Prague

This is a book for those who want to remember what it was like to be young, naïve and romantic in a foreign city. Despite its title, it is also for those who love Budapest and view it as a grand old lady emerging from the shroud of communism. It is totally absorbing and takes you back to the 90s when the glories of eastern Europe were slowly coming to new life.

Wacky Lives of Eccentrics Living in Budapest Post Communism (8/8 people found this helpful)

For a first novel, Arthur Phillips did a fantastic job of capturing the wacky chaotic energy of the lives of several ex-patriate Americans who lived in Budapest, shortly after the demise of Communism. Indeed, the author has captured much of the Hungarian culture and even the personality of the nation in transition from Communism into capitalism. Instead of sunlight shining through a glass window reavealing itself as white light ... this book is more like sunlight captured within a prism and dissolving into a rainbow of colors.

The title of the book reveals the mood in Hungary at the time, that "it is better somewhere else": there is more opportunity, more money, a better life, somewhere else ... John Price is one of the the main characters. He becomes a famous and successful writer for a newspaper, ostensibly run by an Australian editor, but who is really an American faking the accent. Charles (Karoly) Gabor is the American born son of Hungarian immigrants who achieves his goal, to become a large shareholder in a Hungarian business, which became run-down due to mismanagement after Communism. Charles become a business partner with Imre Horvath, the sole surviving heir of this historical publishing house. Imre had fled to Vienna where he created another successful publishing business based on the old Hungarian books published by the original company. However, the price of success became very high as one learns when reading the book. There is a twist to the ending of this novel ... totally unexpected. A great tragedy befell Imre but luckily he survived, with the help of his loyal secretary Krisztina Toldy.

Another eccentric character is, Nadja, an aging jazz singer, who has lived a very exciting life, travelled throughout the world, was married and divorced several times, and had various lovers from all walks of life. However, the question lingers, does she have some dark hidden secret? John Price befriends her at a jazz club where she peforms. He enjoys her zest, zeal and energy for life. John came to Budapest to mend fences with his brother Scott. Scott teaches English to Hungarians in an English language school. Scott becomes romantically involved with Maria, one of his Hungarian students. She has dreams of escaping to the West with him; he has the need to be as far away from his family, especially his brother John, as possible. To Maria's chagrin, instead of going West, they move farther East ... to Transylvania. John carries a torch for Emily, a secretary for the U.S. Embassy, who is strait-laced and very proper. Although, John never quite gets over desiring Emily, he meets Nicky, a successful modern artist, who shaves her head. She is one of the wackiest but most honest characters in the book. Surprisingly, Emily's conservative upbringing melts away as she falls into an unpreditable lifestyle This book is highly recommended for people who like complex stories with unexpected surprise endings.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (10/12 people found this helpful)

Depth is hard to fake. Fortunately, Arthur Phillips's 'Prague,' which is about Gen Xers living in Budapest, doesn't have to fake it too often to be credible. However, the deeper characters, and in particular the foreign ones could be more realistic. Part of this novel is a bit of America 'discovers' Europe (much as Europeans 'discovered' America hundreds of years ago) with the Hungarians standing in as 'noble savages.' That is, Americans often give the impression of not really knowing how to deal with other cultures except as backdrops for their own interests and concerns. The author of this novel is no exception, in fact, sometimes Phillips falls into the trap of insularity even though he lives abroad and should know better. Also, the introductory scene (which features a game called 'sincerity' where the players try to lie to each other and which was supposed to have been invented by one of the characters) is in fact a rip off of a French Canadian game show called "Les Detecteurs de Mensonges". Some of the early sections of the novel need work and Phillips is overly fond of certain turns of phrase such as the trope of an object embracing a subject e.g. "a gold -painted wooden frame embracing a young woman," "she smiled slightly from within the embrace of a large ornate chair," and "he pounded the stamp into the moist red embrace of an open ink pad." His editor should have made him cut one or two of these. It's not all bad though. The sights of Budapest and the bits of Hungarian history that are included are often interesting and accurately rendered. This is a plus. The best line in the book is one describing the gulf war... but I won't spoil it for you.

Arthur Phillips

Reader Reviews:

The iron curtain falls (0/0 people found this helpful)

Wacky Lives of Eccentrics Living in Budapest Post Communism (8/8 people found this helpful)

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (10/12 people found this helpful)

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