Nils C. Ahl and Florence Noiville, drew comparisons between Nádas, whose previous novel, ?Book of Memories?, also enjoyed much success in France, and Proust, Musil and Thomas Mann.
The novel only appears to be a crime story, which in the uncertain order of the chapters that follow presents readers with its own rhythm, the critics said. They called the book ?a gigantic fresco? whose structure is revealed only after several hundred pages.
Nádas told the paper that the book had sometimes required changes to his personal life, affecting his daily routine and his social connections. Writing the novel meant a ?sacrifice?, he said.
Nádas also revealed that he read about a hundred books while writing the novel.
The author started ?Parallel Stories? in 1985, but made many changes to the structure, such as after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and in 1993, after suffering a heart attack.
The final product depicts the ?exciting and apparently random fate of humanity in 20th century Europe?, according to Le Monde.
Nádas noted that the appearance of randomness is a result of the balance created in the book between order and chaos. He said what is interesting is the relationship of historical cycles to the cycles in an individual?s life.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
