Budapest Noir

Vilmos Kondor 2008

(translated from the Hungarian, Paul Olchváry, 2012) (February 2013)

An interesting book in a noir-ish style and an exotic setting, but with some contemporary feeling added. The plot concerns a young middle-class Jewish woman, who turns up dead on the street, and an American-Hungarian reporter who tracks down the nasty family and social circumstances around her death. Although not personally involved in her story, he feels compelled to follow it up and to an extent take a kind of vengeance, both for her and his troubles. There is a range strong female characters with agency, though neither the female nor the male characters are particularly attractive, and the male reporter is the centre of the story. It builds slowly to some rather sharp violence, which is probably in keeping with the style and theme of the story, and the setting of pre-Nazi Hungary. The political scene is a backdrop, and well integrated into the storyline, but not central to the plot. Although very gritty, it does give a memorable picture of the life of the middle and lower classes in a middle-European city in the 1930s.

Wolf Hall

Hillary Mantel, 2009 (January 2013)

Like some, I resisted this a bit at first but became drawn in and look forward to reading more of Mantel. The present tense and sometimes ambiguous second person require a little focus from the reader, but the layered, textured prose rewards attentive reading. This is not history, although it is historical. Mantel's interest is not in telling a story about the 1500s, but in illuminating, perhaps commenting on, themes that are very contemporary. Science, finance and religion, the role of the state, the personal in the political, even urban development are current topics, but Mantel shows that they have a long history and context. Looking at Cromwell as one of the first modern men at a time when European society was breaking out of medievalism is a fascinating take on the differences between our society and its roots. His rationalism and political manipulation, though unpopular, are the unquestioned basis of the modern society. Equally interesting to see Thomas More portrayed as a religious fanatic, and compare that to the modern image of him as a principled moralist standing up against tyranny. As we know, they are not so far apart. I liked the details of daily life in London in 1530, which set the scene but don't become laboured. My principal criticism is that it makes Cromwell into a kind of superman who can do everything. Perhaps in his time he was - perhaps that's what stands between modern and medieval.