Reviews - Death in Venice | The StoryGraph

1.21k reviews for:

Death in Venice is a weird and wonderful novella. If you don't know the story, run on over to Amazon and read some of the reviewers' synopses.

The folks in my book club were very focused on what seemed to be Gustav von Aschenbach's creepy old man lust for the lovely young Polish boy, Tadzio, but I, all the while agreeing in part, tried to view von Aschenbach a little more sympathetically. He really just wants to be a younger, fresher, artistically better version of himself; as Michael Cunningham says in his wonderful introduction to my edition of the book, "Here is an Aschenbach who is more clearly and unavoidably all of us, who wants more than life is willing to provide...." The character's obsession with Tadzio seemed as much to me about the author's encoded homosexual leanings as it was about his yearnings to be beautiful, young, and special, and to be near Tadzio because he was all of those things. We all want to be extraordinary, but we aren't, and in this we are all alike.

I recommend this one. It is haunting and lovingly crafted - not a word is wasted.

andisocial90's review against another edition

4.25

challenging sad tense medium-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

oana_dragomir_'s review against another edition

5.0

I thought of it as 'ok' when reading it for the first time. However, after a seminar in Comparative literature, the teacher changed the way I saw this novel. There are so many aspects that I missed, but she made sure to present all of them to us.
Now it's among my faves. Will definitely read it again!

karenmichele's review against another edition

4.0

I was searching books set in Venice when I came across Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. I didn't really pay any attention to what it was about, but thought it was a murder mystery from the Agatha Christie-like title. My copy from the library didn't have a synopsis, so I jumped right in. What struck me about the writing from the start was the sense of atmosphere and foreshadowing that Mann achieved. It took me a while to realize that even though the book carried a sense of impending doom in its pages it was not going to be about a murder. The author/main character of the book had lived a lonely existence, apparently in denial of his true self. Considering the 1912 publication date of the book, it was a forerunner in its honesty about the forced hibernation from life of an aging gay man.

woerterkatze_bloggt's review against another edition

5.0

emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lunaliberi's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

_jumbledwords's review against another edition

2.0

Keine Rezension, nur mein liebstes Zitat: "Die Beobachtungen und Begegnisse des Einsam-Stummen sind zugleich verschwommener und eindringlicher, als die des Geselligen, seine Gedanken schwerer, wunderlicher und nie ohne einen Anflug von Traurigkeit."