Reviews

Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by T.J. Reed, John E. Woods, Thomas Mann

annehusted's review against another edition

informative

0.25

ketutar's review against another edition

4.0

Ok, so I only read a little part of it. I love it. I love the characters, I'm really interested, it's well written and all that... BUT I did not finish.
I can't.
Because I like all the characters. And it's "The Decline of a Family". I KNOW they are all going to die and this story ends badly. :'( I don't want to read that. I can't.
Maybe I'll take this up in the future, but right now I can't.

luciamf's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition

4.75

'I feel as if something is slipping away, as if I no longer hold it as firmly in my grasp as before.’ 

Two German born friends have recommended ‘Buddenbrooks’ to me, and I bought a copy way back in 2015. But when a third German friend mentioned he was reading (or rereading) Thomas Mann, I finally started reading. I also have a copy of ‘The Magic Mountain’ lurking around somewhere. 

The novel opens in 1835, at a formal Buddenbrook family dinner. Patriarch Johann Buddenbrook is joined by his family and friends, including the town’s doctor, a German poet, a senator as well as several business associates. The setting is opulent:  a well-furnished home with an abundance of food served on fine china with sliver, vintage liquor, and imported cigars. The family is well off and business is thriving. 

Mr Mann took some time to set the scene, to introduce the characters — especially Johann Buddenbrook’s granddaughter Antonie, known as Tony— who is eight years old as the story opens, and grandson Tom. The story concludes in 1877. During this period Germany has struggled through an industrial revolution, and several wars, an economic crisis, and political turmoil. The Buddenbrook family has experienced its own life events and struggles: births, deaths, marriages, and divorce. Tom takes control of the family fortunes at a time of change when the lure of modernity competes with tradition … and wins. Calculated risks become risky, and family fortune declines. Each generation experiences its own setbacks. 

There are eleven parts to this novel, taking the story through four generations of the Buddenbrook family. What made this novel a terrific read for me was the combination of a realistic plot, well-developed characters and storytelling which held my attention from beginning to end. Sometimes, the realism is uncomfortable (in particular, the antisemitism). But the authenticity of the story requires such accuracy, and it serves as a harbinger of what follows. 

The major characters are Tony Buddenbrook, her brother Tom, and Tom’s son Johann (known as Hanno). Yes, there are other characters, but for me they were secondary. I finished the novel wondering whether the decline of the Buddenbrook family was inevitable. They were wealthy, through trade, which the family fortune and social standing depended upon. 

Highly recommended, with thanks to the friends who recommended it. 

Jennifer Cameron-Smith 

kippenautomat's review against another edition

5.0

Thomas Mann is such a melancholic SLUT

larabavery's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Take Arrested Development and recast it with 18th century German gentry. Mann (and his brilliant English translator John Woods) paint the undeserved wealth of this family with vanity, hubris, and listlessness, and somehow you still root for them as they slowly fall into decay. Took me five months to finish and I enjoyed every minute. 

mobs's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

amerdale's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

nctascha's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lexiemoon321's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 stars rounded up
.
I mean, it wasn't bad but it wasn't very good lol. I don't know what else to say because the book was just very...boring.
.
Thomas Mann's first major is the story of four generations of the Buddenbrooks, a wealthy family in northern Germany: Johann, the patriarch, a member of the local merchant nobility; the Consul, who maintains the appearance of the family's prosperity; Thomas and Christian, who presides over the collapse of the family firm; and Hanno, the weak and dreamy, ineffectual artist, who symbolizes the family extinction through overrefinement. With its brilliant accretion of the domestic details of middle-class life-births and christenings, marriages, divorces, and deaths- Buddenbrooks masterfully captures the richness and complexity of human experience.