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A review by emleemay
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann
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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