Reviews

Death in Venice by Michael Cunningham, Michael Henry Heim, Thomas Mann

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vici_loves's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

After having loved Mann’s novel Buddenbrooks, I thought this novella might be a good jumping off point to get back into (German) classics. Unfortunately, it did not fully click for me. There certainly were sentences and metaphors which blew my mind, but most of the text felt like treading through quicksand, putting me to sleep.

elak's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

josemclr's review against another edition

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3.0

Hm, pues la prosa está bonita y la reflexión de cómo el poeta es atraído al caos es interesante, pero las descripciones de lugares me perdieron por completo. Incluso las sufrí. Y, por supuesto, la trama... he leído cosas peores, la verdad. Esto estuvo bastante vainilla. Mas no lo hace sentir menos mal. No me importa si eran otros tiempos.

lesemaus2303's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

min_grachi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

0.25

tessagoth's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

4.75

Death in Venice is darkly haunting and absolutely overflowing with symbolism. I'm not smart enough to know what it all means, but I still found myself entranced by it. Every bit of the story was dripping with meaning. I wish I could take a seminar on it to clear up some things. Definitely recommend. Read it, then call me so we can talk about it.

writtenbypoets's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.75

So. It's complicated.
In the first half of the book, I was mesmerized by the poetic writing style and descriptions. I can only speak for the German version and its writing. I loved to see Aschenbach come to terms with his struggle and finally realize that he needed a change. I was convinced that it would be a 5-star read.

Then the pedophilia entered the subtext, at first very subtly, but quickly added very clearly into dialogue and the plot. His obsession with the 14-year-old little Polish boy took me aback. It pulled me completely out of the story and I couldn't ignore it or just observe it from afar.
Aschenbach's behavior gets criticized by the story through the boy's family trying to keep him away from Aschenbach. But still.
Maybe I'm just very sensitive when it comes to pedophilia.

If you like poetic writing and can read about the themes listed above I would recommend it. It just wasn't for me in that regard.

Content Warnings