BY THE WATERS OF THE DANUBE

by Alexandra Orme ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 1951

Comes the was a Book of the Month selection last year (Morrow) and introduced Alexandra Orme, her Hungarian husband, a mad household through which Russian soldiers came and went. Now comes a sequel -- a post-war portrait of Hungary and of her native Poland, of conflicting loyalties and points of view, of necessity making thieves and liars and cheats and whores out of once normal people. It is so fantastic a picture of life on the verge of starvation, in a ruined city (Budapest), and of the dodges to which people resorted to keep alive, that it seems utterly unreal. But disturbing as it is, one reads with fascinated interest. Then she goes back to Poland to seek out her family, finds collaboration of a queer perverted sort, and eventually comes to the conclusion that to manage in a topsy turvy world, there must be adjustment to new codes, new kinds of nationalism, new codes of conduct. The trip back from Poland, when she can't take the caviar existence any longer, is a tricky one, as she goes out with a Jewish contingent. And the return to Budapest and the process of surviving on the ragged edge seems a glorious release. A wholly new approach -- revealing.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1951

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Duell, Sloan & Pearce

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1951

Categories: NONFICTION