norman said on 2013/03/19 at 4:35 pm
This novel is said to be a classic, but I am at a loss to understand why it should be awarded this accolade.
I have just trawled my way through the almost 30 hours of the reading with mounting irritation and frustration.
The plot, if such it can be called, is simply the fall from grace of a German mercantile family. It is trivial and inconsequential,
and borders on the inane. It is fragmented and positively confusing, almost without any semblance of order.
The story opens on a low note and declines throughout to end in a wimper. There is nothing to anticipate, being totally predictable
and uninspiring.
The style and form of the writing is child-like and repetitious, descriptions of many of the characters being repeated at almost every
re-appearance. The child-like simplicity of the writing might be the fault of the translation, but I do not think so. Although there are problems relating to that. Some of the words and phrases used are decidedly odd, not sounding comfortable to the ear and causing roughness in the
flow of the text.
Turning to the characters of the novel, they are, almost without exception, portrayed as excentric and peculiar. There seem to be no "normal" people therein, which emphasizes the absurdity of their creation. Some of the antics they, in Mann's contorted imagination, are
able to prrform are bizarre, not to say impossible. Mann seems to posess a perversity which he exercises to excess for his personal gratuity. His characters are no way believable.
I have tried hard in this novel to find a deeper, or philisophical meaning, but I always end up finding only superficiality.
If my inability to find the classic in this novel is at fault, then if someone can put me right I will read it again with that view in mind.
All contributions greatly appreciated.
Norman.
norman said on 19/03/2013 at 4:35 pm
Thanks Michael, Your reply is most interesting to me, I have often thought that different people have different ideas and expectations, but what is it that differentiates us? Is it upbringing or perhaps aspirations. I really have no idea.
I have not read The Magic Mountain but perhaps I should in order to compare it with Buddenbrooks. That though may be well in the future as at the moment I have in the region of 100 books on my waiting list!
Thanks again for your reply and I look forward to reading your thoughts about Buddenbrooks.
Norman
Michael Allan said on 16/03/2013 at 4:45 pm
Hello Norman, I have not read Buddenbrooks, though I do mean to. A while ago I listened to The Magic Mountain on Booksite and really enjoyed it. I fear to recommend it though, as there may be similar elements in it that annoyed you in the first. I am not sure if I remember a lot of repetition in description. The Magic Mountain is a later work than Buddenbrooks, so may be more advanced in style. It does have strange characters in it, with strange goings on. It was written by a German novelist, who started it before the First World War, and finished it after the war. So it was a pretty strange and terrible time, and German society pre and post war was a stranger world than maybe we are used to.
As I said, I fear to recommend it to you! But I do look forward to reading it again in the future. When i get around to Buddenbrooks I shall hopefully remember to report back.
Maybe the answer is that most novels ("classic" or otherwise) are enjoyed by some people and not enjoyed by others. For example, Jane Austen, who I am sure is a great novelist, but I have never tried to read her as I fear it will not be to my taste. Perhaps I should get over myself and try her.