or which time period he was referring to. Also, the stories are highly non-linear and switch from past to present frequently. Furthermore, a lot of his tales make absolutely no sense. The second part of the book presents a much more cohesive and believable view of the author's family, although it, too, sometimes makes no sense.
Overall, an entertaining glimpse into history and into the life of an aristocratic family and the changes they experienced through the years, especially after WWII.

[Gail]

A unique post modern novel that is very Hungarian both in its historical foundations but evidently also in its language use. I, however, had to read it in English.
The author introduces us to the Esterhazy family with it rich history of being Pro Hapsburg and a little anti Hapsburg, but totally committed to building a family fortune that lasted hundreds of years. The first half of the book is done in vignettes that reflect some key themes but not in any formulaic way: the father (any male ancestor), the place of the father in the world at the time the he was alive, how the father and the mother met, how the father abused either the mother, their children or others, how the father triumphed over peers and enemies, how the father was defeated by peers and enemies, how the son did or did not relate to the father and then how the father died. The paragraphs and pages jump all over the 100's of years of the Esterhazy's reign and the reader slowly builds up some knowledge of the family and also Hungarian history from being its own empire, to being part of the Ottoman empire, to being part of Austria-Hungary, to being part of the Soviet Union's satellite system. Previously I had only known of the Esterhazy family being a patron of Haydn during the 1700's and Esterhazy was considered a great patron at the time. However, the family was a great patron of much art and architecture through the years but was also sometimes a complete terror to the laborers under their control.
The second half of the book stays closer to the autobiographical and speaks to the author's boyhood and the impact of the brief communist rule in 1919 to his grandfather and then how World War II and the communist rise to power after the war impacted his father. The narrator's father was born into extreme affluence and ended up being an unskilled laborer while being labeled an enemy of the people. Yet, the narrator gives everyone a certain amount of dignity and gives the situation a great deal of humor. For example; the boy is horrified to learn that Hungary was on the side of Germany during WWII. Being born in the 50's, he assumed that his father had fought against the Germans and for Russia.
I read this over a rather long period of time and I think I would have done better reading it straight through as I may have remembered more of the history. However, at 840 pages I just had to read it when I could. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

[Amanda]

I went with 3 stars for this one. I found the premise to be intriguing, but thought the actual writing could have been a but more engaging overall. On the micro level I did find it contained a lot of interesting morsels (some of the ones I noted are the ones Gail has described above as well), but on the whole felt a bit listless and unfocused. It fortunately wasn't a "everything about being nobility was good until communism was bad" kind of overdone narrative, but it never felt to me like it truly reflected on either of these dynamics either.