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sea_holly's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
breaklikeafish's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
lexiebear321's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars rounded up
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I mean, it wasn't bad but it wasn't very good lol. I don't know what else to say because the book was just very...boring.
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Thomas Mann's first major is the story of four generations of the Buddenbrooks, a wealthy family in northern Germany: Johann, the patriarch, a member of the local merchant nobility; the Consul, who maintains the appearance of the family's prosperity; Thomas and Christian, who presides over the collapse of the family firm; and Hanno, the weak and dreamy, ineffectual artist, who symbolizes the family extinction through overrefinement. With its brilliant accretion of the domestic details of middle-class life-births and christenings, marriages, divorces, and deaths- Buddenbrooks masterfully captures the richness and complexity of human experience.
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I mean, it wasn't bad but it wasn't very good lol. I don't know what else to say because the book was just very...boring.
.
Thomas Mann's first major is the story of four generations of the Buddenbrooks, a wealthy family in northern Germany: Johann, the patriarch, a member of the local merchant nobility; the Consul, who maintains the appearance of the family's prosperity; Thomas and Christian, who presides over the collapse of the family firm; and Hanno, the weak and dreamy, ineffectual artist, who symbolizes the family extinction through overrefinement. With its brilliant accretion of the domestic details of middle-class life-births and christenings, marriages, divorces, and deaths- Buddenbrooks masterfully captures the richness and complexity of human experience.
kafkatattoo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
pedrodolto's review against another edition
3.0
Está ben. Iso si: chego a recibir o Nobel por isto tendo escrito a montaña máxica e incendio a institución enteira. Thomas Buddenbrook é un pomposo de vanidade fráxil, podía ser un pijo venezolano, e Hans Castorp, un curioso bon vivant. Está claro que burgués prefiro.
thealbatrossreads's review against another edition
1.0
i had to read this book for school and i couldn't have hated it more, i couldn't even finish it and gave up on it, i usually love classics but this just wasn't for my taste
tadydid's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This won’t help anybody else looking at reviews much, but I want to note to myself that I am honestly surprised I liked this book as much as I did. This may help others- trying to read the book was just too dry and boring, but the audiobook was pretty good and sucked me in.
emleemay's review against another edition
2.0
It was actually Boyne's [b: A Ladder to the Sky|40400269|A Ladder to the Sky|John Boyne|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532629758s/40400269.jpg|61272155] that made me finally want to read Mann's work (I got so many recommendations from that book!). And I thought this would be an instant favourite-- I do love pretty much all family saga books.
Unfortunately, though, I experienced a real disconnect from the characters and story. Perhaps it's because this was Mann's debut and he falls prey to a number of debut author traps - like getting caught up in his own masturbatory metaphor, for example - but I'm not sure.
The story of the Buddenbrooks is, as the subtitle suggests, about the decline of a wealthy German family during the nineteenth century. It follows multiple generations of Buddenbrooks through their daily minutiae, as well as through marriages and financial struggles. The problem is I felt like I was reading one event after another without any emotional attachment to the characters and what was happening to them.
And I don't think it helps that the novel takes such huge leaps in time, missing out large chunks of the characters' lives.
Yeah, I get that it’s a portrait of what family life was like in this specific time and place, and there’s the whole thing with the tooth decay metaphor… but, you see, I felt like Mann put more feeling into writing about their teeth than into writing about their personalities. After a while, the repetitive metaphor of tooth decay for the decay of a family didn't seem that clever anymore. I guess I'll have to see if [b: The Magic Mountain|88077|The Magic Mountain|Thomas Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403170928s/88077.jpg|647489] or [b: Death in Venice|53061|Death in Venice|Thomas Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410132000s/53061.jpg|17413130] are any better.
Though, I must say that this was my absolute favourite moment of the whole book. I don't know if it was intended to be funny, but I found it hilarious:
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Unfortunately, though, I experienced a real disconnect from the characters and story. Perhaps it's because this was Mann's debut and he falls prey to a number of debut author traps - like getting caught up in his own masturbatory metaphor, for example - but I'm not sure.
The story of the Buddenbrooks is, as the subtitle suggests, about the decline of a wealthy German family during the nineteenth century. It follows multiple generations of Buddenbrooks through their daily minutiae, as well as through marriages and financial struggles. The problem is I felt like I was reading one event after another without any emotional attachment to the characters and what was happening to them.
And I don't think it helps that the novel takes such huge leaps in time, missing out large chunks of the characters' lives.
Yeah, I get that it’s a portrait of what family life was like in this specific time and place, and there’s the whole thing with the tooth decay metaphor… but, you see, I felt like Mann put more feeling into writing about their teeth than into writing about their personalities. After a while, the repetitive metaphor of tooth decay for the decay of a family didn't seem that clever anymore. I guess I'll have to see if [b: The Magic Mountain|88077|The Magic Mountain|Thomas Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403170928s/88077.jpg|647489] or [b: Death in Venice|53061|Death in Venice|Thomas Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410132000s/53061.jpg|17413130] are any better.
Though, I must say that this was my absolute favourite moment of the whole book. I don't know if it was intended to be funny, but I found it hilarious:
“Go to the devil, you filthy sprat-eating slut!”
And thus Tony Buddenbrook’s second marriage came to an end.
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