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louisadassow 's review for:
The Magic Mountain
by Thomas Mann
This novel is long. It is very well crafted - translation permitting too. Quite a lot happens for a place that doesn't really change.
The best thing about this book is the authorial voice. The main character is being observed alongside the reader, and he is flawed. All of the characters are flawed - I didn't actually like any of them? Yet I wasn't put off the book by this. There flaws are allowed to stand as a real aspect of the narrative.
A young man goes up to a see his sick cousin, gets a temperature and stays at the sanatorium for ages. He has pals who deliver long philosophical sermons, - at the strangest point in the book- there is a séance, he's obsessed with a lady (some dark objectification), some background racism (it was written in the 1920s), seemingly abrupt twist at the end to glorify war - (written in the 1920s).
It is an epic novel as it morphs through its different phases. It's reflections on time are quite touching. There are definitely many moments of beauty but I am not sure I would recommend it. Unless you're desperately craving a dose of early 20th Europe from a rich male layperson perspective.
The best thing about this book is the authorial voice. The main character is being observed alongside the reader, and he is flawed. All of the characters are flawed - I didn't actually like any of them? Yet I wasn't put off the book by this. There flaws are allowed to stand as a real aspect of the narrative.
A young man goes up to a see his sick cousin, gets a temperature and stays at the sanatorium for ages. He has pals who deliver long philosophical sermons, - at the strangest point in the book- there is a séance, he's obsessed with a lady (some dark objectification), some background racism (it was written in the 1920s), seemingly abrupt twist at the end to glorify war - (written in the 1920s).
It is an epic novel as it morphs through its different phases. It's reflections on time are quite touching. There are definitely many moments of beauty but I am not sure I would recommend it. Unless you're desperately craving a dose of early 20th Europe from a rich male layperson perspective.