Pető Péter: This text is so beautiful that I read it naked

After every page, I paused and reflected on my own life. The author’s style is entertaining and thought-provoking, and the stories deeply touched me. It’s not the kind of book that prompts long contemplation, but I would gladly read it again to wander within it. After each chapter, the question arose in me: what would I have done in their place?

This is also an imagined story. It’s about a Hungary where corruption is rampant, but state control and surveillance are even greater. At any event where too many individuals deemed dangerous by the state are present (even just one person too many), the event is hermetically sealed. All of this is controlled by a mobile app. There are two ways to exit the closure: within twenty-four hours, the police arrive, or the attendees, using their phones, vote on who the problematic individual is causing the closure. The beauty of it is that the app doesn’t provide information on who was previously designated as a problematic individual; the attendees have to guess. They can only guess because the internet is also blocked. In our case, ten young people are locked in at an entertainment venue. At the beginning of a divorce party. Yes, this is the ceremonial dissolution of a marriage – following the pattern of weddings. So, the doors, windows, and blinds are sealed at the elegant entertainment venue, and the phones fall silent. The ten trapped celebrants’ only task is to figure out whose past justifies the closure. They achieve this by each sharing their own life story, then discussing and voting on who committed the most significant legal violations. Perhaps needless to say, deep secrets are revealed, leading to stories worthy of a crime novel, and various facets of love unfold. The storytelling is at times quite amusing, but always entertaining. The only thing I regret is that I mostly listened to the book (read by artificial intelligence), so I recorded relatively few quotes – despite the book being full of profound thoughts. The story itself is incomprehensibly tangled. The plot diverges so many times that even an elderberry bush would envy such branching. In the end, as with the elderberry bush, it becomes clear that all the branches stem from the same root and form a cohesive whole. So, for me, the essence of the entire book lies precisely in its side branches. On the one hand, everything is interconnected. On the other hand, each narrative is thought-provoking in itself. Countless human stories emerge, each evoking different thoughts for different reasons. The complexity is not caused by the need to vote someone out, but by the emergence of secrets and wounds. Here, we witness the conflicts of two groups of friends (the acquaintances of the future ex-husband and the future ex-wife), and these people are interconnected in many ways throughout their pasts. Infidelities, crimes, and base lies are revealed. Just one example: the future ex-husband’s – already admitted – lover is present, whom the ex-husband cheats on with the bartender, but this infidelity had been hidden from everyone until now. The solution is somewhat like what should happen in real life: perhaps no one should be condemned, but it would be important to understand everyone. Here, after everyone has told their own story, we understand that deep down, even those who never deserve praise in any situation don’t wish ill upon others, so the vote is canceled. I might read it again. Because it’s a beautifully written entertaining book, and I want it to take my thoughts in various directions again. It’s not the kind of book that makes you contemplate the meaning of life for two weeks after reading it, but rather the type you read slowly because after every page, you pause and draw parallels with your own life. There was a question that I instinctively asked myself in every chapter: what would I have done in their place?

Book review, August 02, 2024, Friday

“for the first time, it seemed capable of all unpredictability, passion.”

Ah, so these two concepts are related? Who knows…

“how many times have we not kissed someone who had already closed their eyes to let reality dance on the most beautiful border with us”

Oh, my goodness, I wish I could count how many times.

“But the crowd is the greatest gas pedal of the globe.”

Let’s not even talk about the power of helplessness…

“occasionally, there is no more unstoppable force of temptation than lies.”

Unfortunately, this is true (in encounters of any gender). I couldn’t blame anyone because we, as humans, love stories.

“the ultimate question of marriage is indeed whom you want to spend the time that remains with.”

“in life, there are no universal lessons; everyone will have their own story.”

“Memory is such a burden for a person that only by remembering can it be lightened.”

Or as the psychologist says: we ventilate ourselves.

“they will never bear it if they are loved. Because they don’t know what it’s like to be loved.”

They don’t even know that they don’t know what it’s like to be loved. The inner self really shits itself in such a situation.

“Fear is loud, silence is silent.”

“First, he asked her if she had a boyfriend. Evelin replied, don’t be silly, he knows perfectly well that she’s alone. Second, he asked if she liked him. Evelin asked if he was kidding, because of course she does. Third, he asked what the best argument was against kissing her. Evelin suddenly couldn’t think of anything. And Máté kissed her. That’s how they got together.”

Great idea🙂

“if people were aware of what trouble, problem, trauma, pain means in life, they wouldn’t fret about the fact that, my goodness, in just three hundred years, it will be two degrees warmer, and then the climate catastrophe will come, should I have a child in that world where two more glaciers melt each year than before.”

This is also true. And other things are true too…

“the poor cannot form relationships because they have attachment issues, but if they can finally explain their lives to someone for money, who listens to them, their condition immediately improves.”

Ok, ok. The equation is just not that simple. By the way, how are the attachments of the person who said this?

“he didn’t do anything, just asked. And he still does this now, to help.”

This is a sentence taken out of context. There are many, many life situations where persistent questioning can be very helpful.

“laws have created a world beyond laws.”

This reminds me that prosperity creates the possibility of destruction.

“in fact, we don’t write to become CEOs, celebrities, famous, or rich. We write to tell our stories because imagination, like reality, belongs to everyone.”

“Because when we write, we undress a nation.”