Summary

The novel opens with a brief prologue discussing the challenges of aging for the novel’s characters, “The former residents of Katalin Street” (1). The prologue states that the true hardship of aging is not biological deterioration but “awareness of universal disintegration” (2) and the idea that only a few moments in one’s life are significant to oneself. In the chapter entitled Places, the narrative transitions to the 1950s. Hungary is under the rule of the Soviet Union. A schoolteacher named Irén is married to a man named Pali, and they have a daughter named Kinga. Irén’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. Elekes. All of these characters live together in one apartment due to governmental regulations. Also living with them are Irén’s childhood friend Bálint Biró—who is now a doctor—and Bálint’s childhood governess Mrs. Temes...