The Color Of Smoke
An Epic Novel of the Roma
Menyhert Lakatos author Ann Major translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:New Europe Books
Published:27th Aug '15
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FUTURE PLANS: Direct mail/email campaign and more targeted outreach (e.g. via social media) to US & Canadian academics and UK/Europe-based scholars and students of the Roma Perhaps a 2nd edition at some point targeting academia, with a VIP foreword and more information on the Roma FROM THE 2014 PUBLICATION: Wide distribution of print ARC's and e-galleys yielded some reviews Online advertising Targeted print advertising May 2014 launch in New York City hosted by the Hungarian Cultural Center/Hungarian consulate--with Romani folk music, and noted writers and scholars discussing the book in the context of the Romani Holocaust and the present-day situation of underclasses the world over.
A timeless tribute to a marginalized people and the riveting tale of one boy’s journey to manhoodSweeping us into the world of the Roma as fascism gathers force and the Holocaust looms on the horizon, The Color of Smoke is a thoroughly absorbing story that abounds in unforgettable characters. There is the adolescent narrator, torn between his people and a society that both entices him and rejects him. From his rise in school to his first sexual encounters, from hunger to police harassment, he treads a precarious path - one marked by moments of beauty and poignancy along with bawdiness, violence and high adventure.
“A picaresque tale of the struggles of the Romany (also known as the Gypsies) in Hungary before World War II, appearing for the first time in English . . . A rare, observant . . . snapshot of Romany life.” ⎯Kirkus Reviews “Gypsy characters . . . appear time and again in literature. However, this is the first novel in which a Gypsy himself depicts his people—marked for centuries by ostracism and misery—with complete authenticity and literary truthfulness . . . Its description of the life of a Gypsy group during the 1930s and 1940s grabs the reader through the intensity and immediacy of its ambiance and language. . . . Characters, legends, customs, and Dionysian passions—brought to life superbly—are effortlessly treated in colorful episodes. . . . A one-of-a-kind coming-of-age novel.” —Neue Zürcher Zeitung “It would not be an exaggeration to describe Lakatos as a Romani Proust.” ⎯Cécile Kovácsházy, TheConversation.com “The Color of Smoke is a gripping and important narrative of a subject obscured by myth and misconception. Thanks to Lakatos’s elegant work, ignorance regarding the fate of the Roma people is no longer an excuse for inaction on their behalf.” –Kati Marton, author of Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America “That it took four decades for Menyhért Lakatos’s epic novel The Color of Smoke to finally appear in English translation is astonishing. To me and many other Hungarians, this 1975 classic shined a light on a marginalized people who lived among us but about whom we knew little: the Roma (Gypsies), who are by far the largest minority in Europe. The book is a riveting coming-of-age story set during World War II. It also powerfully chronicles the increasing social tensions that culminated in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Roma in the Holocaust.” ⎯Géza Röhrig, writer and actor (Son of Saul), writing for the Wall Street Journal
ISBN: 9780985062347
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 477g
472 pages