Rating: 
Summary: A Treasure-trove for Romantics and Grail Questers
Review: I would like to add my name to what I hope will be a long list of readers who favor the H.T. Lowe-Porter translation. The language in Woods is dry and colorless, lacking the charm, grace, and fun of Lowe-Porter. Does anyone agree? I first read The Magic Mountain the summer I graduated from high school in 1982. An impressionable time of life. I often wonder if my constitution would be different today had I read instead a biography of Teddy Roosevelt. Can't think of a book that has resonated more deeply with me. But, then, I can live agreeably in the life of the mind. If you are like my father and prefer lots of action, you will likely complain, "all these people ever do is eat."
Rating: 
Summary: What a drag !
Review: I came to read this book because a recomendation of a friend , who said this was the book he liked most ever. The fact is that i had to make an incredible effort to go through its more than 800 pages. When i finished this book i felt kind a athlete who completes a supermarathon of 120 kilometers : very tired but also heroic, to have gotten to read this extreme long story which was so boring to me from the very beggining. Some may say that i am not up to understand the book. It can be true. But for now i have to express my impression. Maybe i decide to read this book again , lets say 4 years from now, and if a get then a different impression on the book i promisse to write a new review.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful characters, boring prose
Review: I've just been travelling for 2 months and decided to pack a ratty second copy of The Magic Mountain with me. A long 'didactic' novel, certainly enough sustenance for any journey. I managed to skim through most of the last half on a 10 hour train trip, so my impressions will be that of a tourist. A friend of mine who read it said it was a powerful work of philosophy. Having studied a certain amount of philosophy, I found certainly a whole wealth of philosophical, sociological and historical musings. But to my annoyance, none of the issues could really be developed into a strongly structured argument. Rather, I feel, Mann was trying to conjure up the intellectual milieu of the time. If anything, Mann, as artist was trying to describe the philosophy of the age from a point above philosophy, weaving a narrative of contradictory thoughts, if you will. I found the characters beautifully drawn and they rebounded off each perfectly. From the indolent, dreamy Hans to the intensely funny Settembri, as he pontificated what was basically an inarticulate philosophical position. The book was at its best in the heated discussions which cemented the foible and nuaced details of the characters. But...between these conversations, I found the prose rather lacklustre and pedestrian. Pages and pages of static descriptions of the sanitarium put me very close to catatonia, until I got woken up by the arrival of some characters. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the writings of some more contemporary writings, but couldn't the passage of time be evoked by ways other than the physical passing of time in the reading process itself? But let it be said, the coherence of the novel is staggering. The tightness of the structure is sustained over the course of this weighty novel. Now that is a feat to be admired.
Rating:
Summary: Boredom isn't the same as loosing the feeling of time!
Review: Dear friends, please! All of you like this book for four or five stars. Why? Just because he got a Nobel-price? That is to easy. The Magic mountain is a boring book and, beside this, is worse written. The characters are easy, not at all interesting; it is a oneway book with no theme to think about. Especially the ending is typical for Thomas Mann: He is not able to create senseful endings. Hans dies in the war (there have to be a worldwar to have a reason to finish this book)as his cousin wants to. The cousin dies in this hospital as Hans wants to.... amazingly creative :-(. And then the sentences of M. Horrible! Latest in the moment when Mann asks people to read this book at least twice, I started screaming. This is a real way of resignation. If I am not able to publish a book that is understandable the first time, I should first learn writing before acting. My wish is that people stop giving Thomas Mann a halo and all the other people getting this Nobel-price of literature. That is not the only thing to evaluate literature. Sinceraly yours Falkesi
Rating:
Summary: Thanks for the reviews
Review: Thanks to all who took the time to explain why they liked this book. I gave up on it after about 200 pages because I just couldn't see it going anywhere, and the setting was hardly inspiring. Why call a book about people who are constantly ailing "The Magic Mountain"? I will give this book another try and wait till I finish before I cast judgment. I am giving this book 5 stars so that I won't disrupt its high present rating. Peace out.
Rating:
Summary: Easily one of the greatest novels of all time!
Review: THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN could easily be the greatest philosophical novel of all time. Surely, it is a must-read for all enlightened and educated thinkers. The story, setting, characters, and events are always provocative and challenging! A brilliant writer, Mann forces us to consider many of the major aspects of human existence, from disease and death to love and duty. Being familiar with both Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche enriches the enjoyment and fascination of this unique work. In brief, TMM is a truly magnificent contribution to world literature. I have read it twice and now look forward to following Hans and Joachim once again through the microcosm of life's endless struggle over mental, moral and physical death. A MASTERPIECE!
Rating:
Summary: If you enjoyed this, also try Kleier
Review: I will pass along a favor given to me: if you enjoyed "Magic Mountain," another fascinating book you will love is Glenn Kleier's "The Last Day." It is unquestionably one of the finest novels I've ever read. Enjoy! Elaine C.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Circle of Time
Review: Probably the best novel I've ever read, Mann seems to consciously (maybe unconsciously, I'll never know) shape a monumental novel in such a way that you just wonder ... how he did it?! I didn't know until page 350 what was the intention of Mann, the sense he wanted to impart upon us. Until everything started to fit into what I call a the roundest, fullest, most complex, best structured novel he ever made. So rational, sensual, mathematical ... lushiously contradictory! Time for Mann
Rating:
Summary: Good stuff
Review: Why not five? Because it touched brilliance but was not sustained. Fascinating ideas but still some ways to developing them into a serious set of questions we can ask ourselves about the world we live in. I am afraid Tolstoy did do a better job on that score in "War and Peace". But for a real example of a great 20th century novel by Mann, read his "Doctor Faustus". Without doubt his most complex and profound work. A near perfect synthesis of art, power, politics and everything else that makes up life.
Rating:
Summary: Only if you've asked: "What is the essence of TIME?"
Review: Hegel, Hume, Locke and Schopenhauer. If these name do not ring a bell, then don't bother with looking for the deeper meaning. The story line has promise of humanisms, but wallows quickly in its own philosophical debates. The pace, timing and structure of the story is set with deliberate accuracy. The main character's quick slap approach to life is demonstrated by very short chapters, which eventually increase in size as the character becomes entrenched on the Magic Mountian. A story on how to so throughly unplug yourself from society that you lose part of your identity and rely on emptiness.
|
