A review by jonbrammer
Death in Venice: And Seven Other Stories by Thomas Mann

3.0

Exposition, exposition, exposition. Mann is the painterly sort of writer who seems to think that if you describe a setting with enough detail, then the conflict will naturally emerge. This seems like an impressionistic mode of writing - we learn a lot of odds and ends about each protagonist in each story before we understand what the story is actually about. The author in the title story spends time traveling in southern Europe and eventually ends up in Europe, has an encounter with a gondolier, ends up in a hotel where he becomes obsessed with a young Polish boy. The point? Well, the point seems to be create a mood of unresolved foreboding. Readers who need clear plot structure will probably be frustrated by Mann. This collection of stories makes me want to investigate his novels. Thanks for reading my review.