A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

fantastic!, 29 Dec 2002
This book, wierd as it may be, is a fantastic tale of Gregor who wakes one morning to discover he is a 'monstrous vermin'. The story shows how he lives and his family seperates from him. His metamorphosis from being family provider to family burden is particularly sad and the ending is... well, you'll have to read it! (i won't give it away)Grete is brave and becomes the provider for Gregor and experiences her own metamorphosis into womanhood.
A great book for those who are sick of traditional boring stories. This is certainly different,full of metaphors and really gets you thinking!

Kafka's world, 15 Feb 2001
A great story where Kafka mixes real feelings with science fiction, and takes us to a world of loneliness and family rejection.

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

fantastic!, 29 Dec 2002
This book, wierd as it may be, is a fantastic tale of Gregor who wakes one morning to discover he is a 'monstrous vermin'. The story shows how he lives and his family seperates from him. His metamorphosis from being family provider to family burden is particularly sad and the ending is... well, you'll have to read it! (i won't give it away)Grete is brave and becomes the provider for Gregor and experiences her own metamorphosis into womanhood.
A great book for those who are sick of traditional boring stories. This is certainly different,full of metaphors and really gets you thinking!

Kafka's world, 15 Feb 2001
A great story where Kafka mixes real feelings with science fiction, and takes us to a world of loneliness and family rejection.

PROMISING DEBUT NOVEL..., 17 Jul 2005
This is an ambitious novel by its first time author. The focal point of the book is the relationship between noted Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, and Emilie Floge, mistress of an exclusive fashion salon in fin de siecle Vienna. This is a woman whose name would be upon his lips when Klimt died. Who was she, and what was their relationship?

As there is little known in the historical record about the relationship between Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floge, the author was free to let her imagination wander. Told as a first person narrative by Emilie Floge, the book reveals a relationship that would encompass many years, many events, and many changes. Having first met Gustav Klimt when she was a twelve year old girl, and he was but a penniless, nearly starving, artist, she becomes his pupil. As he instructs this young girl in the fundamentals of drawing, a certain undeniable attraction exists. She is fascinated by him, and he eventually notices the nubile young girl that she is. Under his tutelage, our bourgeois young lady glimpses the world of the demi-monde, a world where artists' models and artists would bypass the mores of accepted society.

Theirs was a relationship that would span his lifetime until his death at the age of fifty-six. Yet, theirs was not to be the passion of great lovers. Their relationship, at least in the imaginings of the author, was more one of intimate friendship. Through the eyes of Emilie Floge, the reader sees the accession of Gustav Klimt into the highest rungs of Viennese society, a sought after, though somewhat controversial, artist and lover. He, in turn, becomes Emilie's patron, assisting her with the establishment of her haute couture salon, where she would dress the wealthy women who sought out Gustav Klimt in hopes of becoming his mistress. That position was one that Emilie herself had considered but eschewed in the final analysis. The author conveys a certain feeling of melancholy between the two protagonists, who are bound together by something stronger than a fleeting passion. In the end, Emilie became something even more important to Gustav Klimt. She became his muse.

This is a fairly well-written, introspective work of historical fiction that occasionally lacks substance. At times, it feels as superficial as the society about which the author writes. The author, however, intersperses commentary on some of Gustav Klimt's paintings. These are paintings that bear some relation to Emilie's narrative, and the use of commentary is an interesting literary contrivance. So, there is much to enjoy in this novel, and I look forward to this promising author's next book. Should anyone wonder what Emilie Floge looked like, one need only look at the beautiful cover art of the book. Gracing the cover is a painting by Gustav Klimt of the lovely Emilie Floge.

An exquisite, mesmerizing work of historical fiction, 12 Jul 2005
The Painted Kiss is a truly exquisite novel and a most impressive debut by author Elizabeth Hickey. While I do read a good bit of historical fiction, most of what I read is built around historical events; this novel, though, is intensely personal, the imagined story of a most unusual relationship between artist Gustav Klimt and the younger Emilie Floge (who became a successful fashion designer in Vienna). The cover art depicts Klimt's 1902 portrait of Emilie, and a number of Klimt's best-known artistic creations inform the narrative of this wonderfully lush work of modern literature. It is in some ways a disturbing read, as the relationship under the microscope is far from ideal, and the reader cannot help but sympathize greatly with Emilie as her character narrates the story from her first meeting with Klimt as a curious 12-year-old girl to Klimt's death and beyond, culminating in 1945 war-torn Austria. As I mentioned, I don't normally read novels of this type, and I must say that I was mesmerized by the entire story. Hickey is an artist in her own right, an artist of words, and she captures Emilie's soul as deeply and hypnotically as any portrait ever could, including the haunting portrait that graces the cover.

I know next to nothing about art, so I found this book's story of Viennese art history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century most informative. The author works many of Gustav Klimt's portraits, and the women who posed for them, into the novel, and I would encourage the reader to seek out the images of these portraits online or in art gallery books - Klimt's actual historical portraits make for the most vivid of visual aids when it comes to immersing yourself in this story. Hickey has done an impressive job researching the principals as well as Viennese society and its surprisingly complex culture of artists. Along with Klimt, you also meet two of his protégés in the art nouveau Viennese movement, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. The proclivity of these artists to paint nude women made them controversial artists, and Klimt further established his reputation by pioneering the Secession Movement in Vienna.

Emilie Floge first met the older Klimt as a 12-year-old, and she was less than excited when her father arranged for her to take art lessons from the poor, unknown artist. She and her sister Helene were exposed to a completely new world in his art studio, and Emilie inevitably fell in love or something much like it with Klimt. He returned her feelings in an unquantifiable manner, but even Emilie realized fairly early on that he was a philanderer who did more than merely paint many of the society ladies who posed for portraits with him. It was a dysfunctional relationship between a man who would never commit or change his ways and a self-conscious young lady who could never pull away from his influence. It's generally understood that Emilie was Klimt's mistress, but their relationship, as represented in The Painted Kiss, is much more complicated than that; sex actually plays a minor (albeit disturbing) part in their relationship as imagined by Elizabeth Hickey. Emilie is a fascinating character in her own right, enjoying great success as a fashion designer in Vienna and maintaining a place in society despite the open secret of her personal relationship with Klimt. Even twenty-seven years after his death, in the midst of the travails of 1945 Austria, Klimt still dominates the life of Emilie.

The artist does the reader a service by mentioning several of the changes she made in the historical facts of her subjects' lives. It can't be easy creating a story around a relationship when history records very little of the details, and I think Hickey has done a masterful job. While I never came to completely understand the motivations of the two main characters, I was perpetually mesmerized by the story that played out before me. This novel inevitably draws comparisons to Girl With a Pearl Earring; not having read that novel, I can't compare the two. I can, however, declare that The Painted Kiss is an incredibly rich, perfectly enchanting work of modern literature that I found absorbing and truly magnificent.

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

fantastic!, 29 Dec 2002
This book, wierd as it may be, is a fantastic tale of Gregor who wakes one morning to discover he is a 'monstrous vermin'. The story shows how he lives and his family seperates from him. His metamorphosis from being family provider to family burden is particularly sad and the ending is... well, you'll have to read it! (i won't give it away)Grete is brave and becomes the provider for Gregor and experiences her own metamorphosis into womanhood.
A great book for those who are sick of traditional boring stories. This is certainly different,full of metaphors and really gets you thinking!

Kafka's world, 15 Feb 2001
A great story where Kafka mixes real feelings with science fiction, and takes us to a world of loneliness and family rejection.

PROMISING DEBUT NOVEL..., 17 Jul 2005
This is an ambitious novel by its first time author. The focal point of the book is the relationship between noted Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, and Emilie Floge, mistress of an exclusive fashion salon in fin de siecle Vienna. This is a woman whose name would be upon his lips when Klimt died. Who was she, and what was their relationship?

As there is little known in the historical record about the relationship between Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floge, the author was free to let her imagination wander. Told as a first person narrative by Emilie Floge, the book reveals a relationship that would encompass many years, many events, and many changes. Having first met Gustav Klimt when she was a twelve year old girl, and he was but a penniless, nearly starving, artist, she becomes his pupil. As he instructs this young girl in the fundamentals of drawing, a certain undeniable attraction exists. She is fascinated by him, and he eventually notices the nubile young girl that she is. Under his tutelage, our bourgeois young lady glimpses the world of the demi-monde, a world where artists' models and artists would bypass the mores of accepted society.

Theirs was a relationship that would span his lifetime until his death at the age of fifty-six. Yet, theirs was not to be the passion of great lovers. Their relationship, at least in the imaginings of the author, was more one of intimate friendship. Through the eyes of Emilie Floge, the reader sees the accession of Gustav Klimt into the highest rungs of Viennese society, a sought after, though somewhat controversial, artist and lover. He, in turn, becomes Emilie's patron, assisting her with the establishment of her haute couture salon, where she would dress the wealthy women who sought out Gustav Klimt in hopes of becoming his mistress. That position was one that Emilie herself had considered but eschewed in the final analysis. The author conveys a certain feeling of melancholy between the two protagonists, who are bound together by something stronger than a fleeting passion. In the end, Emilie became something even more important to Gustav Klimt. She became his muse.

This is a fairly well-written, introspective work of historical fiction that occasionally lacks substance. At times, it feels as superficial as the society about which the author writes. The author, however, intersperses commentary on some of Gustav Klimt's paintings. These are paintings that bear some relation to Emilie's narrative, and the use of commentary is an interesting literary contrivance. So, there is much to enjoy in this novel, and I look forward to this promising author's next book. Should anyone wonder what Emilie Floge looked like, one need only look at the beautiful cover art of the book. Gracing the cover is a painting by Gustav Klimt of the lovely Emilie Floge.

An exquisite, mesmerizing work of historical fiction, 12 Jul 2005
The Painted Kiss is a truly exquisite novel and a most impressive debut by author Elizabeth Hickey. While I do read a good bit of historical fiction, most of what I read is built around historical events; this novel, though, is intensely personal, the imagined story of a most unusual relationship between artist Gustav Klimt and the younger Emilie Floge (who became a successful fashion designer in Vienna). The cover art depicts Klimt's 1902 portrait of Emilie, and a number of Klimt's best-known artistic creations inform the narrative of this wonderfully lush work of modern literature. It is in some ways a disturbing read, as the relationship under the microscope is far from ideal, and the reader cannot help but sympathize greatly with Emilie as her character narrates the story from her first meeting with Klimt as a curious 12-year-old girl to Klimt's death and beyond, culminating in 1945 war-torn Austria. As I mentioned, I don't normally read novels of this type, and I must say that I was mesmerized by the entire story. Hickey is an artist in her own right, an artist of words, and she captures Emilie's soul as deeply and hypnotically as any portrait ever could, including the haunting portrait that graces the cover.

I know next to nothing about art, so I found this book's story of Viennese art history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century most informative. The author works many of Gustav Klimt's portraits, and the women who posed for them, into the novel, and I would encourage the reader to seek out the images of these portraits online or in art gallery books - Klimt's actual historical portraits make for the most vivid of visual aids when it comes to immersing yourself in this story. Hickey has done an impressive job researching the principals as well as Viennese society and its surprisingly complex culture of artists. Along with Klimt, you also meet two of his protégés in the art nouveau Viennese movement, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. The proclivity of these artists to paint nude women made them controversial artists, and Klimt further established his reputation by pioneering the Secession Movement in Vienna.

Emilie Floge first met the older Klimt as a 12-year-old, and she was less than excited when her father arranged for her to take art lessons from the poor, unknown artist. She and her sister Helene were exposed to a completely new world in his art studio, and Emilie inevitably fell in love or something much like it with Klimt. He returned her feelings in an unquantifiable manner, but even Emilie realized fairly early on that he was a philanderer who did more than merely paint many of the society ladies who posed for portraits with him. It was a dysfunctional relationship between a man who would never commit or change his ways and a self-conscious young lady who could never pull away from his influence. It's generally understood that Emilie was Klimt's mistress, but their relationship, as represented in The Painted Kiss, is much more complicated than that; sex actually plays a minor (albeit disturbing) part in their relationship as imagined by Elizabeth Hickey. Emilie is a fascinating character in her own right, enjoying great success as a fashion designer in Vienna and maintaining a place in society despite the open secret of her personal relationship with Klimt. Even twenty-seven years after his death, in the midst of the travails of 1945 Austria, Klimt still dominates the life of Emilie.

The artist does the reader a service by mentioning several of the changes she made in the historical facts of her subjects' lives. It can't be easy creating a story around a relationship when history records very little of the details, and I think Hickey has done a masterful job. While I never came to completely understand the motivations of the two main characters, I was perpetually mesmerized by the story that played out before me. This novel inevitably draws comparisons to Girl With a Pearl Earring; not having read that novel, I can't compare the two. I can, however, declare that The Painted Kiss is an incredibly rich, perfectly enchanting work of modern literature that I found absorbing and truly magnificent.

Hungarian Revolution is Memorialized in Dramatized History, 19 Dec 2006
Thousands of Hungarians were killed by Soviet forces in November 1956. Their crime? Taking back their country from foreign leaders. At that time, 200,000 more fled Hungary in the months following, knowing that the oppressive, murderous communist leaders were not going to show mercy to those who were involved.

James Michener's "Bridge at Andau" tells the story of those fleeing. He was there to see it, and told what he saw. Michener's storytelling style is a kind of John Grisham mix of detail and personality. He took real lives of people struggling to survive and presented them to the horrified world. Michener researched his story in Austria and at the bridge itself.

Michener published the book in 1957, while the crush of the Hungarian people continued. America refused to assist the pleas of the Hungarian revolutionaries, based on a combination of American opinion, and a real concern that WWIII might break out in the midst of the Cold War. Instead, we focused on the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, the Hungarian people suffered.

Andau is an Austrian city at the Hungarian border. It was called Mosontarcsa, as part of Hungary, until 1921. It was a small village, but a key point for refugees escaping.

The value of reading this today is it shows us the culture of Hungary as it was during the Soviet occupation. It shows the complex, and often compromising position average Hungarian citizens had as they were part of the communist party. Unwilling, but joining to have access to things, they lived daily through trials unlike any we have known in the USA. When, in 1956, a revolution began, many dropped their party inclinations and either fought or fled. Many died in the process.

On one hand, this provides a slice of the events, as chronicled at one location. However, it also gives us a broader view of what the Hungarian people were wanting, what they were missing, and why so many were willing to die for freedom. It also shows the consequences of one country trying to fight for freedom alone. It inspires us of great heroes, and reminds us of the tensions our leaders are exposed to when it comes to bringing freedom to another country.

Michener acknowledges the weaknesses of the anecdotes of each person he spoke with. How does he know they are true? He explains in a postscript how most names have been changed and how some stories could be proved, while others could not.

To get an accurate, historical view of what happened in 1956, it is best to read something published later, after many more facts were available. Dozens of great books exist to meet this need. To read a significant fictionalized collection of personal stories, "Bridge at Andau" is as good as it gets.

I fully recommend "Bridge at Andau" by James A. Michener.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Excellent story about overshadowed history, 22 Jul 1998
I read Bridge at Andau while in Budapest this spring. It was amazing to be in the places where this terrible history took place while reading Michener's account of the events. Two points were apparent to me; 1. I was surprised to realize that this history is overshadowed by other events in eastern Europe, 2. The book was written at the height of McCarthyism and must be taken with a small grain of salt. The stories told about the revolution of 1956 are no less legitimate or compelling than at the time the book was penned, but the purpose of the book was different. Michener wrote a novel that was to serve as a warning to anyone who might have romantic ideals about the evil communists that were percieved to be ready to destroy America. This is a great story about about courageous people. Unfortunately it may be misinterperted as soft sell propoganda about why capitalism is better than communism.

Outstandingly Realistic, 05 Jul 1998
James Michner departed from his usual epics, about the far east and the Pacific. He handles the matter of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with some great detail and realism.

Why did this happen anyway?, 22 Mar 1998
Michener picked out a sad yet incredibly important event to be the subject of this novel. This is the story of the short-lived Hungarian Revolution of the 50s. He tells in horrifying detail the stories of the couragous people who fought the Russians for a few weeks and the many people who left their lives behind and risked the dangers of crossing the Iron Curtain. For all the Marxists out there, this book will scare you right back to Thomas Jefferson ethics.

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

fantastic!, 29 Dec 2002
This book, wierd as it may be, is a fantastic tale of Gregor who wakes one morning to discover he is a 'monstrous vermin'. The story shows how he lives and his family seperates from him. His metamorphosis from being family provider to family burden is particularly sad and the ending is... well, you'll have to read it! (i won't give it away)Grete is brave and becomes the provider for Gregor and experiences her own metamorphosis into womanhood.
A great book for those who are sick of traditional boring stories. This is certainly different,full of metaphors and really gets you thinking!

Kafka's world, 15 Feb 2001
A great story where Kafka mixes real feelings with science fiction, and takes us to a world of loneliness and family rejection.

PROMISING DEBUT NOVEL..., 17 Jul 2005
This is an ambitious novel by its first time author. The focal point of the book is the relationship between noted Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, and Emilie Floge, mistress of an exclusive fashion salon in fin de siecle Vienna. This is a woman whose name would be upon his lips when Klimt died. Who was she, and what was their relationship?

As there is little known in the historical record about the relationship between Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floge, the author was free to let her imagination wander. Told as a first person narrative by Emilie Floge, the book reveals a relationship that would encompass many years, many events, and many changes. Having first met Gustav Klimt when she was a twelve year old girl, and he was but a penniless, nearly starving, artist, she becomes his pupil. As he instructs this young girl in the fundamentals of drawing, a certain undeniable attraction exists. She is fascinated by him, and he eventually notices the nubile young girl that she is. Under his tutelage, our bourgeois young lady glimpses the world of the demi-monde, a world where artists' models and artists would bypass the mores of accepted society.

Theirs was a relationship that would span his lifetime until his death at the age of fifty-six. Yet, theirs was not to be the passion of great lovers. Their relationship, at least in the imaginings of the author, was more one of intimate friendship. Through the eyes of Emilie Floge, the reader sees the accession of Gustav Klimt into the highest rungs of Viennese society, a sought after, though somewhat controversial, artist and lover. He, in turn, becomes Emilie's patron, assisting her with the establishment of her haute couture salon, where she would dress the wealthy women who sought out Gustav Klimt in hopes of becoming his mistress. That position was one that Emilie herself had considered but eschewed in the final analysis. The author conveys a certain feeling of melancholy between the two protagonists, who are bound together by something stronger than a fleeting passion. In the end, Emilie became something even more important to Gustav Klimt. She became his muse.

This is a fairly well-written, introspective work of historical fiction that occasionally lacks substance. At times, it feels as superficial as the society about which the author writes. The author, however, intersperses commentary on some of Gustav Klimt's paintings. These are paintings that bear some relation to Emilie's narrative, and the use of commentary is an interesting literary contrivance. So, there is much to enjoy in this novel, and I look forward to this promising author's next book. Should anyone wonder what Emilie Floge looked like, one need only look at the beautiful cover art of the book. Gracing the cover is a painting by Gustav Klimt of the lovely Emilie Floge.

An exquisite, mesmerizing work of historical fiction, 12 Jul 2005
The Painted Kiss is a truly exquisite novel and a most impressive debut by author Elizabeth Hickey. While I do read a good bit of historical fiction, most of what I read is built around historical events; this novel, though, is intensely personal, the imagined story of a most unusual relationship between artist Gustav Klimt and the younger Emilie Floge (who became a successful fashion designer in Vienna). The cover art depicts Klimt's 1902 portrait of Emilie, and a number of Klimt's best-known artistic creations inform the narrative of this wonderfully lush work of modern literature. It is in some ways a disturbing read, as the relationship under the microscope is far from ideal, and the reader cannot help but sympathize greatly with Emilie as her character narrates the story from her first meeting with Klimt as a curious 12-year-old girl to Klimt's death and beyond, culminating in 1945 war-torn Austria. As I mentioned, I don't normally read novels of this type, and I must say that I was mesmerized by the entire story. Hickey is an artist in her own right, an artist of words, and she captures Emilie's soul as deeply and hypnotically as any portrait ever could, including the haunting portrait that graces the cover.

I know next to nothing about art, so I found this book's story of Viennese art history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century most informative. The author works many of Gustav Klimt's portraits, and the women who posed for them, into the novel, and I would encourage the reader to seek out the images of these portraits online or in art gallery books - Klimt's actual historical portraits make for the most vivid of visual aids when it comes to immersing yourself in this story. Hickey has done an impressive job researching the principals as well as Viennese society and its surprisingly complex culture of artists. Along with Klimt, you also meet two of his protégés in the art nouveau Viennese movement, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. The proclivity of these artists to paint nude women made them controversial artists, and Klimt further established his reputation by pioneering the Secession Movement in Vienna.

Emilie Floge first met the older Klimt as a 12-year-old, and she was less than excited when her father arranged for her to take art lessons from the poor, unknown artist. She and her sister Helene were exposed to a completely new world in his art studio, and Emilie inevitably fell in love or something much like it with Klimt. He returned her feelings in an unquantifiable manner, but even Emilie realized fairly early on that he was a philanderer who did more than merely paint many of the society ladies who posed for portraits with him. It was a dysfunctional relationship between a man who would never commit or change his ways and a self-conscious young lady who could never pull away from his influence. It's generally understood that Emilie was Klimt's mistress, but their relationship, as represented in The Painted Kiss, is much more complicated than that; sex actually plays a minor (albeit disturbing) part in their relationship as imagined by Elizabeth Hickey. Emilie is a fascinating character in her own right, enjoying great success as a fashion designer in Vienna and maintaining a place in society despite the open secret of her personal relationship with Klimt. Even twenty-seven years after his death, in the midst of the travails of 1945 Austria, Klimt still dominates the life of Emilie.

The artist does the reader a service by mentioning several of the changes she made in the historical facts of her subjects' lives. It can't be easy creating a story around a relationship when history records very little of the details, and I think Hickey has done a masterful job. While I never came to completely understand the motivations of the two main characters, I was perpetually mesmerized by the story that played out before me. This novel inevitably draws comparisons to Girl With a Pearl Earring; not having read that novel, I can't compare the two. I can, however, declare that The Painted Kiss is an incredibly rich, perfectly enchanting work of modern literature that I found absorbing and truly magnificent.

Hungarian Revolution is Memorialized in Dramatized History, 19 Dec 2006
Thousands of Hungarians were killed by Soviet forces in November 1956. Their crime? Taking back their country from foreign leaders. At that time, 200,000 more fled Hungary in the months following, knowing that the oppressive, murderous communist leaders were not going to show mercy to those who were involved.

James Michener's "Bridge at Andau" tells the story of those fleeing. He was there to see it, and told what he saw. Michener's storytelling style is a kind of John Grisham mix of detail and personality. He took real lives of people struggling to survive and presented them to the horrified world. Michener researched his story in Austria and at the bridge itself.

Michener published the book in 1957, while the crush of the Hungarian people continued. America refused to assist the pleas of the Hungarian revolutionaries, based on a combination of American opinion, and a real concern that WWIII might break out in the midst of the Cold War. Instead, we focused on the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, the Hungarian people suffered.

Andau is an Austrian city at the Hungarian border. It was called Mosontarcsa, as part of Hungary, until 1921. It was a small village, but a key point for refugees escaping.

The value of reading this today is it shows us the culture of Hungary as it was during the Soviet occupation. It shows the complex, and often compromising position average Hungarian citizens had as they were part of the communist party. Unwilling, but joining to have access to things, they lived daily through trials unlike any we have known in the USA. When, in 1956, a revolution began, many dropped their party inclinations and either fought or fled. Many died in the process.

On one hand, this provides a slice of the events, as chronicled at one location. However, it also gives us a broader view of what the Hungarian people were wanting, what they were missing, and why so many were willing to die for freedom. It also shows the consequences of one country trying to fight for freedom alone. It inspires us of great heroes, and reminds us of the tensions our leaders are exposed to when it comes to bringing freedom to another country.

Michener acknowledges the weaknesses of the anecdotes of each person he spoke with. How does he know they are true? He explains in a postscript how most names have been changed and how some stories could be proved, while others could not.

To get an accurate, historical view of what happened in 1956, it is best to read something published later, after many more facts were available. Dozens of great books exist to meet this need. To read a significant fictionalized collection of personal stories, "Bridge at Andau" is as good as it gets.

I fully recommend "Bridge at Andau" by James A. Michener.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Excellent story about overshadowed history, 22 Jul 1998
I read Bridge at Andau while in Budapest this spring. It was amazing to be in the places where this terrible history took place while reading Michener's account of the events. Two points were apparent to me; 1. I was surprised to realize that this history is overshadowed by other events in eastern Europe, 2. The book was written at the height of McCarthyism and must be taken with a small grain of salt. The stories told about the revolution of 1956 are no less legitimate or compelling than at the time the book was penned, but the purpose of the book was different. Michener wrote a novel that was to serve as a warning to anyone who might have romantic ideals about the evil communists that were percieved to be ready to destroy America. This is a great story about about courageous people. Unfortunately it may be misinterperted as soft sell propoganda about why capitalism is better than communism.

Outstandingly Realistic, 05 Jul 1998
James Michner departed from his usual epics, about the far east and the Pacific. He handles the matter of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with some great detail and realism.

Why did this happen anyway?, 22 Mar 1998
Michener picked out a sad yet incredibly important event to be the subject of this novel. This is the story of the short-lived Hungarian Revolution of the 50s. He tells in horrifying detail the stories of the couragous people who fought the Russians for a few weeks and the many people who left their lives behind and risked the dangers of crossing the Iron Curtain. For all the Marxists out there, this book will scare you right back to Thomas Jefferson ethics.

Fantastic Book!!, 04 Nov 2004
I picked up this book and couldn't put it down. When I'd finished i went straight on to the next...and the next... Totally gripping, fantastic writing, great adventure as well as adding a dimension of emotion to accurate historical events. Love the romance, and the hope... my mum and I love Bodie Thoene!!

Excellent, 18 Mar 2001
I began reading this book when I was actually staying in Vienna with a friend and was immediately hooked. I found the books really hard to fine in England though- Amazon is the only place I have managed to get hold of them. They are a terrific series that successfully combine history with fiction. Being a violinist myself meant that I could immediately interact with the main character Elisa. There are so many interesting twists ias the plot continues in each book. I haven't finished the series yet- I am onto the fourth novel, but I am hooked and cannot put them down! I definitely give this a 5 star rating with no hesitation!!!

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

fantastic!, 29 Dec 2002
This book, wierd as it may be, is a fantastic tale of Gregor who wakes one morning to discover he is a 'monstrous vermin'. The story shows how he lives and his family seperates from him. His metamorphosis from being family provider to family burden is particularly sad and the ending is... well, you'll have to read it! (i won't give it away)Grete is brave and becomes the provider for Gregor and experiences her own metamorphosis into womanhood.
A great book for those who are sick of traditional boring stories. This is certainly different,full of metaphors and really gets you thinking!

Kafka's world, 15 Feb 2001
A great story where Kafka mixes real feelings with science fiction, and takes us to a world of loneliness and family rejection.

PROMISING DEBUT NOVEL..., 17 Jul 2005
This is an ambitious novel by its first time author. The focal point of the book is the relationship between noted Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, and Emilie Floge, mistress of an exclusive fashion salon in fin de siecle Vienna. This is a woman whose name would be upon his lips when Klimt died. Who was she, and what was their relationship?

As there is little known in the historical record about the relationship between Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floge, the author was free to let her imagination wander. Told as a first person narrative by Emilie Floge, the book reveals a relationship that would encompass many years, many events, and many changes. Having first met Gustav Klimt when she was a twelve year old girl, and he was but a penniless, nearly starving, artist, she becomes his pupil. As he instructs this young girl in the fundamentals of drawing, a certain undeniable attraction exists. She is fascinated by him, and he eventually notices the nubile young girl that she is. Under his tutelage, our bourgeois young lady glimpses the world of the demi-monde, a world where artists' models and artists would bypass the mores of accepted society.

Theirs was a relationship that would span his lifetime until his death at the age of fifty-six. Yet, theirs was not to be the passion of great lovers. Their relationship, at least in the imaginings of the author, was more one of intimate friendship. Through the eyes of Emilie Floge, the reader sees the accession of Gustav Klimt into the highest rungs of Viennese society, a sought after, though somewhat controversial, artist and lover. He, in turn, becomes Emilie's patron, assisting her with the establishment of her haute couture salon, where she would dress the wealthy women who sought out Gustav Klimt in hopes of becoming his mistress. That position was one that Emilie herself had considered but eschewed in the final analysis. The author conveys a certain feeling of melancholy between the two protagonists, who are bound together by something stronger than a fleeting passion. In the end, Emilie became something even more important to Gustav Klimt. She became his muse.

This is a fairly well-written, introspective work of historical fiction that occasionally lacks substance. At times, it feels as superficial as the society about which the author writes. The author, however, intersperses commentary on some of Gustav Klimt's paintings. These are paintings that bear some relation to Emilie's narrative, and the use of commentary is an interesting literary contrivance. So, there is much to enjoy in this novel, and I look forward to this promising author's next book. Should anyone wonder what Emilie Floge looked like, one need only look at the beautiful cover art of the book. Gracing the cover is a painting by Gustav Klimt of the lovely Emilie Floge.

An exquisite, mesmerizing work of historical fiction, 12 Jul 2005
The Painted Kiss is a truly exquisite novel and a most impressive debut by author Elizabeth Hickey. While I do read a good bit of historical fiction, most of what I read is built around historical events; this novel, though, is intensely personal, the imagined story of a most unusual relationship between artist Gustav Klimt and the younger Emilie Floge (who became a successful fashion designer in Vienna). The cover art depicts Klimt's 1902 portrait of Emilie, and a number of Klimt's best-known artistic creations inform the narrative of this wonderfully lush work of modern literature. It is in some ways a disturbing read, as the relationship under the microscope is far from ideal, and the reader cannot help but sympathize greatly with Emilie as her character narrates the story from her first meeting with Klimt as a curious 12-year-old girl to Klimt's death and beyond, culminating in 1945 war-torn Austria. As I mentioned, I don't normally read novels of this type, and I must say that I was mesmerized by the entire story. Hickey is an artist in her own right, an artist of words, and she captures Emilie's soul as deeply and hypnotically as any portrait ever could, including the haunting portrait that graces the cover.

I know next to nothing about art, so I found this book's story of Viennese art history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century most informative. The author works many of Gustav Klimt's portraits, and the women who posed for them, into the novel, and I would encourage the reader to seek out the images of these portraits online or in art gallery books - Klimt's actual historical portraits make for the most vivid of visual aids when it comes to immersing yourself in this story. Hickey has done an impressive job researching the principals as well as Viennese society and its surprisingly complex culture of artists. Along with Klimt, you also meet two of his protégés in the art nouveau Viennese movement, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. The proclivity of these artists to paint nude women made them controversial artists, and Klimt further established his reputation by pioneering the Secession Movement in Vienna.

Emilie Floge first met the older Klimt as a 12-year-old, and she was less than excited when her father arranged for her to take art lessons from the poor, unknown artist. She and her sister Helene were exposed to a completely new world in his art studio, and Emilie inevitably fell in love or something much like it with Klimt. He returned her feelings in an unquantifiable manner, but even Emilie realized fairly early on that he was a philanderer who did more than merely paint many of the society ladies who posed for portraits with him. It was a dysfunctional relationship between a man who would never commit or change his ways and a self-conscious young lady who could never pull away from his influence. It's generally understood that Emilie was Klimt's mistress, but their relationship, as represented in The Painted Kiss, is much more complicated than that; sex actually plays a minor (albeit disturbing) part in their relationship as imagined by Elizabeth Hickey. Emilie is a fascinating character in her own right, enjoying great success as a fashion designer in Vienna and maintaining a place in society despite the open secret of her personal relationship with Klimt. Even twenty-seven years after his death, in the midst of the travails of 1945 Austria, Klimt still dominates the life of Emilie.

The artist does the reader a service by mentioning several of the changes she made in the historical facts of her subjects' lives. It can't be easy creating a story around a relationship when history records very little of the details, and I think Hickey has done a masterful job. While I never came to completely understand the motivations of the two main characters, I was perpetually mesmerized by the story that played out before me. This novel inevitably draws comparisons to Girl With a Pearl Earring; not having read that novel, I can't compare the two. I can, however, declare that The Painted Kiss is an incredibly rich, perfectly enchanting work of modern literature that I found absorbing and truly magnificent.

Hungarian Revolution is Memorialized in Dramatized History, 19 Dec 2006
Thousands of Hungarians were killed by Soviet forces in November 1956. Their crime? Taking back their country from foreign leaders. At that time, 200,000 more fled Hungary in the months following, knowing that the oppressive, murderous communist leaders were not going to show mercy to those who were involved.

James Michener's "Bridge at Andau" tells the story of those fleeing. He was there to see it, and told what he saw. Michener's storytelling style is a kind of John Grisham mix of detail and personality. He took real lives of people struggling to survive and presented them to the horrified world. Michener researched his story in Austria and at the bridge itself.

Michener published the book in 1957, while the crush of the Hungarian people continued. America refused to assist the pleas of the Hungarian revolutionaries, based on a combination of American opinion, and a real concern that WWIII might break out in the midst of the Cold War. Instead, we focused on the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, the Hungarian people suffered.

Andau is an Austrian city at the Hungarian border. It was called Mosontarcsa, as part of Hungary, until 1921. It was a small village, but a key point for refugees escaping.

The value of reading this today is it shows us the culture of Hungary as it was during the Soviet occupation. It shows the complex, and often compromising position average Hungarian citizens had as they were part of the communist party. Unwilling, but joining to have access to things, they lived daily through trials unlike any we have known in the USA. When, in 1956, a revolution began, many dropped their party inclinations and either fought or fled. Many died in the process.

On one hand, this provides a slice of the events, as chronicled at one location. However, it also gives us a broader view of what the Hungarian people were wanting, what they were missing, and why so many were willing to die for freedom. It also shows the consequences of one country trying to fight for freedom alone. It inspires us of great heroes, and reminds us of the tensions our leaders are exposed to when it comes to bringing freedom to another country.

Michener acknowledges the weaknesses of the anecdotes of each person he spoke with. How does he know they are true? He explains in a postscript how most names have been changed and how some stories could be proved, while others could not.

To get an accurate, historical view of what happened in 1956, it is best to read something published later, after many more facts were available. Dozens of great books exist to meet this need. To read a significant fictionalized collection of personal stories, "Bridge at Andau" is as good as it gets.

I fully recommend "Bridge at Andau" by James A. Michener.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Excellent story about overshadowed history, 22 Jul 1998
I read Bridge at Andau while in Budapest this spring. It was amazing to be in the places where this terrible history took place while reading Michener's account of the events. Two points were apparent to me; 1. I was surprised to realize that this history is overshadowed by other events in eastern Europe, 2. The book was written at the height of McCarthyism and must be taken with a small grain of salt. The stories told about the revolution of 1956 are no less legitimate or compelling than at the time the book was penned, but the purpose of the book was different. Michener wrote a novel that was to serve as a warning to anyone who might have romantic ideals about the evil communists that were percieved to be ready to destroy America. This is a great story about about courageous people. Unfortunately it may be misinterperted as soft sell propoganda about why capitalism is better than communism.

Outstandingly Realistic, 05 Jul 1998
James Michner departed from his usual epics, about the far east and the Pacific. He handles the matter of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with some great detail and realism.

Why did this happen anyway?, 22 Mar 1998
Michener picked out a sad yet incredibly important event to be the subject of this novel. This is the story of the short-lived Hungarian Revolution of the 50s. He tells in horrifying detail the stories of the couragous people who fought the Russians for a few weeks and the many people who left their lives behind and risked the dangers of crossing the Iron Curtain. For all the Marxists out there, this book will scare you right back to Thomas Jefferson ethics.

Fantastic Book!!, 04 Nov 2004
I picked up this book and couldn't put it down. When I'd finished i went straight on to the next...and the next... Totally gripping, fantastic writing, great adventure as well as adding a dimension of emotion to accurate historical events. Love the romance, and the hope... my mum and I love Bodie Thoene!!

Excellent, 18 Mar 2001
I began reading this book when I was actually staying in Vienna with a friend and was immediately hooked. I found the books really hard to fine in England though- Amazon is the only place I have managed to get hold of them. They are a terrific series that successfully combine history with fiction. Being a violinist myself meant that I could immediately interact with the main character Elisa. There are so many interesting twists ias the plot continues in each book. I haven't finished the series yet- I am onto the fourth novel, but I am hooked and cannot put them down! I definitely give this a 5 star rating with no hesitation!!!

Superb, 23 Feb 2008
Roth enmbues his tale of declining empire with a dramatic tension, which made me have a knot in my stomach all the way through. You can feel the destruction awaiting his characters who seem powerless to react to the events controlling their lives. Even though you don't want to go on, you remain gripped.

A singular and brilliant novel, 07 Sep 2007

There's something wonderful about reading Joseph Roth even before one begins a novel of his. I came across him by chance rather than active effort and he is, of course, still nowhere near as well-known and alluded to as his talent should have already assured. So you get the wonderful sense of discovery, which only adds to the beauty of his prose.

This novel is beautifully lyrical. As a couple of the other reveiwers have mentioned, one feels compelled to say that it is not sentimental, though the texture of it, its tone, sometimes makes it feel as though it almost is.

The most potent scenes, for me, were those which so pointedly expressed a feeling of regret, of disiappontment and failure. We have all felt that stomach-lurching collapse, that sudden and absolute knowledge that we have done something very wrong, that we have ruined something, that something important to us is now over. The Radetzky March is as sad as it is beautiful.

It's also wonderfully funny. The wit verges on the Dostoyevskian in its eccentricity and is brilliantly compelling and balanced. Roth's writing style, amidst a weighty, formal narrative, is so joyfully unusual. The way massive events are meticulously introduced and then torn through at a hurtling pace only to land- ta-da- at the next plot-point is so refreshing, so out of the ordinary.

My favourite comment in the introduction (and surely this translator deserves some sort of award for seemingly introducing the English-speaking world to Roth single-handedly) is his basic summation of many of Roth's protagonists- they are just tired men out of their depth. And this also allows for tragi-comedy: the passages describing Trotta's slump into ninety-proof reliance are brilliant. There is never an occasion not to have a drink in this nowhere border garrison. And he cheerfully drinks the days away, amiable to all he passes, though only he doesn't realise that his step is faltering, his tunic stained, his buttons done up wrong...

I'd recommend anything by this author, to anyone, and this, surely, will eventually gain its rightful standing as a vital must-read for anyone interested in literature.



Timeless, 10 Jul 2006
Although set in the historic background of the Austrian - Hungary empire, the book is timeless in that it describes the increasing discrepancy between actual, political develoments and the set of values to which an older generation tries to adhere. The same holds for the relationship between a father and a son. Often the prose is wonderful ("living bread" rather than grain) and the subtle way in which the story develops surely must make this one of the most beautiful books ever written. Very moving, very recommendable.

Beautifully and intelligently written, 14 Dec 2005
This is the personal story of three generations of fathers and sons against the backdrop of the decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire. I was expecting a harsh, agressive book about honour and death and indeed these themes are key to the story but the style is tender, emotive and full of confused regret.

The fathers and sons in question have a distant, reticent respect for each other but also a deep and unfathomable love. The youngest von Trotta's life unravels into an out of control heap which mirrors the demise of the empire itself. While his father, the older generation 'going on', can only look on sadly impotent.

The clarity of detail and description of the various incidents and events that mark the life of the youngest protagonist are stunningly real. The quality of the writing and the translation is so good that you feel as though you are watching something rather than reading it.

Perhaps I'm making this book sound wafty and nostalgic, it is nostalgic but it's vision is razor sharp. I was moved to tears in one chapter when the Trotta's old servant Jacques becomes ill and dies. It's beautifully and intelligently written. Another book I have to ration because it is such a treat to read writing as good as this.

The Last of Empire, 28 Mar 2004
The collapse of the Austrian Empire at the time of the Great War becomes explicable in this clear-eyed, unsentimentally compassionate family saga which links the Trotta family indissolubly to the last Emperor, Franz Joseph: his life saved by 'the hero of Solferino', his death signalling the last of the Trottas. The novel is both epic and intimate, combining the decline into hollowness of the Habsburg Empire with three generations of one family who desperately wish to serve that empire, but find themselves increasingly out of step with society as it exists. In what appears to me a superb translation by Michael Hofmann, The Radetzky March reminds us of how insular we can be in our assumptions of what constitutes great classic literature.

A small masterpiece, 28 Oct 2008
Stefan Zweig has recently been "rediscovered", or perhaps what we mean is "reprinted"? Thank God for that. On this story alone, he rates as one of the great writers of the 20th Century.
Here he gets into the brain of a 12-year-old who is just discovering adult life. He is also discovering that his mother is a sensual female with adulterous leanings. It is wonderfully written and unputdownable. It will make you cry and laugh. And it will re-awaken your delight in clear, clean, wonderfully expressive language and an author who is a master at telling a story and revealing emotions. Don't read this review, read the book, and move on to his other books. He is a master, perhaps a genius.

A novella by a great and subtle story-teller, 14 Oct 2008
We must be grateful to the Pushkin Press for publishing a series of novellas by the wonderful Stefan Zweig, even if the cover price for these little gems of not much more than a hundred pages is a bit steep. But then, in extenuation, this and some of the other volumes have been newly and brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell.

We are in Zweig country. The scenery is wonderfully conveyed in the opening pages. The story is set in the eroticized atmosphere at the end of the Habsburg Empire. There are three characters: a suave baron, on holiday at a hotel, who is an accomplished, cold and determined seducer; an elegant woman who is his more than half-willing prey; and her lonely twelve-year-old son Edgar. The baron first opens his campaign by befriending the boy. Edgar responds passionately to the baron's apparent interest in him, but then he discovers, first with bewilderment and then with rage, that he is in fact de trop. We have to accept that the sheltered Edgar is more innocent than a twelve-year old boy would be today. He guesses that the adults are keeping something from him, but he cannot work out what that secret might be. But he takes his revenge by making sure that he would continue to be de trop, since this was obviously embarrassing and inhibiting them both.

I must not reveal the rest of the story; but it is tense and moving, and Edgar veers back and forth between dependent childhood and the first frightening steps of independence.

The thoughts of all three characters are described with the amplitude and subtlety that is characteristic of this very great writer.


Excellent book about Kafka, 24 Aug 2007
Researching a Kafka project and reading a number of books I picked this up almost accidentally without expecting much (thought it would be a basic beginner's guide). Turns out that Mr Robertson has written the most incisive, clear and perceptive account of FK's writings that I've yet come across and that includes the likes of Kundera, Canetti and Calvino. This book say more in a 100 odd pages than the 1000 odd combined that I'd read before. Kept going 'yes, yes' as I read. Top marks. Excellent stuff.

A very useful guide, 05 Feb 2006
I bought this book in order to gain a quick insight into the works and workings of one of the most enigmatic authors in German literature.
I was under immense time pressure to learn about Kafka before a forthcoming university interview so this book was ideal as it wasted no time and got straight into analysing and evaluating his stories as well as giving a brief historical background to aid understanding of the sometimes challenging texts.

Kafka has become one of my favourite authors and even though i have now read nearly all of the published works of Kafka, i still reference this great little book all the time.
It and the others in the series are fantastic little books which are very good value and excellent resources!!!

fantastic!, 29 Dec 2002
This book, wierd as it may be, is a fantastic tale of Gregor who wakes one morning to discover he is a 'monstrous vermin'. The story shows how he lives and his family seperates from him. His metamorphosis from being family provider to family burden is particularly sad and the ending is... well, you'll have to read it! (i won't give it away)Grete is brave and becomes the provider for Gregor and experiences her own metamorphosis into womanhood.
A great book for those who are sick of traditional boring stories. This is certainly different,full of metaphors and really gets you thinking!

Kafka's world, 15 Feb 2001
A great story where Kafka mixes real feelings with science fiction, and takes us to a world of loneliness and family rejection.

PROMISING DEBUT NOVEL..., 17 Jul 2005
This is an ambitious novel by its first time author. The focal point of the book is the relationship between noted Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, and Emilie Floge, mistress of an exclusive fashion salon in fin de siecle Vienna. This is a woman whose name would be upon his lips when Klimt died. Who was she, and what was their relationship?

As there is little known in the historical record about the relationship between Gustav Klimt and Emilie Floge, the author was free to let her imagination wander. Told as a first person narrative by Emilie Floge, the book reveals a relationship that would encompass many years, many events, and many changes. Having first met Gustav Klimt when she was a twelve year old girl, and he was but a penniless, nearly starving, artist, she becomes his pupil. As he instructs this young girl in the fundamentals of drawing, a certain undeniable attraction exists. She is fascinated by him, and he eventually notices the nubile young girl that she is. Under his tutelage, our bourgeois young lady glimpses the world of the demi-monde, a world where artists' models and artists would bypass the mores of accepted society.

Theirs was a relationship that would span his lifetime until his death at the age of fifty-six. Yet, theirs was not to be the passion of great lovers. Their relationship, at least in the imaginings of the author, was more one of intimate friendship. Through the eyes of Emilie Floge, the reader sees the accession of Gustav Klimt into the highest rungs of Viennese society, a sought after, though somewhat controversial, artist and lover. He, in turn, becomes Emilie's patron, assisting her with the establishment of her haute couture salon, where she would dress the wealthy women who sought out Gustav Klimt in hopes of becoming his mistress. That position was one that Emilie herself had considered but eschewed in the final analysis. The author conveys a certain feeling of melancholy between the two protagonists, who are bound together by something stronger than a fleeting passion. In the end, Emilie became something even more important to Gustav Klimt. She became his muse.

This is a fairly well-written, introspective work of historical fiction that occasionally lacks substance. At times, it feels as superficial as the society about which the author writes. The author, however, intersperses commentary on some of Gustav Klimt's paintings. These are paintings that bear some relation to Emilie's narrative, and the use of commentary is an interesting literary contrivance. So, there is much to enjoy in this novel, and I look forward to this promising author's next book. Should anyone wonder what Emilie Floge looked like, one need only look at the beautiful cover art of the book. Gracing the cover is a painting by Gustav Klimt of the lovely Emilie Floge.

An exquisite, mesmerizing work of historical fiction, 12 Jul 2005
The Painted Kiss is a truly exquisite novel and a most impressive debut by author Elizabeth Hickey. While I do read a good bit of historical fiction, most of what I read is built around historical events; this novel, though, is intensely personal, the imagined story of a most unusual relationship between artist Gustav Klimt and the younger Emilie Floge (who became a successful fashion designer in Vienna). The cover art depicts Klimt's 1902 portrait of Emilie, and a number of Klimt's best-known artistic creations inform the narrative of this wonderfully lush work of modern literature. It is in some ways a disturbing read, as the relationship under the microscope is far from ideal, and the reader cannot help but sympathize greatly with Emilie as her character narrates the story from her first meeting with Klimt as a curious 12-year-old girl to Klimt's death and beyond, culminating in 1945 war-torn Austria. As I mentioned, I don't normally read novels of this type, and I must say that I was mesmerized by the entire story. Hickey is an artist in her own right, an artist of words, and she captures Emilie's soul as deeply and hypnotically as any portrait ever could, including the haunting portrait that graces the cover.

I know next to nothing about art, so I found this book's story of Viennese art history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century most informative. The author works many of Gustav Klimt's portraits, and the women who posed for them, into the novel, and I would encourage the reader to seek out the images of these portraits online or in art gallery books - Klimt's actual historical portraits make for the most vivid of visual aids when it comes to immersing yourself in this story. Hickey has done an impressive job researching the principals as well as Viennese society and its surprisingly complex culture of artists. Along with Klimt, you also meet two of his protégés in the art nouveau Viennese movement, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. The proclivity of these artists to paint nude women made them controversial artists, and Klimt further established his reputation by pioneering the Secession Movement in Vienna.

Emilie Floge first met the older Klimt as a 12-year-old, and she was less than excited when her father arranged for her to take art lessons from the poor, unknown artist. She and her sister Helene were exposed to a completely new world in his art studio, and Emilie inevitably fell in love or something much like it with Klimt. He returned her feelings in an unquantifiable manner, but even Emilie realized fairly early on that he was a philanderer who did more than merely paint many of the society ladies who posed for portraits with him. It was a dysfunctional relationship between a man who would never commit or change his ways and a self-conscious young lady who could never pull away from his influence. It's generally understood that Emilie was Klimt's mistress, but their relationship, as represented in The Painted Kiss, is much more complicated than that; sex actually plays a minor (albeit disturbing) part in their relationship as imagined by Elizabeth Hickey. Emilie is a fascinating character in her own right, enjoying great success as a fashion designer in Vienna and maintaining a place in society despite the open secret of her personal relationship with Klimt. Even twenty-seven years after his death, in the midst of the travails of 1945 Austria, Klimt still dominates the life of Emilie.

The artist does the reader a service by mentioning several of the changes she made in the historical facts of her subjects' lives. It can't be easy creating a story around a relationship when history records very little of the details, and I think Hickey has done a masterful job. While I never came to completely understand the motivations of the two main characters, I was perpetually mesmerized by the story that played out before me. This novel inevitably draws comparisons to Girl With a Pearl Earring; not having read that novel, I can't compare the two. I can, however, declare that The Painted Kiss is an incredibly rich, perfectly enchanting work of modern literature that I found absorbing and truly magnificent.

Hungarian Revolution is Memorialized in Dramatized History, 19 Dec 2006
Thousands of Hungarians were killed by Soviet forces in November 1956. Their crime? Taking back their country from foreign leaders. At that time, 200,000 more fled Hungary in the months following, knowing that the oppressive, murderous communist leaders were not going to show mercy to those who were involved.

James Michener's "Bridge at Andau" tells the story of those fleeing. He was there to see it, and told what he saw. Michener's storytelling style is a kind of John Grisham mix of detail and personality. He took real lives of people struggling to survive and presented them to the horrified world. Michener researched his story in Austria and at the bridge itself.

Michener published the book in 1957, while the crush of the Hungarian people continued. America refused to assist the pleas of the Hungarian revolutionaries, based on a combination of American opinion, and a real concern that WWIII might break out in the midst of the Cold War. Instead, we focused on the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, the Hungarian people suffered.

Andau is an Austrian city at the Hungarian border. It was called Mosontarcsa, as part of Hungary, until 1921. It was a small village, but a key point for refugees escaping.

The value of reading this today is it shows us the culture of Hungary as it was during the Soviet occupation. It shows the complex, and often compromising position average Hungarian citizens had as they were part of the communist party. Unwilling, but joining to have access to things, they lived daily through trials unlike any we have known in the USA. When, in 1956, a revolution began, many dropped their party inclinations and either fought or fled. Many died in the process.

On one hand, this provides a slice of the events, as chronicled at one location. However, it also gives us a broader view of what the Hungarian people were wanting, what they were missing, and why so many were willing to die for freedom. It also shows the consequences of one country trying to fight for freedom alone. It inspires us of great heroes, and reminds us of the tensions our leaders are exposed to when it comes to bringing freedom to another country.

Michener acknowledges the weaknesses of the anecdotes of each person he spoke with. How does he know they are true? He explains in a postscript how most names have been changed and how some stories could be proved, while others could not.

To get an accurate, historical view of what happened in 1956, it is best to read something published later, after many more facts were available. Dozens of great books exist to meet this need. To read a significant fictionalized collection of personal stories, "Bridge at Andau" is as good as it gets.

I fully recommend "Bridge at Andau" by James A. Michener.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Excellent story about overshadowed history, 22 Jul 1998
I read Bridge at Andau while in Budapest this spring. It was amazing to be in the places where this terrible history took place while reading Michener's account of the events. Two points were apparent to me; 1. I was surprised to realize that this history is overshadowed by other events in eastern Europe, 2. The book was written at the height of McCarthyism and must be taken with a small grain of salt. The stories told about the revolution of 1956 are no less legitimate or compelling than at the time the book was penned, but the purpose of the book was different. Michener wrote a novel that was to serve as a warning to anyone who might have romantic ideals about the evil communists that were percieved to be ready to destroy America. This is a great story about about courageous people. Unfortunately it may be misinterperted as soft sell propoganda about why capitalism is better than communism.

Outstandingly Realistic, 05 Jul 1998
James Michner departed from his usual epics, about the far east and the Pacific. He handles the matter of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with some great detail and realism.

Why did this happen anyway?, 22 Mar 1998
Michener picked out a sad yet incredibly important event to be the subject of this novel. This is the story of the short-lived Hungarian Revolution of the 50s. He tells in horrifying detail the stories of the couragous people who fought the Russians for a few weeks and the many people who left their lives behind and risked the