A review by holliereadsbooks
Death in Venice and Other Stories by Thomas Mann

2.0

I'm going to be honest here, the only reason I read this book was because I have to study it for my German exam this year. I think this is also one reason as to why I did not enjoy this as much as I wanted to. I have to know this book pretty well, (inside out, back to front, forwards, backwards, sideways and diagonally), something that I think took the enjoyment out of my reading! My main dislike for the book was the lack of dialogue. Even if Aschenbach had simply talked to himself, I would have enjoyed the book more. The subject matter did not bother me, in fact, it intrigued me, and one plus for having little dialogue was the fact that we got to delve deep inside Aschenbach's thoughts and his views of Tadzio. I was desperate for some kind of verbal interaction between the two, but, unfortunately, it did not happen. I felt the end was right, if Mann hadn't finished it in the way that he had, we would have just been given more chapters of the same content, interjected with some new sightings of Tadzio. Ultimately, this was an okay book. Maybe in a couple of years time, when I don't have to read this for school, I might enjoy it more. Who knows?