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Fever at Dawn
In this improbably joyous novel about two recovering concentration camp survivors, love is the best medicine.
July 1945. Miklos is a twenty-five-year-old Hungarian who has survived the camps and has been brought to Sweden to convalesce. His doctor has just given him a death sentence — his lungs are filled with fluid and in six months he will be gone. But Miklos has other plans. He didn't survive the war only to drown from within, and so he wages war on his own fate. He acquires the names of the 117 Hungarian women also recovering in Sweden, and he writes a letter to each of them in his beautiful cursive hand. One of these women, he is sure, will become his wife. In another part of the country, Lili reads his letter and decides to write back. For the next few months, the two engage in a funny, absurd, hopeful epistolary dance. Eventually, they find a way to meet. Based on the true story of Péter Gárdos's parents, and drawn from their letters, Fever at Dawn is a vibrant, ribald, and unforgettable tale, showing the death-defying power of the human will to live and to love.
July 1945. Miklos is a twenty-five-year-old Hungarian who has survived the camps and has been brought to Sweden to convalesce. His doctor has just given him a death sentence — his lungs are filled with fluid and in six months he will be gone. But Miklos has other plans. He didn't survive the war only to drown from within, and so he wages war on his own fate. He acquires the names of the 117 Hungarian women also recovering in Sweden, and he writes a letter to each of them in his beautiful cursive hand. One of these women, he is sure, will become his wife. In another part of the country, Lili reads his letter and decides to write back. For the next few months, the two engage in a funny, absurd, hopeful epistolary dance. Eventually, they find a way to meet. Based on the true story of Péter Gárdos's parents, and drawn from their letters, Fever at Dawn is a vibrant, ribald, and unforgettable tale, showing the death-defying power of the human will to live and to love.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
80 people are currently reading
2,449 people want to read
About the author
Péter Gárdos
6 books29 followersPéter Gárdos was born in Budapest in 1948. He is a multiple-award-winning film and theatre director.
As a director he has received more than twenty international awards at major film festivals, among them the Jury’s Special Award at the Montreal Film Festival and the Golden Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival.
Based on the true story of his parents, Fever at Dawn is his first novel.
As a director he has received more than twenty international awards at major film festivals, among them the Jury’s Special Award at the Montreal Film Festival and the Golden Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival.
Based on the true story of his parents, Fever at Dawn is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 434 reviews
July 20, 2018
A delightful love story of Jewish survivors from the concentration camps after WW II. The author is a Hungarian film director and the book is translated from the Hungarian. He based the story on love letters between his parents that he found after their deaths.
Sweden had taken in hundreds of survivors from the camps and housed them in men’s and women’s facilities. His parents were both recovering from severe malnutrition and disease; in fact his father’s diagnosis from TB gave him six months to live but his father refused to believe that. He started looking for a wife by sending hand-written letters to 117 women from the area where he grew up. He won one woman over with his letters. They met months later because their re-hab facilities in Sweden were hundreds of miles apart, and eventually they married.
The story contains many quotes from their letters back and forth. We do not learn about the horrors of the camps except in shocking snippets. For example we learn that his father was forced to burn bodies of victims at Bergen-Belsen and that his mother was pulled out of a pile of dead bodies when the camp was liberated and a doctor happened to notice a finger move in the pile.
An uplifting story of love and survival told with tenderness and humor.
Group photograph of Jewish female survivors of Bergen-Belsen, now convalescing in Sweden http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur...
posted by Helen Laks
Sweden had taken in hundreds of survivors from the camps and housed them in men’s and women’s facilities. His parents were both recovering from severe malnutrition and disease; in fact his father’s diagnosis from TB gave him six months to live but his father refused to believe that. He started looking for a wife by sending hand-written letters to 117 women from the area where he grew up. He won one woman over with his letters. They met months later because their re-hab facilities in Sweden were hundreds of miles apart, and eventually they married.
The story contains many quotes from their letters back and forth. We do not learn about the horrors of the camps except in shocking snippets. For example we learn that his father was forced to burn bodies of victims at Bergen-Belsen and that his mother was pulled out of a pile of dead bodies when the camp was liberated and a doctor happened to notice a finger move in the pile.
An uplifting story of love and survival told with tenderness and humor.
Group photograph of Jewish female survivors of Bergen-Belsen, now convalescing in Sweden http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur...
posted by Helen Laks
May 3, 2019
Scurt și înduioșător!
"- Ați trecut prin lucruri groaznice. Ați supraviețuit. Ați supraviețuit, Miklós! Să nu cumva să renunțați tocmai acum, la capătul cursei!"
"- Ați trecut prin lucruri groaznice. Ați supraviețuit. Ați supraviețuit, Miklós! Să nu cumva să renunțați tocmai acum, la capătul cursei!"
March 31, 2016
I struggled with how to properly convey my thoughts about this book.
"Fever at Dawn" is a fictionalized account about the love story of author Peter Gardos's parents, Miklos and Lili, who are both Holocaust survivors. After being liberated from their separate concentration camps, Miklos and Lili are each taken to Sweden where they are sent to recuperate in hospitals. Miklos learns that having survived the Nazis, he has developed a virulent tuberculosis which will claim his life in 6 months or less. Deciding he has no time to lose, Miklos begins a letter writing campaign to introduce himself all the displaced Hungarian Jewish women in Sweden, which is how he meets Lili.
While their real-life story deserves 5+++ stars, the book doesn't quite measure up. There were moments of whimsy, humor, and at times a feeling of hope, but in general the book felt choppy and dull. Originally written in Hungarian, it seems that something -- the language, tone, or flow -- was lost in translation.
2.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
"Fever at Dawn" is a fictionalized account about the love story of author Peter Gardos's parents, Miklos and Lili, who are both Holocaust survivors. After being liberated from their separate concentration camps, Miklos and Lili are each taken to Sweden where they are sent to recuperate in hospitals. Miklos learns that having survived the Nazis, he has developed a virulent tuberculosis which will claim his life in 6 months or less. Deciding he has no time to lose, Miklos begins a letter writing campaign to introduce himself all the displaced Hungarian Jewish women in Sweden, which is how he meets Lili.
While their real-life story deserves 5+++ stars, the book doesn't quite measure up. There were moments of whimsy, humor, and at times a feeling of hope, but in general the book felt choppy and dull. Originally written in Hungarian, it seems that something -- the language, tone, or flow -- was lost in translation.
2.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 16, 2016
"Dear Nora, Dear Erzsébet, Dear Lili, Dear Zsuzsa, Dear Sára, Dear Seréna, Dear Ágnes, Dear Giza, Dear Baba, Dear Katalin, Dear Judit, Dear Gabriella… You are probably used to strangers chatting you up when you speak Hungarian, for no better reason than they are Hungarian too. We men can be so bad-mannered. For example, I addressed you by your first name on the pretext that we grew up in the same town. I don’t know whether you already know me from Debrecen."
117 of these letters were sent out to young Hungarian Jewish women by Miklós in the hope of finding himself a wife before he dies. He has just been diagnosed with tuberculosis and while his doctor has given him only a few months to live, "he can't just let it 'go' after having survived the war."
10 of those women respond, and Lili is the one he attaches to.
In the following months these two have set up a whole correspondence going back and forth and are ready to take it to the next level.
"He couldn’t help himself. He took great joy in the process of writing; it helped him understand things, and he was genuinely curious about the lives of these girls."
Based on the story of Gárdos' parents, it makes for an charming story. The writing was good, althought there was a certain lack of cohesiveness. At times it looked like several letters were missing in the correspondence, as the couple's reactions for example, was either too exaggerated or too aloof for the status the relationsship should have been at that point.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and entertaining read.
Review copy supplied by publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a rating and/or review.
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April 12, 2016Copy received courtesy of NetGalley
It’s so rare that Hungarian or Polish or Estonian writers get translated into English that I’m always keeping an eye out for works from that portion of the continent. So when notice came up on NetGalley of this one, “translated from Hungarian,” I decided to take a chance. Even thought that meant my rule of avoiding fiction about the Holocaust.
But in a way, I haven’t broken my rule, because this book reads like the fictional overlay is so light as to be ephemeral; it’s based on the love letters exchanged between the author’s parents, found by him after his father’s death. He had never been told their story—a silence that I have discovered in meeting children of survivors that is not unusual at all.
It’s three weeks after the end of World War II, and Miklos, one of just over two hundred concentration camp survivors, is being shipped to Sweden for hospitalization. He’s a mess—no teeth, bashed in face, weighing about 64 pounds, and coughing up blood.
But when he gets to the hospital, he has written to the Swedish Office for Refugees, and obtains the names of 117 Hungarian young women whom various hospitals are trying to bring back to life.
Miklos has exquisite handwriting, and he sends letters to all 117 of them, because he wants to get married. And out of the few who write back to him, he decides that Lili is the one for him, and sets about trying to woo her by letter, while meanwhile dealing with the fact that the doctors give him six months to live and try to talk him out of it.
Eighteen-year-old Lili, in her hospital, is a bit of a pet of her doctor, who watches carefully over her; we find out later that she lay with hundreds of starved-to-death concentration camp victims when her camp was liberated. But the doctor happened to turn, happened to look, and caught the movement of her finger.
Now she has kidney problems, but she, too, ignores those as she befriends two young women who talk about love, men, and put together concerts for fellow women but which end up packed by male patients as well. One encourages her to answer the letter and look for romance, the other does with ambivalence—and is increasingly dismayed as the unlikely friendship develops, and does her best to torpedo it.
The story switches back and forth between the two, with excerpts from their letters. The form is somewhat choppy—the novel reads like a novelized screenplay, except the details are poignantly, sometimes painfully, often hilariously real. The voice is humorous, but the truth resonating from some of the details never lets the reader forget the horror of those relatively few years that shaped the rest of their lives, and had so strong an impact on their children. Like, Lili being excited to transfer to a new hospital, until she sees that it has a tall central smoke stack. Detials like that hit hard in the otherwise warm, vivid flow.
When Miklos gets on the train to meet Lili at last, one of the lenses of his glasses is broken, so he stuffs the frame with newspaper, never giving it a second thought.
I suspect that to get the full impact of many of the casually thrown away details the reader needs to be aware of how concentration camps were run, and after the war was over, the fact that there were some twenty million displaces persons in Europe, most of them with nothing left but the ragged clothes they stood up in. And how stressed the war-exhausted nations—like Sweden—were, yet still they managed to find ways to take in these broken people, nurse them to health, and try to find the remnants of their families and homes.
The details are sometimes hilariously haphazard, underscoring how, in spite of the excruciating mental, physical, emotional cost of their experience, there is still a strong yearning for hope, for life. These people want to live, like Miklos’s friend, who is worried that he can’t get an erection as he wants to find a woman; but there are limits. Another, lugubrious, man receives notice that his wife is alive after all, and the entire dormitory parades around singing to celebrate with him . . . but Miklos had heard witnesses say that she’d been shot down by SS guards, and he can’t bear to speak up.
Though Miklos and Lili, and their vividly evoked friends, are at the center, the backbone of the story is Rabbi Emil Kronheim, who travels endlessly, calling on Jews to help them if he can, or just to listen. There is a powerful conversation between Miklos and the Rabbi later in the book, about being Jewish and God; Miklos is an atheist and a communist (a very enthusiastic communist, which opens up another door into painful poignancy because we know what’s going to happen with respect to the Iron Curtain), and the Rabbi exhorts him not to turn away from his fellow Jews, God or no God. And he exerts himself on behalf of this couple.
Likewise, Lili had on her rescue thrown away her Jewish background and claimed a random Catholic name for her mother, which resulted in her being fostered by a Catholic family. Of course the Refugee office can’t find her mother under the false name . . . and therein is yet another short but powerful, poignant bit when Lili’s mother comes into the story.
To conclude, the book is not long, and its form is episodic, told in an often-tongue-in-cheek manner, but it has stayed with me in the several weeks since my reading. I particularly recommend it to readers who enjoyed The Hare with Amber Eyes.
It’s so rare that Hungarian or Polish or Estonian writers get translated into English that I’m always keeping an eye out for works from that portion of the continent. So when notice came up on NetGalley of this one, “translated from Hungarian,” I decided to take a chance. Even thought that meant my rule of avoiding fiction about the Holocaust.
But in a way, I haven’t broken my rule, because this book reads like the fictional overlay is so light as to be ephemeral; it’s based on the love letters exchanged between the author’s parents, found by him after his father’s death. He had never been told their story—a silence that I have discovered in meeting children of survivors that is not unusual at all.
It’s three weeks after the end of World War II, and Miklos, one of just over two hundred concentration camp survivors, is being shipped to Sweden for hospitalization. He’s a mess—no teeth, bashed in face, weighing about 64 pounds, and coughing up blood.
But when he gets to the hospital, he has written to the Swedish Office for Refugees, and obtains the names of 117 Hungarian young women whom various hospitals are trying to bring back to life.
Miklos has exquisite handwriting, and he sends letters to all 117 of them, because he wants to get married. And out of the few who write back to him, he decides that Lili is the one for him, and sets about trying to woo her by letter, while meanwhile dealing with the fact that the doctors give him six months to live and try to talk him out of it.
Eighteen-year-old Lili, in her hospital, is a bit of a pet of her doctor, who watches carefully over her; we find out later that she lay with hundreds of starved-to-death concentration camp victims when her camp was liberated. But the doctor happened to turn, happened to look, and caught the movement of her finger.
Now she has kidney problems, but she, too, ignores those as she befriends two young women who talk about love, men, and put together concerts for fellow women but which end up packed by male patients as well. One encourages her to answer the letter and look for romance, the other does with ambivalence—and is increasingly dismayed as the unlikely friendship develops, and does her best to torpedo it.
The story switches back and forth between the two, with excerpts from their letters. The form is somewhat choppy—the novel reads like a novelized screenplay, except the details are poignantly, sometimes painfully, often hilariously real. The voice is humorous, but the truth resonating from some of the details never lets the reader forget the horror of those relatively few years that shaped the rest of their lives, and had so strong an impact on their children. Like, Lili being excited to transfer to a new hospital, until she sees that it has a tall central smoke stack. Detials like that hit hard in the otherwise warm, vivid flow.
When Miklos gets on the train to meet Lili at last, one of the lenses of his glasses is broken, so he stuffs the frame with newspaper, never giving it a second thought.
I suspect that to get the full impact of many of the casually thrown away details the reader needs to be aware of how concentration camps were run, and after the war was over, the fact that there were some twenty million displaces persons in Europe, most of them with nothing left but the ragged clothes they stood up in. And how stressed the war-exhausted nations—like Sweden—were, yet still they managed to find ways to take in these broken people, nurse them to health, and try to find the remnants of their families and homes.
The details are sometimes hilariously haphazard, underscoring how, in spite of the excruciating mental, physical, emotional cost of their experience, there is still a strong yearning for hope, for life. These people want to live, like Miklos’s friend, who is worried that he can’t get an erection as he wants to find a woman; but there are limits. Another, lugubrious, man receives notice that his wife is alive after all, and the entire dormitory parades around singing to celebrate with him . . . but Miklos had heard witnesses say that she’d been shot down by SS guards, and he can’t bear to speak up.
Though Miklos and Lili, and their vividly evoked friends, are at the center, the backbone of the story is Rabbi Emil Kronheim, who travels endlessly, calling on Jews to help them if he can, or just to listen. There is a powerful conversation between Miklos and the Rabbi later in the book, about being Jewish and God; Miklos is an atheist and a communist (a very enthusiastic communist, which opens up another door into painful poignancy because we know what’s going to happen with respect to the Iron Curtain), and the Rabbi exhorts him not to turn away from his fellow Jews, God or no God. And he exerts himself on behalf of this couple.
Likewise, Lili had on her rescue thrown away her Jewish background and claimed a random Catholic name for her mother, which resulted in her being fostered by a Catholic family. Of course the Refugee office can’t find her mother under the false name . . . and therein is yet another short but powerful, poignant bit when Lili’s mother comes into the story.
To conclude, the book is not long, and its form is episodic, told in an often-tongue-in-cheek manner, but it has stayed with me in the several weeks since my reading. I particularly recommend it to readers who enjoyed The Hare with Amber Eyes.
January 20, 2016
Fever at Dawn is the first novel by award-winning Hungarian film and theatre director, Peter Gardos. It is based on the true story of how his parents met just after the Second World War. Miklos has survived Belsen; he has survived (just) the journey by ship to Sweden. At the refugee hospital on Gotland, Dr Lindholm examines his X-rays and gives him the bad news: he will only survive another six or seven months.
But Miklos is determined. He does some research and begins his campaign to find a wife: 117 identical letters to young female Hungarian refugees in Sweden. Replies arrive, but Miklos is quickly certain that Lili is the woman he will marry. Convincing her is one thing; convincing the bureaucracy overseeing the refugees is another thing entirely.
The fact that this is based on the true story of the author’s parents guarantees the reader a happy ending, but the journey is one well worth making. Gardos describes life in a post-war refugee camp: the scarcity of luxury items; the friendships made between the refugees themselves and with the staff; the restrictions on travel; the creative entertainments (games, concerts, dances) devised to fight boredom; and the elation or heartbreak that news from Hungary could bring.
As Miklos sets out to woo his beloved and overcome the bureaucracy’s inflexible rules, his resourcefulness and persistence comes to the fore. The letters and poetry that Miklos write for Lili are truly delightful. This is a slow and steady courtship conducted by letter (that often end chastely with “I send you a long warm handshake”), by telephone and by chaperoned visits. Three little chocolate cakes, some ugly grey wool and a length of material suitable for a winter coat are the tokens of love that Miklos takes with him when he finally goes to meet Lili for the first time.
This heart-warming tale, flawlessly translated from the original Hungarian by Elizabeth Szasz, is an uplifting and entertaining read: there is love, there is jealousy and betrayal and there is plenty of humour. There is also some lovely descriptive prose: “The fever, as stealthy as a thief, crept up, stole his confidence, and then vanished in the half-light of dawn” is just one example. Apparently, Gardos has also made a feature film of this story: readers can be sure that in this case the movie will be faithful to the book. Recommended!
But Miklos is determined. He does some research and begins his campaign to find a wife: 117 identical letters to young female Hungarian refugees in Sweden. Replies arrive, but Miklos is quickly certain that Lili is the woman he will marry. Convincing her is one thing; convincing the bureaucracy overseeing the refugees is another thing entirely.
The fact that this is based on the true story of the author’s parents guarantees the reader a happy ending, but the journey is one well worth making. Gardos describes life in a post-war refugee camp: the scarcity of luxury items; the friendships made between the refugees themselves and with the staff; the restrictions on travel; the creative entertainments (games, concerts, dances) devised to fight boredom; and the elation or heartbreak that news from Hungary could bring.
As Miklos sets out to woo his beloved and overcome the bureaucracy’s inflexible rules, his resourcefulness and persistence comes to the fore. The letters and poetry that Miklos write for Lili are truly delightful. This is a slow and steady courtship conducted by letter (that often end chastely with “I send you a long warm handshake”), by telephone and by chaperoned visits. Three little chocolate cakes, some ugly grey wool and a length of material suitable for a winter coat are the tokens of love that Miklos takes with him when he finally goes to meet Lili for the first time.
This heart-warming tale, flawlessly translated from the original Hungarian by Elizabeth Szasz, is an uplifting and entertaining read: there is love, there is jealousy and betrayal and there is plenty of humour. There is also some lovely descriptive prose: “The fever, as stealthy as a thief, crept up, stole his confidence, and then vanished in the half-light of dawn” is just one example. Apparently, Gardos has also made a feature film of this story: readers can be sure that in this case the movie will be faithful to the book. Recommended!
April 21, 2018
Not going to lie, I picked up a physical copy of this book for £1 at my local Waterstones store, having absolutely no idea what it was about (research rule broken there Alice!) but since it was set during WW2 and involved the use of letters, I was interested to see what Fever at Dawn had to offer. Translated from the original Hungarian, it is based off of the true experiences of the author Peter Gardos and his parents, basically, it's the love story between his parents. At the end of WW2, Miklos is told that he only has six months left to live, he is in a hospital ward but has a dream to get married. Soon, he writes over a hundred letters to over a hundred girls to see which ones would reply. One of the ones that does is Lili, whose parents are still missing after she was deported to a concentration camp. Using real extracts from their letters, Fever at Dawn was an interesting tale, however, the pacing wasn't smooth with some of the writing being quite choppy and difficult to connect with. This book has been made into a film which I am interested to watch and feel, I would enjoy that more rather than the written novel. The emotional connection was not there for me.
February 24, 2018
Một câu chuyện rất đặc biệt và khác thường ở chỗ anh nam chính thả thính theo cách công nghiệp với thần thái tự tin đậm chất Hungary =))
February 6, 2019
"Febră în zori" este un roman dulce-amărui, care n-are cum să nu te surprindă. Încep prin a spune că mi-a plăcut mult stilul scriitorului Péter Gárdos. Pe parcurs, parcă am simţit că este scris de un autor american, ceea ce m-a încântat. Am mai încercat să citesc "Febră în zori" acum câteva luni, însă am renunţat după primele pagini, deoarece povestea e spusă din perspectiva fiului personajului principal, ceea ce e puţin bulversant. Mă bucur că l-am reluat, n-a fost o pierdere de vreme. Cu toate că este un roman scurt, au fost scene care m-au impresionat, dar cea mai semnificativă, care o să-mi rămână mult timp în minte şi în suflet, este scena cu materialul pentru viitorul palton al lui Lili, soţia lui Miklós. Introspecţia a fost realizată cu luciditate, naratorul a pătruns prin cele mai întunecate cotloane ale minţii personajului. M-a emoţionat povestea de dragoste dintre cei doi protagonişti, pentru că este una atipică, originală. Scrisorile, o formă uitată de comunicare, au farmecul lor. Cât mi-aş dori să dau timpul înapoi, pe vreme când încă erau la modă scrisorile... Cred că prin intermediul scrisului îţi poţi da seama de multe lucruri. În altă ordine de idei, partea medicală nu m-a plictisit, a fost o parte esenţială pentru poveste.
Am stat ceva timp şi m-am gândit şi răzgândit dacă să notez romanul cu 4 sau cu 5 stele. M-am decis să-i acord 4 stele, pentru că este scurt.
Am stat ceva timp şi m-am gândit şi răzgândit dacă să notez romanul cu 4 sau cu 5 stele. M-am decis să-i acord 4 stele, pentru că este scurt.
June 25, 2017
Uma escrita boa mas ficou só por aí. Tive um claro problema com as expectativas que depositei na história. Esperava algo mais sobre o holocausto e isso não aconteceu. Ainda bem que o livro é curto mas, se não provavelmente não o teria terminado. Mas aconselho a quem gosta de uma boa história de amor do tempo dos nossos avós.
June 4, 2017
”La prânz, în timpul mesei, tot la tine m-am gândit, pentru că ne-au dat sos de roșii și știu că ție îți place foarte mult.
Dragul meu copilaș, te iubesc atât de mult!”
Dragul meu copilaș, te iubesc atât de mult!”
February 20, 2017
A minha opinião em vídeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kktdb...
Era um livro para qual tinha imensas expectativas e fiquei um pouco desiludida.
Achei-o grande demais para a história que conta. Não criei empatia com as personagens.
Era um livro para qual tinha imensas expectativas e fiquei um pouco desiludida.
Achei-o grande demais para a história que conta. Não criei empatia com as personagens.
March 6, 2017
Quando a mãe de Péter Gárdos, realizador húngaro de 68 anos, lhe entregou um conjunto de cartas que havia trocado com o falecido marido e pai de Péter, ele não imaginava a riqueza que estava prestes a descobrir. As cartas contavam a história de como os dois se conheceram e apaixonaram, mas não só; eram também o registo das vicissitudes por que muitos húngaros judeus passaram no pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial. Apesar de se terem mantido guardadas e intocadas ao longo de décadas, Péter Gárdos achou que continham uma história que merecia ser contada e o que inicialmente começou por ser um guião para um filme, acabou por se transformar num romance, o primeiro do autor.
Carta à mulher do meu futuro conta então a história dos pais do autor, desde a altura em que Miklós chegou à Suécia após o final da Segunda Guerra Mundial, bastante debilitado, após ter estado no campo de concentração de Bergen-Belsen. Devido a problemas pulmonares, não lhe são dados mais do que seis meses de vida, mas ao invés de desesperar, Miklós decide viver o pouco tempo que lhe resta correspondendo-se com mulheres húngaras que também se encontravam na Suécia, em hospitais ou campos de refugiados. Das respostas obtidas, é com Lili que Miklós mais gosta de trocar cartas e a relação dos dois desenvolve-se ao ponto de os dois se apaixonarem e desejarem conhecer-se pessoalmente.
Para além da história de amor central e das peripécias que a acompanham, Péter Gárdos dá ao leitor várias pistas para compreendermos a realidade dos judeus húngaros naquela época. O Holocausto é uma força invisível que marca a sua presença, pelas marcas que deixou nos protagonistas, ainda que não seja, de todo, o foco deste livro. Mas por todo o estigma de ser-se judeu, Lili e Miklós chegaram a considerar converter-se ao catolicismo.
Pelo meio do relato da história dos dois, encontram-se excertos reais e intocados das palavras que trocaram por correspondência. A história que falta foi produzida pelo autor, com ajuda das recordações da mãe ou de deduções/reinvenções da sua parte, sendo o resultado final de tom jornalístico e algo condensado – o que provavelmente tem a ver com a faceta de guionista/realizador de Péter Gárdos. A história aqui contada é muito bonita e, por isso, pareceu-me que teria merecido um tratamento mais literário, o que eventualmente resultaria num texto ao qual o leitor se sentisse mais ligado a nível emocional.
Ainda que considere que existem algumas falhas na forma que o autor escolheu para contar esta história, é inegável que merece ser contada e dada a conhecer ao mundo. A Segunda Guerra Mundial e o Holocausto influenciaram a vida de tantas pessoas, de tantas e variadas formas, que continua a ser de extrema importância conhecê-las e recordá-las. Só por isso já vale a pena.
Carta à mulher do meu futuro conta então a história dos pais do autor, desde a altura em que Miklós chegou à Suécia após o final da Segunda Guerra Mundial, bastante debilitado, após ter estado no campo de concentração de Bergen-Belsen. Devido a problemas pulmonares, não lhe são dados mais do que seis meses de vida, mas ao invés de desesperar, Miklós decide viver o pouco tempo que lhe resta correspondendo-se com mulheres húngaras que também se encontravam na Suécia, em hospitais ou campos de refugiados. Das respostas obtidas, é com Lili que Miklós mais gosta de trocar cartas e a relação dos dois desenvolve-se ao ponto de os dois se apaixonarem e desejarem conhecer-se pessoalmente.
Para além da história de amor central e das peripécias que a acompanham, Péter Gárdos dá ao leitor várias pistas para compreendermos a realidade dos judeus húngaros naquela época. O Holocausto é uma força invisível que marca a sua presença, pelas marcas que deixou nos protagonistas, ainda que não seja, de todo, o foco deste livro. Mas por todo o estigma de ser-se judeu, Lili e Miklós chegaram a considerar converter-se ao catolicismo.
Pelo meio do relato da história dos dois, encontram-se excertos reais e intocados das palavras que trocaram por correspondência. A história que falta foi produzida pelo autor, com ajuda das recordações da mãe ou de deduções/reinvenções da sua parte, sendo o resultado final de tom jornalístico e algo condensado – o que provavelmente tem a ver com a faceta de guionista/realizador de Péter Gárdos. A história aqui contada é muito bonita e, por isso, pareceu-me que teria merecido um tratamento mais literário, o que eventualmente resultaria num texto ao qual o leitor se sentisse mais ligado a nível emocional.
Ainda que considere que existem algumas falhas na forma que o autor escolheu para contar esta história, é inegável que merece ser contada e dada a conhecer ao mundo. A Segunda Guerra Mundial e o Holocausto influenciaram a vida de tantas pessoas, de tantas e variadas formas, que continua a ser de extrema importância conhecê-las e recordá-las. Só por isso já vale a pena.
September 26, 2016
Unkarilaisen dokumentaristin Péter Gárdosin 117 kirjettä kuulosti niin herkältä, kun luin kirjan arvion Ullan blogista. Kirjan tarina on uskomaton ja kirjan kansikuva on varmasti kauneimpia mitä olen koskaan nähnyt. Kirjan tarina on Gárdosin vanhempien rakkaustarina. He molemmat selvisivät keskitysleireiltä noin kahdenkymmenen kilon painoisina luurankoina ja kuljetettiin Ruotsiin kuntoutukseen. Gárdosin isä sai kuolemantuomion saapuessaan Ruotsiin, lääkäri antoi elinaikaa vain kuusi kuukautta huonojen keuhkojen vuoksi. Siitä huolimatta tämä lahjakas runoilija ja lehtimies halusi kirjeiden avulla löytää itselleen vaimon. Ruotsiin oli lähetetty myös unkarilaisia naisia kuntoutukseen, joiden joukosta Miklós halusi löytää puolisonsa. 18-vuotias Lili oli yksi heistä, joka sai kirjeen.
October 2, 2016
Al principio iba a darle tres estrellas porque el inicio es algo lento y confuso. Además imaginaba que iba a ser todo epistolar pero tan sólo consta de pequeños extractos de cartas y ello chocó con las expectativas que yo llevaba. Pero las últimas 100 páginas (es una novela no muy extensa) me han gustado mucho y me han dejado ver todo el encanto de la historia que está basada en hechos reales.
January 17, 2016
2.5 I'm a little 'meh' about this one. It's sweet and funny but it's fairly light. The tone was good but the writing (or perhaps translation) didn't do anything for me. A holocaust survivor love story crossed with How I Met Your Mother. It will find an audience I'm sure but isn't really my thing.
June 23, 2024
*bookclub*
Priča o istinskoj i istinitoj ljubavi.
Zanimljivo je to što je knjigu napisao sin na temelju pisama svojih roditelja.
Jedino mi se nije svidio način pisanja, osobno više volim jednostavniji leksik.
Priča o istinskoj i istinitoj ljubavi.
Zanimljivo je to što je knjigu napisao sin na temelju pisama svojih roditelja.
Jedino mi se nije svidio način pisanja, osobno više volim jednostavniji leksik.
June 30, 2016
An utterly charming novel based on a true story of the courtship of the authors parents, young Hungarian survivors of the concentration camps post WW2.
The novel takes place during six months that Miklos ad Lili were letter correspondents, Miklos who'd survived the camps ws diagnosed with TB ad told he had only 6 months to live. He writes 117 letters to young women convalesing in hospitals in Sweden, where many of the Hungarian survivors were being taken care of after the horrors of their wartime experience. He settles on Lili as the one and over those sic months they get to know each other through their correspondence and develop a tentative affection for each other.
Gárdos has written a heart-warming, unsentimental account of their relationship and of the characters that surrounded the two young people during this time, their copatriots, the doctors and nurses and the Rabbi who received letters from a concerned friend of Lili, intent on stopping the liason.
It has both touching and tragic moments as all these young people wait for news of their families and loved ones, moments the author resists exploiting which could have made this a much more emotionally charged novel and will no doubt make it a heart rending film, instead he focuses as much on the lighter, more positive moments, the desire to overcome the death sentence, to survive and the importance that the promise of love and the support and solidarity of others contributes to it.
Highly recommended.
The novel takes place during six months that Miklos ad Lili were letter correspondents, Miklos who'd survived the camps ws diagnosed with TB ad told he had only 6 months to live. He writes 117 letters to young women convalesing in hospitals in Sweden, where many of the Hungarian survivors were being taken care of after the horrors of their wartime experience. He settles on Lili as the one and over those sic months they get to know each other through their correspondence and develop a tentative affection for each other.
Gárdos has written a heart-warming, unsentimental account of their relationship and of the characters that surrounded the two young people during this time, their copatriots, the doctors and nurses and the Rabbi who received letters from a concerned friend of Lili, intent on stopping the liason.
It has both touching and tragic moments as all these young people wait for news of their families and loved ones, moments the author resists exploiting which could have made this a much more emotionally charged novel and will no doubt make it a heart rending film, instead he focuses as much on the lighter, more positive moments, the desire to overcome the death sentence, to survive and the importance that the promise of love and the support and solidarity of others contributes to it.
Highly recommended.
February 22, 2017
8 de 10*
Achei "Carta à Mulher do Meu Futuro" um livro muito tocante. Sendo baseado em factos reais, a capacidade do ser humano de procurar o amor depois de passar por uma experiência tão traumática como foram os campos de concentração, conseguiu surpreender-me.
Comentário completo em:
http://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.pt/...
Achei "Carta à Mulher do Meu Futuro" um livro muito tocante. Sendo baseado em factos reais, a capacidade do ser humano de procurar o amor depois de passar por uma experiência tão traumática como foram os campos de concentração, conseguiu surpreender-me.
Comentário completo em:
http://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.pt/...
April 15, 2016
Há histórias de amor, nascidas em ambientes fatais, que merecem ser dadas a conhecer ao mundo. Mesmo na toxicidade do Holocausto, registado nos últimos anos com mais incidência em dezenas de romances, foi possível encontrar uma das mais belas histórias de amor.
“Carta à mulher do meu futuro”
(Alfaguara, 2016) é a primeira aventura do realizador e encenador Péter Gardos na literatura. Tal como o escritor húngaro confessou, nunca faltaram histórias sobre as suas aventuras e sobre a sua família para dar origem a grandes produções cinematográficas, mas a correspondência entre os seus pais deu origem a um dos melhores romances lançado para as livrarias portuguesas.
Até à morte do pai, a experiência familiar do Holocausto era um assunto intocado. Em entrevista ao Observador, Gardos confessou que foi na infância – e com alguma violência – que tomou conhecimento da sua origem judaica, ao receber um bofetada do progenitor como castigo por tornar um jovem rapaz como alvo de chacota por “pertencer àquela raça tão odiada”. Sem nunca ter conversado sobre a experiência no Holocausto, cresceu sem saber como se conheceram os progenitores, imaginando que o encontro tinha acontecido “num hospital onde os dois doentes se encontram no corredor e se apaixonam um pelo outro”. Só três anos após a morte do pai tomou conhecimento das cartas trocadas. O caminho percorrido em “Carta à mulher do meu futuro” foi em direcção ao pai, um homem com “um sentido e humor fantástico, uma grande ironia” que não conheceu realmente em vida.
O primeiro romance de Gárdos conta a história real de dois sobreviventes à Segunda Guerra Mundial. Ao sobreviver ao campo de concentração de Bergen-Belsen, o jovem húngaro Miklós é levado para um campo de concentração na Suécia com uma sentença fatal: ser portador de tuberculose faz com que lhe restem unicamente seis meses de vida pela frente. Lili Reich, a mãe do autor, entra em cena a partir do momento em que Miklós decide fazer frente ao seu destino: ao tomar conhecimento de 117 mulheres da sua terra a viver em campos de refugiados, decidiu enviar cartas a todas para encontrar o amor da sua vida. Das poucas cartas de resposta que obteve, a única que lhe despertou a atenção foi a da jovem Lili. De uma troca de correspondência intensa e de alguns encontros, nasce uma incrível história de amor contada por Peter Gárdos. Uma correspondência inicialmente tímida, como “uma espécie de dança inicial”, dá origem a cartas mais intensas e apaixonantes.
Continuar a ler o artigo no website Deus Me Livro: http://deusmelivro.com/mil-folhas/car...
Até à morte do pai, a experiência familiar do Holocausto era um assunto intocado. Em entrevista ao Observador, Gardos confessou que foi na infância – e com alguma violência – que tomou conhecimento da sua origem judaica, ao receber um bofetada do progenitor como castigo por tornar um jovem rapaz como alvo de chacota por “pertencer àquela raça tão odiada”. Sem nunca ter conversado sobre a experiência no Holocausto, cresceu sem saber como se conheceram os progenitores, imaginando que o encontro tinha acontecido “num hospital onde os dois doentes se encontram no corredor e se apaixonam um pelo outro”. Só três anos após a morte do pai tomou conhecimento das cartas trocadas. O caminho percorrido em “Carta à mulher do meu futuro” foi em direcção ao pai, um homem com “um sentido e humor fantástico, uma grande ironia” que não conheceu realmente em vida.
O primeiro romance de Gárdos conta a história real de dois sobreviventes à Segunda Guerra Mundial. Ao sobreviver ao campo de concentração de Bergen-Belsen, o jovem húngaro Miklós é levado para um campo de concentração na Suécia com uma sentença fatal: ser portador de tuberculose faz com que lhe restem unicamente seis meses de vida pela frente. Lili Reich, a mãe do autor, entra em cena a partir do momento em que Miklós decide fazer frente ao seu destino: ao tomar conhecimento de 117 mulheres da sua terra a viver em campos de refugiados, decidiu enviar cartas a todas para encontrar o amor da sua vida. Das poucas cartas de resposta que obteve, a única que lhe despertou a atenção foi a da jovem Lili. De uma troca de correspondência intensa e de alguns encontros, nasce uma incrível história de amor contada por Peter Gárdos. Uma correspondência inicialmente tímida, como “uma espécie de dança inicial”, dá origem a cartas mais intensas e apaixonantes.
Continuar a ler o artigo no website Deus Me Livro: http://deusmelivro.com/mil-folhas/car...
June 18, 2017
It is the end of WWII. Miklos is on his way to Sweden to recover after being liberated from a concentration camp. He is a mere 29 kilograms. He is ill, his teeth were so poor they were replaced with metal dentures, and he has rampart tuberculosis with doctors giving him only six months to live. But something the nazis did not take from Miklos was hope and his desire to live. This is a theme that runs continuously through the book: Miklos, even at the most dire of moments, even when things seem insurmountable, still looks for hope and finds a way through things. Miklos makes the impossible possible purely through sheer force of will.
This book is based on the love letters and stories of the author's parents. For me, this was important to keep in mind because it does bring a bias to the story. It is clear Gardos loved his parents, and wanted to share their story: it is a story of hope, of strength, of the remarkable ability of the human spirit to endure. These areas in the book shine like a beacon, resonant with truth. But I found the book stubbornly unwilling to leave the light and explore the dark. How is it Miklos, at 29 kilograms, terminally ill, having faced horrors I can't even imagine, remains so hopeful? What is it that has buoyed him? I imagine that as an author it would be very difficult to submerge yourself in the pain your parents experienced, which is why the author may have chosen to focus n the romance. But for me, without the exploration of the dark the book lacked shade and depth.
The other bias that seeps through is the unconditional positive regard the author has for his father in the book. To be honest, I didn't like some of the choices Miklos made (choosing to continue writing to - and possibly leading on - other women even once recognising Lili as "The One"). An independent writer may have explored that, and the reasons why Miklos did. However, in this book it was glossed over.
This is a sweet novel, and gives the story of two people who show how they started to recover from the horrors of the war. Whilst not really alike at all, I had the feeling while reading that those who enjoyed books such as Letters from Skye will enjoy this novel a lot.
This book is based on the love letters and stories of the author's parents. For me, this was important to keep in mind because it does bring a bias to the story. It is clear Gardos loved his parents, and wanted to share their story: it is a story of hope, of strength, of the remarkable ability of the human spirit to endure. These areas in the book shine like a beacon, resonant with truth. But I found the book stubbornly unwilling to leave the light and explore the dark. How is it Miklos, at 29 kilograms, terminally ill, having faced horrors I can't even imagine, remains so hopeful? What is it that has buoyed him? I imagine that as an author it would be very difficult to submerge yourself in the pain your parents experienced, which is why the author may have chosen to focus n the romance. But for me, without the exploration of the dark the book lacked shade and depth.
The other bias that seeps through is the unconditional positive regard the author has for his father in the book. To be honest, I didn't like some of the choices Miklos made (choosing to continue writing to - and possibly leading on - other women even once recognising Lili as "The One"). An independent writer may have explored that, and the reasons why Miklos did. However, in this book it was glossed over.
This is a sweet novel, and gives the story of two people who show how they started to recover from the horrors of the war. Whilst not really alike at all, I had the feeling while reading that those who enjoyed books such as Letters from Skye will enjoy this novel a lot.
January 24, 2016
Sometimes, a love story can be very good for the soul. Fever at Dawn, drawn from the love letters of the author’s parents, is a triumph of the human spirit over adversity that is very satisfying reading.
As a child, I had the rather naïve idea that the end of a war meant that the survivors could go home immediately, not knowing that POWs could continue to be held for months and years after an armistice, and that meant that their military guards weren’t demobbed. Occupation forces stayed in Germany for long after 1945 to manage deNazifiction; the Iron Curtain fell, trapping people behind Soviet borders; and in the case of the survivors of Nazi extermination and labour camps, the precarious state of their health meant that they were unable to go home, even if they still had homes to go to or countries willing to take them. Over 850,000 people remained in displaced persons camps for years after the war.
This is how Fever at Dawn begins:
Fever at Dawn could have been a grim tale, but it’s not. It’s poignant, but it’s also amusing and uplifting.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2016/01/24/fe...
As a child, I had the rather naïve idea that the end of a war meant that the survivors could go home immediately, not knowing that POWs could continue to be held for months and years after an armistice, and that meant that their military guards weren’t demobbed. Occupation forces stayed in Germany for long after 1945 to manage deNazifiction; the Iron Curtain fell, trapping people behind Soviet borders; and in the case of the survivors of Nazi extermination and labour camps, the precarious state of their health meant that they were unable to go home, even if they still had homes to go to or countries willing to take them. Over 850,000 people remained in displaced persons camps for years after the war.
This is how Fever at Dawn begins:
My father, Miklós, sailed to Sweden on a rainy summer’s day three weeks after the Second World War ended. An angry north wind lashed the Baltic Sea into a three-metre swell, and he lay on the lower deck while the ship plunged and bucked. Around him, passengers clung desperately to their straw mattresses.
They had been at sea for less than an hour when Miklós was taken ill. He began to cough up bloody foam, and then he started to wheeze so badly that he almost drowned out the waves pounding the hull. He was one of the more serious cases, parked in the front row right next to the swing door. Two sailors picked up his skeletal body and carried him into a nearby cabin.
The doctor didn’t hesitate. There was no time for painkillers. Relying on luck to hit the right spot between two ribs, he stuck a large needle into my father’s chest. Half a litre of fluid drained from his lungs. When the aspirator arrived, the doctor swapped the needle for a plastic tube and siphoned off another litre and a half of mucus.
Miklós felt better. (p. 2)
Fever at Dawn could have been a grim tale, but it’s not. It’s poignant, but it’s also amusing and uplifting.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2016/01/24/fe...
April 29, 2016
My Rating: 2.5/5 stars (increased to 3 stars for this site)
This short book details what life was like for two Holocaust survivors who have been sent to Sweden after the end of WWII. It is a fictionalized story about the author's own parents and how they fell in love.
Reviewing a memoir is hard because you're dealing with people's lives and memories. While I found the premise of this book interesting and a lovely tribute to the author's parents, I had a few issues with the book that don't deal with the story as much as the delivery.
First, the writing itself was quite simple and while I liked that there were snippets of real letters interspersed throughout the book giving it authenticity, they were added in odd spots which gave the book a choppy feel. There were also some instances where the author changed the narrative from an omniscient narrator (usually with Lili or Miklós as the subject) to the author referring to Miklós as 'my father'. Perhaps we can chalk it up to translation issues but I found it confusing at times.
Living in such circumstances after surviving a horrific war would have been an emotional and hectic time but that energy and emotion was lacking in this book. Several issues were touched on but not dealt with in enough depth for me to get engaged with the characters. For example, the dialogue between Lili and Miklós was sweet but lackluster - not a relationship that 'becomes increasingly intimate' as the book description suggests. The feelings between the couple were only touched on (and had a more desperate feel than love) and their brief times together didn't help to solidify their relationship to me.
This book had promise but overall it fell flat for me. While Fever at Dawn lacks emotion and tension it is a quiet memoir and a nice way for the author to preserve and honour a part of his parents' history.
Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to House of Anansi for providing me with a paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This short book details what life was like for two Holocaust survivors who have been sent to Sweden after the end of WWII. It is a fictionalized story about the author's own parents and how they fell in love.
Reviewing a memoir is hard because you're dealing with people's lives and memories. While I found the premise of this book interesting and a lovely tribute to the author's parents, I had a few issues with the book that don't deal with the story as much as the delivery.
First, the writing itself was quite simple and while I liked that there were snippets of real letters interspersed throughout the book giving it authenticity, they were added in odd spots which gave the book a choppy feel. There were also some instances where the author changed the narrative from an omniscient narrator (usually with Lili or Miklós as the subject) to the author referring to Miklós as 'my father'. Perhaps we can chalk it up to translation issues but I found it confusing at times.
Living in such circumstances after surviving a horrific war would have been an emotional and hectic time but that energy and emotion was lacking in this book. Several issues were touched on but not dealt with in enough depth for me to get engaged with the characters. For example, the dialogue between Lili and Miklós was sweet but lackluster - not a relationship that 'becomes increasingly intimate' as the book description suggests. The feelings between the couple were only touched on (and had a more desperate feel than love) and their brief times together didn't help to solidify their relationship to me.
This book had promise but overall it fell flat for me. While Fever at Dawn lacks emotion and tension it is a quiet memoir and a nice way for the author to preserve and honour a part of his parents' history.
Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to House of Anansi for providing me with a paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
October 17, 2016
*I received a copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
The beginning of this novel was difficult for me to connect with. For around the first quarter of the book I found it difficult to connect with the characters. After that point I did really enjoy the story. I found the epistolary style that was incorporated to include the letters between Miklos and Lili to be very well done and interesting.
This is a novelization of the story of the author's parents, who were survivors of concentration camps during WWII. There were a few things about the narrative that I found rather difficult to follow, but the main thing that was a hindrance to my enjoyment was that the author (or narrator) inserted himself into the story at odd times. For the epilogue this worked well, but I found it more distracting than anything else throughout the rest of the novel.
A full review will be up on my blog soon.
The beginning of this novel was difficult for me to connect with. For around the first quarter of the book I found it difficult to connect with the characters. After that point I did really enjoy the story. I found the epistolary style that was incorporated to include the letters between Miklos and Lili to be very well done and interesting.
This is a novelization of the story of the author's parents, who were survivors of concentration camps during WWII. There were a few things about the narrative that I found rather difficult to follow, but the main thing that was a hindrance to my enjoyment was that the author (or narrator) inserted himself into the story at odd times. For the epilogue this worked well, but I found it more distracting than anything else throughout the rest of the novel.
A full review will be up on my blog soon.
June 20, 2020
Wie kann man weiter leben, wenn man das Grauen der Nazis in den Vernichtungslagern gerade so überlebt hat? Und was macht man, wenn man dann hinterher in der Gesundung zu hören bekommt, dass man nur noch 6 Monate zu leben hat?
Man schreibt 117 Briefe und sucht die Liebe.
Diese Geschichte hat mir wirklich gut gefallen.
Ein klein wenig „Gut gegen Nordwind“, nur eben auf die altmodische Art der handschriftlichen Briefpost. Romantisch, ja. Aber stellenweise eben auch sehr hart, angesichts der Erlebnisse aus den Konzentrationslagern. Und gerade deswegen eine Leseempfehlung! Gegen das Vergessen!
Man schreibt 117 Briefe und sucht die Liebe.
Diese Geschichte hat mir wirklich gut gefallen.
Ein klein wenig „Gut gegen Nordwind“, nur eben auf die altmodische Art der handschriftlichen Briefpost. Romantisch, ja. Aber stellenweise eben auch sehr hart, angesichts der Erlebnisse aus den Konzentrationslagern. Und gerade deswegen eine Leseempfehlung! Gegen das Vergessen!
February 2, 2017
3,5 en realidad. Una historia real novelada, sobre una amor nacido a partir de una tragedia. La vida tras estar en campos de concentración en la segunda Guerra Mundial. El amor de los padres del autor.
Mi reseña completa : http://perdida-entrelibross.blogspot....
Mi reseña completa : http://perdida-entrelibross.blogspot....
July 22, 2016
Such a heartbreaking story written in such a great way! Miklos and Lili fortunately have their happy ending, but they had to give up a lot of things to get there. Awesome part is the fact that the book is based on a true story.
Shelved as 'tossed-aside'
June 18, 2016It wouldn't be fair of me to review this when I read so little of it, so I will just say that it seems like the cutesiest book ever written about the Holocaust.
April 1, 2019
Ο Péter Gárdos δεν γνώριζε την ιστορία των γονιών του, πως αυτοί οι δύο άνθρωποι συναντήθηκαν, ερωτεύτηκαν, έχτισαν μια κοινή ζωή, ξεκίνησαν μαζί μια οικογένεια ολότελα δική τους. Υποθέτω πως οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι δε γνωρίζουν, ίσως γιατί θεωρούν πως το να υποθέτουν είναι αρκετό καθώς, στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις, πραγματικά δεν βρίσκεται κάτι το εντυπωσιακό πίσω από κάθε προσωπική ιστορία. Και όμως, λίγο καιρό μετά τον θάνατο του πατέρα του το 1998, η μητέρα του Gárdos τού παρέδωσε ένα πακέτο από γράμματα. Γράμματα που είχε ανταλλάξει με τον άντρα τους όταν ήταν νέοι και που μέσα τους έκρυβαν αλήθειες άγνωστες σε εκείνον και τόσο συγκλονιστικές που τον οδήγησαν στο να γράψει το πρώτο του μυθιστόρημα.
Ήταν Ιούλιος του 1945 όταν ο Μίκλος, ένας Ούγγρος που είχε επιζήσει από τα φρικτά περιστατικά που έλαβαν χώρα στο Μπέλσεν, έφτασε σε έναν προσφυγικό καταυλισμό στη Σουηδία. Η υγεία του βρισκόταν σε τραγική κατάσταση και ο γιατρός δεν του έδινε παρά ελάχιστους μήνες ζωής. Όμως ο Μίκλος δεν μπορούσε να δεχθεί πως θα έφευγε από τον κόσμο χωρίς να έχει γνωρίσει τη γυναίκα της ζωής του. Έτσι, ζήτησε από τον γιατρό μια λίστα με τα ονόματα των γυναικών συμπατριωτισσών του που επίσης βρίσκοντας σε καταυλισμούς στη Σουηδία, και όταν εκείνος το έκανε, έκατσε κι έγραψε από ένα γράμμα στην κάθε μία, ελπίζοντας πως σε κάποια ανταπόκριση, ανάμεσα στις λέξεις ενός άλλου γράμματος, θα έβρισκε αυτό που έψαχνε. Και όσο παράξενο ή τρελό κι αν ακούγεται, αυτό το κάτι το βρήκε στα γράμματα της Λίλι που ήταν όσα είχε ποθήσει και όπως αποδείχθηκε στη συνέχεια, ακόμα περισσότερα.
Χρησιμοποιώντας πρωτοπρόσωπη αφήγηση, ίσως για να έρθει ακόμα πιο κοντά με τους γονείς του και τα συναισθήματά τους, ο Gárdos εξιστορεί το πως αυτοί οι δύο άνθρωποι, που σαν να είχαν φτιαχτεί για να είναι μαζί, κατάφεραν τελικά να ανταμώσουν κόντρα σε όλες τις προβλέψεις και τις στατιστικές, μα και ενάντια σε όλες τις δυσκολίες που συνάντησαν στο διάβα τους, μπόρεσαν να ολοκληρώσουν τον έρωτά τους και να ζήσουν μια ζωή που δεν ήταν πάντα εύκολη ή όμορφη, αλλά που, ωστόσο, είχαν ο ένας τον άλλον για να βασίζονται πάνω του και να βρίσκουν παρηγοριά και πίστη στην ελπίδα τους πως τα όνειρα μπορούν να γίνουν πραγματικότητα, αρκεί να προσπαθήσεις μέχρι εκεί που δεν πάει άλλο. Μια αφήγηση ειλικρινείς, χωρίς ωραιοποιήσεις ή γλυκανάλατες σκηνές και λόγια απλά για να συγκινήσει, παρά μονάχα με μια αβίαστη τρυφερότητα που αγγίζει τις καρδιές μας όπως άγγιξε και τον ηρώων μας.
Η σκηνοθετική προϋπηρεσία του Gárdos θα λέγαμε πως είναι αρκετά εμφανής στο βιβλίο του, το οποίο διαθέτει μια κινηματογραφική ροή στην αφήγησή της, μα και στην απεικόνιση του συνόλου της. Την ίδια στιγμή, μαζί με την ανάπτυξη του συναισθηματικού υπόβαθρου, ο συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να αναπτύξει τους χαρακτήρες του και αυτό χωρίς να σταθεί αποκλειστικά και μόνο στους πρωταγωνιστές, μα προσφέροντας έδαφος και στους δεύτερους χαρακτήρες που ο καθένας τους, άλλος λιγότερο και άλλος περισσότερο, παίζουν πολύ σημαντικό ρόλο στα όσα διαδραματίζονται, και η αλήθεια είναι πως στο φινάλε του βιβλίου θα ήθελα να τους έχει δοθεί λίγο περισσότερος χρόνος, έτσι, για να είχα μπορέσει να ρίξω μια μικρή ματιά στο μέλλον τους, που ελπίζω να ήταν πολύ καλύτερο από αυτό που τους επιφύλασσαν τα στερεοτυπικά κακά πρότυπα της εποχής εκείνης που σου στερούσαν ακόμα και το δικαίωμα να αναπνεύσεις ελεύθερος.
Με τρυφερότητα και ρεαλισμό, μα και με μικρές δόσεις χιούμορ που μας θυμίζουν πως η ζωή έχει την κωμική της πλευρά ακόμα και όταν όλα φαντάζουν εξαιρετικά δύσκολα, ίσως και απροσπέλαστα ως προς τα εμπόδια που συναντάμε, στην πρώτη του συγγραφική προσπάθεια, ο Gárdos, μοιράζεται ένα κομμάτι της ζωής του με όλους εμάς, με έναν τόσο ειλικρινή τρόπο που μας συγκινεί βαθιά και αληθινά. Ιδιαίτερα, τα αποσπάσματα από την αλληλογραφία των γονιών του, που μεταφέρονται αυτούσια στις σελίδες του βιβλίου του, αποτελούν μία ξεχωριστή πινελιά που μας αποδεικνύουν τόσο το μεγαλείο της ανθρώπινης πίστης και θέλησης, όσο και το μεγαλείο της αγάπης που πραγματικά, ορισμένες φορές, μπορεί να πάει κόντρα σε όλα, κανόνες, ηθική, στερεότυπα, υποταγές, και ν' αντικρίσει τη δικιά της, προσωπική ελευθερία.
Ήταν Ιούλιος του 1945 όταν ο Μίκλος, ένας Ούγγρος που είχε επιζήσει από τα φρικτά περιστατικά που έλαβαν χώρα στο Μπέλσεν, έφτασε σε έναν προσφυγικό καταυλισμό στη Σουηδία. Η υγεία του βρισκόταν σε τραγική κατάσταση και ο γιατρός δεν του έδινε παρά ελάχιστους μήνες ζωής. Όμως ο Μίκλος δεν μπορούσε να δεχθεί πως θα έφευγε από τον κόσμο χωρίς να έχει γνωρίσει τη γυναίκα της ζωής του. Έτσι, ζήτησε από τον γιατρό μια λίστα με τα ονόματα των γυναικών συμπατριωτισσών του που επίσης βρίσκοντας σε καταυλισμούς στη Σουηδία, και όταν εκείνος το έκανε, έκατσε κι έγραψε από ένα γράμμα στην κάθε μία, ελπίζοντας πως σε κάποια ανταπόκριση, ανάμεσα στις λέξεις ενός άλλου γράμματος, θα έβρισκε αυτό που έψαχνε. Και όσο παράξενο ή τρελό κι αν ακούγεται, αυτό το κάτι το βρήκε στα γράμματα της Λίλι που ήταν όσα είχε ποθήσει και όπως αποδείχθηκε στη συνέχεια, ακόμα περισσότερα.
Χρησιμοποιώντας πρωτοπρόσωπη αφήγηση, ίσως για να έρθει ακόμα πιο κοντά με τους γονείς του και τα συναισθήματά τους, ο Gárdos εξιστορεί το πως αυτοί οι δύο άνθρωποι, που σαν να είχαν φτιαχτεί για να είναι μαζί, κατάφεραν τελικά να ανταμώσουν κόντρα σε όλες τις προβλέψεις και τις στατιστικές, μα και ενάντια σε όλες τις δυσκολίες που συνάντησαν στο διάβα τους, μπόρεσαν να ολοκληρώσουν τον έρωτά τους και να ζήσουν μια ζωή που δεν ήταν πάντα εύκολη ή όμορφη, αλλά που, ωστόσο, είχαν ο ένας τον άλλον για να βασίζονται πάνω του και να βρίσκουν παρηγοριά και πίστη στην ελπίδα τους πως τα όνειρα μπορούν να γίνουν πραγματικότητα, αρκεί να προσπαθήσεις μέχρι εκεί που δεν πάει άλλο. Μια αφήγηση ειλικρινείς, χωρίς ωραιοποιήσεις ή γλυκανάλατες σκηνές και λόγια απλά για να συγκινήσει, παρά μονάχα με μια αβίαστη τρυφερότητα που αγγίζει τις καρδιές μας όπως άγγιξε και τον ηρώων μας.
Η σκηνοθετική προϋπηρεσία του Gárdos θα λέγαμε πως είναι αρκετά εμφανής στο βιβλίο του, το οποίο διαθέτει μια κινηματογραφική ροή στην αφήγησή της, μα και στην απεικόνιση του συνόλου της. Την ίδια στιγμή, μαζί με την ανάπτυξη του συναισθηματικού υπόβαθρου, ο συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να αναπτύξει τους χαρακτήρες του και αυτό χωρίς να σταθεί αποκλειστικά και μόνο στους πρωταγωνιστές, μα προσφέροντας έδαφος και στους δεύτερους χαρακτήρες που ο καθένας τους, άλλος λιγότερο και άλλος περισσότερο, παίζουν πολύ σημαντικό ρόλο στα όσα διαδραματίζονται, και η αλήθεια είναι πως στο φινάλε του βιβλίου θα ήθελα να τους έχει δοθεί λίγο περισσότερος χρόνος, έτσι, για να είχα μπορέσει να ρίξω μια μικρή ματιά στο μέλλον τους, που ελπίζω να ήταν πολύ καλύτερο από αυτό που τους επιφύλασσαν τα στερεοτυπικά κακά πρότυπα της εποχής εκείνης που σου στερούσαν ακόμα και το δικαίωμα να αναπνεύσεις ελεύθερος.
Με τρυφερότητα και ρεαλισμό, μα και με μικρές δόσεις χιούμορ που μας θυμίζουν πως η ζωή έχει την κωμική της πλευρά ακόμα και όταν όλα φαντάζουν εξαιρετικά δύσκολα, ίσως και απροσπέλαστα ως προς τα εμπόδια που συναντάμε, στην πρώτη του συγγραφική προσπάθεια, ο Gárdos, μοιράζεται ένα κομμάτι της ζωής του με όλους εμάς, με έναν τόσο ειλικρινή τρόπο που μας συγκινεί βαθιά και αληθινά. Ιδιαίτερα, τα αποσπάσματα από την αλληλογραφία των γονιών του, που μεταφέρονται αυτούσια στις σελίδες του βιβλίου του, αποτελούν μία ξεχωριστή πινελιά που μας αποδεικνύουν τόσο το μεγαλείο της ανθρώπινης πίστης και θέλησης, όσο και το μεγαλείο της αγάπης που πραγματικά, ορισμένες φορές, μπορεί να πάει κόντρα σε όλα, κανόνες, ηθική, στερεότυπα, υποταγές, και ν' αντικρίσει τη δικιά της, προσωπική ελευθερία.
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