Bookseller Reviews
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Great insight into Thomas Mann life.
Reading The Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain and enjoying Death in Venice film many years ago, now was a perfect timing to pick up Colm Toibin The Magician... READ MORE
Not really my 'Cup of Tea.
This book reads as an autobiography written by Toibin many years later instead of Thomas Mann who's 'The Magic Mountain' I read many years ago.
It appears... READ MORE
Synopsis
Waterstones Irish Book of the Month for March 2022
Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2022
From one of our greatest living writers comes a sweeping novel of unrequited love and exile, war and family.
The Magician tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the German army, but have a clear vision of the future in the second, anticipating the horrors of Nazism.
He would have six children and keep his homosexuality hidden; he was a man forever connected to his family and yet bore witness to the ravages of suicide. He would write some of the greatest works of European literature, and win the Nobel Prize, but would never return to the country that inspired his creativity.
Through one life, Colm Toibin tells the breathtaking story of the twentieth century.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- ISBN: 9780241970584
- Number of pages: 448
- Dimensions: 198 x 128 x 30 mm
- Weight: 304g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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A masterpiece about a writer, nuanced and epic. A 5 star read
This literary epic follows the life of Thomas Mann the famous German writer from childhood to his dying days.
He is born into a middle class family in the ... READ MORE
Fascinating
The Magician tells the story of German novelist and Nobel Prize winner, Thomas Mann. The books is an account of his life with Katia, his wife, and his six ... READ MORE
Fascinating insight into Thomas Mann
I loved how this book treaded the line between biography and novel. Toibin skillfully switches between the two styles to deliver a narrative that seamlessl... READ MORE
Thomas Mann - an epic
This book can’t help being an epic given that it spans over both World Wars and portrays Thomas Mann and his family with their many connections to some of ... READ MORE
Superb
This is my favourite Colm Tobin book to date. An epic fictional saga on the life of Tomas Mann and his family. I spent a week lost in this story spanning d... READ MORE
Pure Magic
It has been an incredible pleasure to read this book, savouring it and not wanting it to end, over a week in this summer of 2021.
I knew nothing at all ab... READ MORE
A history of Germany as well as Thomas Mann
I never made it more than a quarter of the way through “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann, but I loved this fictionalised version of Mann’s life, beautifu... READ MORE
An eventful life
This biography reads like a novel, especially the chapters covering the early years of Thomas Mann. Born in 1875, he survived the ravages of two world war... READ MORE
Loved this book
I knew little about Thomas Mann and found the story fascinating. Set in an historical period of much change it was an enthralling read. I have recommende... READ MORE
Fascinating and compelling insight into an extraordinary author
I only recently ‘discovered’ Thomas Mann; I listened to Buddenbrooks and was totally captivated by the saga, the characters and the themes explored in the ... READ MORE
A deep dive into the life of Thomas Mann
The Magician is a stunning, sweeping epic of a novel. It is a fictionalised, but meticulously researched, account of the life of Thomas Mann, his wife Kati... READ MORE
Stylish epic
A stylish and epic fiction on the life and times of a great writer, Thomas Mann.
Although some pre- knowledge of the writer and his work would enhance the... READ MORE
The life and work of Thomas Mann
In The Magician, Colm Tóibín tells the story of the life and work of Thomas Mann. A writer writing about a writer, Tóibín enters the psyche of Mann, imagin... READ MORE
Fascinating read
I read a lot, and this is one of the best books I've read for ages.
The Magician of the title is Thomas Mann, German novelist and is set in the early/mid ... READ MORE
The celebrated Henry James
The Magician by Colm Toibin
A novel about a novelist; his life, his times, his inspiration. It is the latter half of the 19th Century, enter Henry James... READ MORE
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