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Product Description
Product Description
Thomas Mann's first great novel, written at the age of 25, is an epic study of decadence among the merchant families of Hamburg at the end of the nineteenth century. The novel is based on Mann's own experience as the son of a German merchant prince, but it goes far beyond his own experience in its sweep and comprehensiveness.
From the Back Cover
Thomas Mann's first novel, Buddenbrooks, is drawn from his own life and experience.
Subtitled The Decline of a Family, his story of a prosperous Hanseatic merchant family and their gradual disintegration is also an extraordinary portrayal of the transition from the stable bourgeois life of the nineteenth century to a modern uncertainty.
Published in 1902, Buddenbrooks was already a classic in Germany before it was banned and burned by Hitler. In it Mann's psychology is exact and incisive, his ironic and leisurely style already developed.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
(John E. Woods' new translation is highly regarded. For me, the tone of it seems a bit too contemporary for the text, but I presume it's a big advance over the previous translation which I haven't checked out.) Since this is a big complex multi-generational family saga of 730 pages, I figured I'd better draw up a list of characters as I read. However, after I had a list of about 75 characters, and sensing that there were hundreds more to come, I realized that such a list wasn't really necessary, for the book was written in such a way that it was very easy to remember who was who. This is an intimidating novel, but it turns out to be a surprisingly easy read. One also cares very much for the various characters, and has affection for them as if they were real, which they very well might have been. One is there when they are born, and when they are married, and when they die, generation by generation. It is amazing that Mann could have written such an ambitious book at such an early age (it was published in his 25th year), but it is much more than ambitious, it is very sophisticated, and very wise and profound in many ways. This is a book that can teach anyone at any age many things about human nature, or if not teach at least remind and/or clarify. I certainly feel as if I was learning a lot about the kind of social milieu my grandparents grew up in. The novel doesn't attempt to tie every single one of its "loose ends" at the end, but it has a grace and elegance that is very compelling from beginning to end. The society it portrays, in Lubeck Germany during the 19th century, is not particularly attractive one, and it is not one which one feels nostalgic for. It is gone for ever, but one does not wish it back. Number 8 on the Fireside Reading Club "A"-List, read 2/20/96.
53 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
i've read Buddenbrooks twice & hope to read it again a.s.a.p.(i'm
a voracious reader so finding time is a problem!!).Having initially read "The Magic Mountain" which i also enjoyed(though
found much of the philosophical stuff difficult),Buddenbrooks was
a revelation due to the sense of place,period & Mann's ability to
create characters i really cared about...but also,just a fine
story of the life & times of one 19th century family.Its written
with such clarity,elegance & assurance that i felt Mann was giv-
ing me the biography of his own forbears.
The leisurely pace,the attention to detail(such as dress,house-
furnishings,cuisine etc)& the varying individual traits of the
family members & other characters in the book all combined to give it a sparkle & vividness which i rarely find in most modern
fiction;it seems to me that writing of this calibre is now a
thing of the past,something to be lamented along with the passing of the times the author describes.
In these very different days in which we live,its truly a
pleasure to be transported by way of literature to a past which
has gone forever..though, thanks to Mann, still there to be
discovered & meditated upon.
Am i a romantic escapist? Well...i'd have to confess i am if its an escape to a milieu of this class & quality,one that makes
you sorry when you reach the final page.To me, a shimmering
jewel of a novel. If you havent read it, i hope i may have
persuaded you to do so...just a teeny little bit ?
a voracious reader so finding time is a problem!!).Having initially read "The Magic Mountain" which i also enjoyed(though
found much of the philosophical stuff difficult),Buddenbrooks was
a revelation due to the sense of place,period & Mann's ability to
create characters i really cared about...but also,just a fine
story of the life & times of one 19th century family.Its written
with such clarity,elegance & assurance that i felt Mann was giv-
ing me the biography of his own forbears.
The leisurely pace,the attention to detail(such as dress,house-
furnishings,cuisine etc)& the varying individual traits of the
family members & other characters in the book all combined to give it a sparkle & vividness which i rarely find in most modern
fiction;it seems to me that writing of this calibre is now a
thing of the past,something to be lamented along with the passing of the times the author describes.
In these very different days in which we live,its truly a
pleasure to be transported by way of literature to a past which
has gone forever..though, thanks to Mann, still there to be
discovered & meditated upon.
Am i a romantic escapist? Well...i'd have to confess i am if its an escape to a milieu of this class & quality,one that makes
you sorry when you reach the final page.To me, a shimmering
jewel of a novel. If you havent read it, i hope i may have
persuaded you to do so...just a teeny little bit ?
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Buddenbrooks is set in the nineteenth century. It takes the reader through three or four generations of the rich Buddenbrooks family in their home town, all based on Thomas Mann's background. The setting is local and the drama is local. The events are familiar: siblings at ease or unease with each other, relations between the generations, deaths and births and marriages, the material progress of the family against a changing world. But the direction of the novel is astonishing. It leads to a treatment of hope and despair and courage and failure, within its narrow stage, on a gigantic scale. Buddenbrooks is known as a novel of decline yet it ends on a high note of mystical hope, a brilliant flourish from a character who was always present and always peripheral who suddenly finds her voice. Buddenbrooks is a most amazing book with its sureness of touch, with humour, detail of look and place and character, published, not the least amazing thing about it, when the author was twenty-five.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
German Downton Abbey?
I thought that this was a mildly interesting soap opera about a 19th century German merchant family, with ideas perhaps beyond their station. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Piffle
Flawed but enjoyabel read
For a saga of decline to work the events related have to have a sense of inevitability and happen because the family are doomed and fated to decay and disintegration. Read more
Published 4 months ago by vkr
Shoddy editing in Kindle version
They seem to have withdrawn the Kindle edition of this edition - I'm not surprised, even amongst the uniformly shoddy editing of Kindle editions this one was terrible. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Hammersmith Resident
Extraordinary!
This is my second reading of 'Buddenbrooks'; I had previously read the translation by Helen Lowe-Porter. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Will Stevens
literature at its best
if you do not read another book this year please set aside tiime to read this absolute classic of German literature.........wonderful
Published 15 months ago by H. Cusack
OK - four stars for the writing, but it is just a saga about rich folk
I agree with a lot of what has already been said about this book - it is a mesmerising saga of a 19th century North German merchant's family, which definitely has the feel of an... Read more
Published 24 months ago by E. Clarke
An excellent translation that maintains the authentic germanic voice.
This is a family saga exploring the interaction of artistic sensibilities with pragmatic business ideals. Read more
Published on 29 May 2010 by L. Sahu
Buddenbrooks
This is the first Thomas Mann book I have read. I started reading it and found the descriptions of meals etc far too long but saying that I really got into the book and found it... Read more
Published on 27 April 2010 by Mrs. G. Lawrenson
Buddenbrooks
Written by Mann whilst only in his early twenties, this must rank as one of the classics of the 20th Century. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2010 by Timothy John Myall
Blown Away
What an amazing novel. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book but once hooked I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2009 by D. Hyde
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