Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Mar 2007
288 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
It is the summer of 1918. As graduation approaches at a boys academy in provincial Hungary, the senior class finds itself in a ghost town. Fathers, uncles, older brothersall have been called to the front. Surrounded only by old men, mothers, aunts, and sisters, the boys are keenly aware that graduation will propel them into the army and imminently toward likely death on the battlefield. In the final weeks of the academic year, four of these young menand the war-wounded older brother of one of themare drawn tightly together, sensing in one another a mutual alienation from their bleak, death-mapped future. Soon they are acting out their frustrations and fears in a series of increasingly serious, strange, and subversive games and petty thefts. But when they attract the attention of a stranger in townan actor with a traveling theater companytheir games, and their lives, begin to move in a direction they could not have predicted and cannot control.
"By the time Márai's moody, uneven narration gives way to the students' long-winded confessions, the novel's seams are clearly visible." - PW.
"Readers who enjoy a central European setting would do better with Zsuzsa Bank's The Swimmers." - Library Journal.
"A compelling novel that nonetheless carries the ponderous weight of the era's events and ideas." - Kirkus.
This information about The Rebels shown above was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sandor Marai was a Hungarian novelist born in 1900 whose works remained untranslated and all but forgotten for years until they were recently discovered. The first of his works to be translated into English was Embers.
Become a Member and discover books that entertain, engage & enlighten.
The Dutch House is my introduction to Ann Patchett, which, after reading it, surprises me. I had ...
The Fortunate Ones
by Ed Tarkington
An engrossing story of class, love, and loyalty for fans of Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here.
Reader ReviewsThe Prophets
by Robert Jones Jr.
A stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation.
Reader ReviewsSome books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed on and digested.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.