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Dec 30, 2007

Michael rated it:

The Buddenbrooks are an upper middle class bourgeois family in Germany. The story follows multiple generations through traditions of mediocrity and "appearance only" family life. As modernity takes hold and renders their family traditions antiquated and their familial bonds tenuous at best, they begin to fall apart. I suppose some people would say it's about modernity's inability to support traditional family life, but I thought it highlighted the ways in which the middle classes focu More...

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Dec 01, 2008

Denis rated it:

Another epic by one of the world's greatest writers. Couldn't put it down. Stunning in every way, complex, fascinating, it's one of those novels that seems to have at its core a beating heart that leaves the reader breathless and deeply moved. Mann's painting of the rise and fall of a family, and of German society, is much more than a brilliant social document: it is simply a showcase for the power of literature, when stories and ideas mix in such a way that the reader is taken on a journey whic More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

David rated it:

One of the all-time masterworks in terms of plot and inter-generational character development. One can see clearly what existed before soap opera - in terms of characters you simply cannot wait to find out their fate, next move, inner motivation, etc. You could easily devour this in a few sittings but of course you realize that one chapter at a time will spread the pleasure out over a longer period. Don't rush!

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 14, 2008

Lorne rated it:

A giant book by a master author. This is also an amusing and brilliant translation. Sure, it's Thomas Mann and everyone thought Death in Venice was too heavy, even for a novella. But Buddenbrooks is a very accessible book, with a bit of Dickens, a bit of James, a lot of Flaubert and Balzac in it. Read something that will make you feel really good about yourself.

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Jul 13, 2009

Lee rated it:

Enjoying this so far (approximately one-quarter through an old translated copy [will update with translator's name:]). Rampant speculation in money matters lead to bankruptcy and family chaos. Very topical!

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2010

Joe rated it:

An architectural marvel, made of only the simplest parts. Four generations of family slowly, inexorably spiral down into ruin. What's remarkable is the utter lack of unlikely events; everyone, in one way or another, is crushed by the milder things in life. A triumph of realism that literally dispenses of morals in lieu of simple awe at the force of everyday life.

"But I don't want to forget! Forget! Is that any comfort?" [152:]

"You fill up your days... More...

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Aug 24, 2011

Erik rated it:

I read Buddenbrooks because I'd already read quite a bit of Thomas Mann, had liked most of it and had been very impressed by college reading of his tetrology, Joseph and His Brothers, and his novella, Death in Venice. Additionally, schooling had inculcated a sense that German culture was my spiritual home, so what better way to spend some summer days than to read a saga of a nineteenth century German family, particularly when it was the first novel of a favorite German author?

Though More...

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Jul 21, 2011

Jan rated it:

Re-read my old Penguin translation (H.T.Lowe-Porter) for the first time since 1990. Tremendous description of the slow but inevitable decline of a merchant dynasty in Lubeck over the course of the 19th century. Eminent through no particular virtue of their own except luck and the Protestant Ethic, their decline through a series of bad decisions, both commercial and personal, also owes little to vice and much to misfortune; easy-come easy-go you might say. The considerable attraction of the nov More...

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Apr 29, 2009

Tony rated it:

A 19th century family saga, rich in character study, which serves as a dissection of societal ritual and mores. Mann kills off his namesake Buddenbrook (Thomas) by means of a decayed tooth (sorry for the plot spoiler), thus providing a metaphorical coda to what ultimately went wrong. It is hard to like any one character, but easy to be fascinated by each of them. Many chapters stand very well alone, like the antepenultimate one which examines a day in the life of Hanno Buddenbrook, laying bar More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2011

Bettie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like

Aug 23, 2011

Justin rated it:

Not much to say- it is that good. The fact that Mann went on to write Magic Mountain and Dr Faustus, among others, is staggering. Here he created a range of characters, generally unsympathetic, and as boring as people usually are. But just as in real life, you come to care about them and wish them well. As the subtitle of the novel suggests, it doesn't really work out for anyone. The translation is wonderful- transparent but also just a tiny bit lyrical. My only complaint is that the women in th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 01, 2011

Tommy rated it:

This is the third and final of the epic familial/character novels I read this winter (Middlemarch, Red and Black, and this). Of the three I think this appealed to me most. It followed the rise and fall of a wealthy merchant family through the nineteenth century.

Buddenbrooks deals with the many different characters and familial issues/obligations that still arise in a modern family unit. These include parental expectations, pressures to fulfill ones "duty" or "role" More...

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Feb 13, 2010

Christian rated it:

This book is really long. The version I read is 604 pages. It's nearly inconceivable to me that I once had the mental stamina to read 604 pages. Of literature, no less.

I'm also impressed that Thomas Mann wrote this long book. I can't imagine too many authors today writing such a long book of literature. Maybe Jonathan Franzen. In fact, the Buddenbrooks is kind of ancestor of The Corrections.

The one scene I remember is a protagonist waking up in the middle of night terri More...

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Aug 09, 2009

Mazel rated it:

prix nobel de littérature 1929
*

Trente ans après sa parution, Les Buddenbrook figure au nombre des livres brûlés dans les autodafés. Les chemises br

unes hurlent sous les fenêtres de Thomas Mann qu'une " famille allemande, une famille de la race élue ne peut jamais déchoir ".

Les Buddenbrook est le roman du déclin, le livre de l'essoufflement.

Thomas Mann traque dans cette dynastie marchande les prodromes du désastre. L'observation de More...

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Jul 29, 2009

Alex rated it:

I had always been frightened of Thomas Mann. I assumed he was dense and German because he had a four-letter name like Kant and he seemed to be a serious fellow. He was a friend of the Frankfurts and hung out with Teddie and Max in California in the exile times. The only German literature I had read before was Kafka, and me and Kafka don't always see eye-to-eye. I assumed I would be sitting in Thomas Mann's Headful of Ponderous Ideas for seven-hundred fifty pages.

Thankfully, this wasn More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2011

Martini rated it:

Der Roman über die Lübecker Kaufmannsfamilie, die durch verschiedenste Schicksalsschläge innerhalb von knapp 50 Jahren vollkommen ver- und zerfällt, ist meiner Meinung nach absolut überschätzt.

Mann schreibt, als wolle er den inoffiziellen Wettbewerb für den längsten Satz gewinnen; seine Verschachtelungen bringen einen Leser mit durchschnittlicher Konzentrationsfähigkeit an den Rand der Verzweiflung. Dies scheint er unbewusst geahnt zu haben, denn es häufen sich Wiederholungen aus vor More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 27, 2011

Hareton rated it:

პირველი ნაწილი მოვამთავრე, თავიდან ცოტა უინტერესო მეჩვენა, მაგრამ მერე გამიტაცა კითხვამ.
ჩემი აზრით, წიგნის ღირსება იმ ირონიაშია, რაც დროის მატებასთან ერთად, უფრო მეტ ირონიზაციას განიცდის სიუჟეტი. ჩვენი საუკუნის გადმოსახედიდან, ბურჟუა-ბურგერების ცხოვრება უფრო და უფრო სასაცილო, გულისამრევი და სულელური ჩანს.
მომეწონა, როდესაც რომანი ჭამა-სმის სცენებით იწყება და თავიდანვე გამახვილებულია ყურადღება ამ "ფუქსავატურ" ყოფაზე.
"საზოგადოებრივ საქმეებში მის გულმოდგინებას, ფირმა More...

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Apr 18, 2009

Josie rated it:

Oh man so good! I don't know where to start. It is so good. Go realism!

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2011

Michael rated it:

Maybe I was hoping it would be more modernist in style or have something more to say about German society, but I was disappointed. I didn't realize the degree to which enjoying the book would be a product of appreciating the descriptive power of the language and use of leitmotif. I was hoping for greater comment on the 19th century bourgeoisie, and all I learned was that they weren't that different from all bourgeoisie up to today (some relatives of mine included). Some of the book wasn't tha More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Shadazz rated it:

I had a copy of the Buddenbrooks sitting around for a year, and I couldn't quite psyche myself into reading it until some german playwright used it as an example in a lecture. It was a comment on the vein of "Thomas Mann in Buddenbrooks knows what he is talking about and whether he describes reunions or meals, if you have been to Lübeck, it was just like that." So this was the little kick that made me intiate the Buddenbrook challenge.

I find that Buddenbrooks has much in com More...

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Aug 18, 2008

Jodi rated it:

I first read this in connection with a German history class and reread it for the first time some 20 years later and was amazed all over again by Mann's prescience. Throughout this story set in the late 19th/early 20th story are the rumblings which escalated into Hitler's reign. It's also a great story about families, even without the historical interest.

2 comments like

Sep 01, 2009

Kit rated it:

Epic. Never really a fan of family sagas, but picked the book up anyway because it is Thomas Mann. This guy is an absolute genius. The book, despite its bulk, is very accessible without being tedious, maybe because of its translation, but Thomas Mann is known for his leisurely prose. He could be funny even when the subject is depressing, and every sentence is pumped out without being overworked.

Sadly, you probably would appreciate this book more if you were German from the Hamburg s More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Julius rated it:

Die Buddenbrooks ist wohl eines der größten episch prosaischen Werke der deutschen Literaturgeschichte. Als ein begeisterter Anhänger der sensationellen, wohlgeformten Sprache von Thomas Mann, war das Lesen sowohl auf inhaltlicher als auch auf formaler Ebene ein Hochgenuss. Die tragische Geschichte der Familie wusste mich in den Bann zu ziehen und ließ mich mitleiden; wobei die exponierte Stellung von Antonie mir besonderes Vergnügen bereitete. Die Szene, als sie sich mit Morten am Starnd unterh More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Roozbeh rated it:

Buddenbrooks, as could be told from its title, is a "family novel". It tells the story of four generations of Buddenbrooks, a middle-class bourgeois family in a small German town. The novel begins in 1835, when the family has gathered to celebrate the purchase of a new edifice, and Tom, the future heir of the family, is a kid beside his father and grandfather, Johan Budenbrooks Sr. and Jr. The Story goes on to end in 1877, with the death of Hano, Tom's only son; and this is the end of More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Giorgia-bi rated it:

A timeless domestic saga, the sad parable of a middle-class traders lineage in Lübeck, all victims of unfavourable circumstances and misfortune.

Consul Johann jr Buddenbrook had two sons and two daughters, and they all have to struggle (more or less) to retain both their ambitions and their family's good name. So Thomas and graceful Tony are forced to forget their flirts to marry into money, and if Thomas only has to suffer from a weak and sensitive child, Tony has to experience several More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Snævar rated it:

Great reading! Mann has a way of bringing his characters alive and you find yourself pulled into the story with growing affinity for the Buddenbrooks family as you watch things come undone, slowly but surely. Following the Buddenbrooks family from 1835 to the mid 1870s the author takes us on an intimate tour of a upper middle class merchant family in the german city of Lubeck as it struggles to keep its business afloat. Given the fact that the story takes place at such crossroads in german hi More...

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Aug 09, 2008

Zeno rated it:

BUDDENBROOKS may not always receive its proper due since it inevitably must dwell in the shadow of Mann’s masterwork, THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN. It is however a wonderfully involving tale of the decline in fortunes of a middle-class German family in the early 20th century.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Julia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

Roberta rated it:

The ideas about business and art are wonderfully presented here. The musicians that can't live in the real world; the dreamy businessman who stifles his personality under layers of pomade and the best tailored suits. In the end, it's the artless sister, who shouts and cries her way through life wearing her heart on her sleeve, who seems to be able to negotiate life's hurdles best-- albeit not without the power, solace and money of her family behind her. Everybody gets skewered in this social More...

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Mar 19, 2011

sabisteb rated it:

Ich hatte noch die MC Version aus der Bücherei, aber ich denke, die 22 CD Variante müsste die selbe sein. Gert Westphal wurde zurecht "König der Vorleser" genannt. Er liest einfach so wunderbar und ist an sich schon ein Garant für Qualität. Wie wunderbar spricht er das Plattdeutsche bzw. den Hamburger Dialekt in diesem Buch. Er gibt nicht, wie Rufus Beck, jeder Person eine übertrieben eigene Stimme, aber dennoch sind seine Stimmen so unterschiedlich, dass man sie jeder Person perfekt z More...

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