: The book is a brief, intense read divided into three chapters, making it more of a "long short story" or novella.
: Márai is unsparing in his ridicule of secondary characters, including the emperor, depicting a society that "sweats the smells of animal existence". Reader's Guide for EPUB Editions El Matarife Sandor Marai epub
: During World War I, Otto is mobilised to the front. He finds that the skills he used on livestock translate seamlessly into the "obediencia criminal" (criminal obedience) of war, where he bayonets enemies with the same clinical detachment he used on cattle. : The book is a brief, intense read
: Read this as a precursor to his more philosophical works. It captures the "convulsive interwar world" that shaped his later exile. : The book is a brief