The Door
Written by Magda Szabó
Narrated by Sian Thomas
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Intense, brilliant and moving.
The Door is a compelling story about the relationship between two women of opposing backgrounds and personalities: one, an intellectual and writer; the other, her housekeeper, a mysterious, elderly woman who sets her own rules and abjures religion, education, pretense and any kind of authority.
Beneath this hardened exterior of Emerence lies a painful story that must be concealed.
One of Hungary’s best-known writers, Magda Szabo explores themes of love, loyalty, pride and privacy, and the barriers and secrets that govern them.
©1987 Magda Szabo´ Translation © 2005 Len Rix. (P)2016 Naxos AudioBooks
Related to The Door
Related audiobooks
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Noise of Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elegance of the Hedgehog Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disoriental Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Museum of Abandoned Secrets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Blue Flower Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harvest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All My Puny Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Farewell, Ghosts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City Still Breathing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJigsaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greenhouse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suncatcher Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Apples Fell from the Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journey by Moonlight Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Presence of Absence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Painted Veil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Family Lexicon Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Savage Theories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Parallel Stories: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Call Me Zebra Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Housekeeping (Fortieth Anniversary Edition): A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death is Hard Work: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Fiction For You
Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Covenant of Water Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Door
254 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Speechless! This is one of the most beautifully written books I have read in a long long time.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The narration is simply outstanding. The story is complex, moving, and wonderful!
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A very affecting take of friendship with someone who appears to be awkward and difficult but is in fact a person of great quality. The friendship is unsentimental, combative and complex. Wonderful author and a tale of great depth.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don’t be “Shmuel.” If you are anything like this reviewer “Shmuel,” you shouldn’t read this book, and you should feel very bad about yourself.
“Two hours about a cleaning woman.” — Indeed. That is ALL. “A cleaning woman.” If that’s ALL you’re able to see, you’re not worth it. You fail. YOU. FAIL.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Poignant, intriguing, page-turning, wonderfully written! A book that forces you to reflect (without hammering you over the head) on how you could be a better person, the nature of community, the fragile quirkiness of being human. I just finished and want to start it again because I miss it!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent book! The narrator was fabulous. I felt like I was in the book, every character could be felt. I totally recommend this!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The story is captivating, keeps your interest and is great for listening to attentively or while doing other tasks. The narrator has a wonderful voice and captures emotion brilliantly.
The translator deserves the utmost praise, too as the story was so richly relayed in English!1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impressive writing. A portrait of PTSD. Trauma in physical, emotional, familial, environmental realms. War, environmental disaster, broken families, poverty, hunger. Everyone has burden. Some are blessed with love.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My very first glimpse into Hungarian literature. A book about a very complex relationship between 2 women. It is about social, cultural difference between 2 generations.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My favourite part of the book was learning about Emerence’s childhood - the twins and the storm.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I haven't been so bored since I read Kundera. I know he is Czech and this book is Hungarian but they have the same monotonous mind numbing detail about nothing at all. I only read a quarter of the book but am writing a review anyway because otherwise there is a huge bias toward positive reviews, i.e. because people don't finish books they don't like. So far all that has happened is a very long description of a cleaning lady. Two hours!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great story! Very much enjoyed this book and the two women's evolving relationship.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quite unlikeable main characters in such a character driven novel makes it difficult to enjoy this book. Their interactions were frustrating and unrealistic, their constant bickering and terrible treatment of each other tiresome. I found this book overly long, slow and largely uninteresting. Character insights and background sprinkled throughout were interesting, though not enough to make the book overall enjoyable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is an excellent book, but the recording finishes in the middle of a sentence! I'm not sure how much is missed, I think it's right at the end, but it was really disappointing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thoroughly engaging book. I love stories that explore people and our complex relationships that lead us to question. This book touches on many things that we take for granted - our values, our image, love and devotion - and although it is set in Hungary, a place perhaps many readers will not be familiar with, it is immediately familiar even in its characters oddest quirks.