Anyone read The Magic Mountain?

[Riversiderunner]

I ordered this after being recommended it but only manage a few pages every now and then thanks to busy busy life (work/children/other stuff).

I'm quite enjoying it, tbh, but want to know if it's worth persevering with.

Anyone?

Thank you!

[sleepyhead]

Dh has just finished it. It took him 15 years and he didn't have the excuse of children for most of that time. He reckons it wasn't really worth it but he wasn't going to let it beat him.

I've got a friend who claims to love it so much that he "revisits" it every couple of years. He talks bollocks about 99% of the time though.

I've given it a couple of goes because I've enjoyed other books by Mann. It's just too meandering for my attention span but there's some lovely writing.

[forkhandles4candles]

I love this book, but it is mighty weird and a roman a clef, which is all the more interesting if you know who is being depicted. Anyone seen Wind Also Rises....has lots of references to it.

[InionEile]

I read it when I was 18 and it was hard work. Very long-winded, heavy writing. It didn't make a huge impression on me. 'Death in Venice' by contrast still stays with me years later and I binge-read it in 2 days, it was so gripping.

[Riversiderunner]

V funny sleepyhead and full marks to your DH for keeping on it! Agree re: lovely writing.

Other points of view really interesting too -thank you both. Think you've all convinced me to keep going.

The problem with Amazon is it makes it so much easier/more appealing to give up on books you're not 100pc taken with.

Thanks all!

[whippetwoman]

Bit late to this but I really enjoyed The Magic Mountain when I read it. It's really stayed with me for a number of years. One day I will find the time to re-read it. Another one I read around that time was Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn which is also very good, despite being about cancer.

[highlandcoo]

I read The Magic Mountain earlier this year. I found it very slow and hard going, however it's really left an impression on me, and I have a vivid memory of the world he depicts. I'm not sure I'll ever find the time and energy to pick it up again; glad to have read it though.