To write a fictionalised account of a real life whilst remaining, in all key respects, true to the original, must be one of the most difficult things a writer can do. And when your subject is someone whose existence is as single-track, as desk bound and - honestly - as risk avoidant as that of Thomas Mann, that challenge is taken to a new level. In The Magician, Toibin succeeds in creating a fascinating, thought-provoking mix of novel and biography. I learned much about Germany during and in between both world wars, and a lot about Thomas Mann, a writer I'd previously known almost nothing about. Toibin's writing is exquisite, the attention to detail a virtue, placing you exactly in the room with the characters. But I did struggle slightly, and that is because I just did not like the main character. When war comes, when a dilemma presents - when a child dies, for god's sake! - the man simply absents himself. And whilst Toibin's efforts to depict a complex, nuanced, difficult situation is laudable (far more laudable than his subject's behaviour!) it was not sufficient to convince me. I struggled therefore to care very much what happened to Mann, or his wife - whose motivations I likewise had issues with - and found myself, as Mann got older and frailer, partly wishing him to hurry up and die. This is not to say that the novel was lacking in emotion, or ability to affect. I was moved several times - by the plight of his children, by those of his mother, his brother, his brother's wife. Just never by the problems of Mann or his wife. So, in summary. This is a deeply accomplished piece of fiction. I had no problem finishing it, long as it was. Toibin is a hugely talented writer and I look forward keenly to his next work. But. On the tricky subject of sympathy, and full in the knowledge that not every character has to be loveable, or likeable, or anything short of despicable (how many villains are brilliantly compelling, after all!), I personally found there to be an issue.

I knew nothing of the life of Thomas Mann before reading this book and I am aware that the Nobel prize winning author was a very private man. He did, however - if Colm Toibin is correct - lead a fascinating life and has a story worth telling beyond his novels. From his childhood in Lubeck and his relationships with his siblings to his eventual life in American, Mr Toibin takes us with him.

I’m not sure I would have picked up a biography of Thomas Mann although I have read a couple of his novels. I like Colm Toibin’s books and this is an excellent story well told. The insights of a life on the edge where the inner thoughts are recorded is beautifully done. Especially well captured is the relationship between Thomas Mann and his wife, Katia. Given his homosexual experiences, it seems unlikely that the marriage will succeed but they have six children and many adventures.

There is much here and the book is long because each of the children deserve a story of their own and Thomas and his competitive brother - also a writer - take a bit of time to describe. I think the book succeeds because of Mr Toibin’s excellent writing and the huge character and life of his well chosen subject. Having read this I am going back to reread Mann’s Magic Mountain and to read some of his other books.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley.

I'm trying to find a positive, but struggling. This book disappoints on so many fronts, despite being set in the most fascinating eras of recent times when huge political, cultural and societal changes were taking place, especially in war-torn Europe.
I requested The Magician because of my interest in German literature, culture and history, and have read two of Mann's novels, but I could not engage with the story or the characters. The majority of the characters are spoilt, self-centred prigs with a toe-curling sense of entitlement, and very soon I realised I didn't care what happened to any of them. Perhaps that was Toibin's intention - showing shallowness behind the lofty intentions - but for me The Magician didn't read that way.
I was irritated by the constant name-dropping of authors, politicians etc. with the assumption that the reader was familiar with their importance in society at the time (perhaps a glossary with a few details might have been helpful to those with no knowledge of these years?).
The pace of the novel is very uneven; one moment we're getting every second of a dull incident, the next we're cannoned years forward with little sense of what has happened in the meantime. It doesn't make for satisfying reading. The writing itself is often turgid and stilted, especially where dialogue between family members at home is concerned.
I have no issue with the blurring of fact and fiction in a novel. It's a valid and often very successful way of telling a story when we really cannot know what took place in private. I understand that as Mann recycled real-life experiences when writing his books, Toibin is doing the same with Mann's life and some of his own. However, The Magician simply doesn't work and it feels staid, dated and a waste of an opportunity.
I read to the end hoping for some magic to appear and make it feel worth my time, but there was no rabbit in the hat...

The Magician is the story of Thomas Mann, author of Death in Venice amongst other famous novels. The book starts with Mann as a child and the death of his father, and follows his life through his secretive life as a gay man to his marriage and rise of the Nazi regime in Germany.
I am a huge fan of Colm Toibin and his ability to find humour in the most desperate of situations and create characters the reader relates to and follows on their journey. I found this book slow and uninspiring but it won’t stop me seeking out Toibin’s next book.

A fictionalised biography of the acclaimed German author Thomas Mann and chronicling his life and the major events of the 20th century world he lived through. A somewhat unemotional book this is very different to Colm Toibins previous novels I had enjoyed. It was interesting learning about Mann and his family, their tragedies and Mann's latent homosexuality that is dealt with in a gentle manber.

The Magician spans the turmoil of twentieth century Europe following the life of German author Thomas Mann and his family. Toibin reimagines the everyday life of the Mann family exquisitely, providing the reader with a seat at the familial table as the years tumble and the world known disintegrates and reforms. Moving with the Mann family around Europe and ultimately to exile in America, Toibin weaves the creative process of book writing with the narrative of political change.

The work of Thomas Mann was unknown except by name to me prior to reading The Magician, but the warmth and life conjured by Toibin throughout the story will undoubtedly result in more interest in reading the original works.

The rich lives lead by seemingly all members of the Mann family are at times unbelievable, but oh so captivating. Take the time to savour this beautiful book.

I was drawn to read The Magician without knowing who Thomas Mann was (sorry!!).
The story of his life and family is truly fascinating, while based on fact Colm Toibin adds depth and feeling to the story covering difficult issues they faced including homosexuality, anti Semitism and both World Wars.

A really great read regardless of whether you knew who Thomas Mann was.

I was given a copy of The Magician by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

What an absolutely stunning novel with a fascinating angle to Thomas Mann's life. Colm Toibin's writing is, as always, exquisite, and I enjoyed every hour / day (it is a LONG book) in the company of his fictionalised versions of these characters. When I started reading the book, I was in fact visiting Lübeck and wanted to tour the Mann house, but unfortunately, it was undergoing renovations and closed to the public.
I am already making a list of people who will get a copy of this book for Christmas - it more than lived up to my (already high because.... Toibin!) expectations.

Drawn by the author's name and repute, rather than by the content, at first I really wasn't sure how much I would love this book. It wasn't long however before I found myself just keeping on reading, curioser and curioser about where it might lead. Based on a real life, it could only lead one way, of course, but how it takes you there is quietly gripping, creating an engagement with and concern for a man, a family, I have never had any previous interest in and shall never think of again. Now I know why Tóibín has such legions of fans.

"The Magican" is the wonderful Colm Tóibín’s sensitive and captivating account of the real-life Nobel Prize winning author Thomas Mann. We meet Mann as a teenager in 1891 and follow the story of his life, through two world wars, various family triumphs and tragedies, and the episodes in his life that inspired his most celebrated works.

The story is clearly fictionalised, allowing us an insight into the thoughts and feelings of Thomas and his family members. However, it is also meticulously researched, giving the reader a window into the real events, politics and tensions of the time, as seen through the eyes of Mann and those closest to him. The book is very lengthy, and deals with themes such as anti-Semitism, suicide, and the illegality of homosexuality at the time. Tóibín’s skills as an author, though, mean that the tale retains a deftness of touch that renders the work philosophical but not heavy-handed.

Although I had little prior knowledge of Thomas Mann or his work, I don’t believe these hampered my enjoyment of this fascinating story, and I would strongly recommend this book to any fans of Mann’s, or historical fiction more widely.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

A highly accomplished and well researched fictional biography of the German novelist Thomas Mann. Not only is it well written, it also takes the reader through the life events that inspired his storylines and shaped his work. It explored the struggles that Mann had with his sexuality in a way which was non-judgmental and objective and helps the reader better understand the man and the writer. The extended family - his mother, brother, children and in-laws - also featured in their varying degrees of damaged complexity and when I finished the novel, I felt I had learnt quite a lot about all of them but had also been entertained. Having only read one Thomas Mann novel myself (the Magic Mountain), I do feel compelled to search out some of the others as well as the works of his son and brother.

With thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

This is a writer I have greatly enjoyed in the past. Nora Webster and Brooklyn were humorous, beautifully-observed and psychologically deep. Much of Toibin's skill comes from the vivid evocation of scene and setting through implication, through what is overheard or intuited. In this biographical novel of the writer Thomas Mann (author, as the book's cover reiterates, of Death in Venice) this style works well in the early scenes where Thomas is growing up, discovering his bisexuality but still marrying. But once he becomes a well-known figure with a bewilderingly intricate array of relatives, the reader struggles to maintain sympathy or interest. Events such as the Weimar inflation, Hitler's rise to power, the outbreak of World War 2, are described with the thoroughness of a conscientious biographer - we are told where Mann was at the time, and who with - but with none of the psychological acuteness, the significance of the minor detail, that I expect from Toibin. There is no sense that we are dealing with one of the leading intellectual novelists of the century. Mann makes rather simplistic remarks such as 'I won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I know what language Dante wrote in!' Early on, there are some enjoyable descriptions of Gustav Mahler at work conducting his Eighth Symphony, though I don't think it is quite accurate to say 'It was a sign of Mahler's fame and power that he could summon an orchestra and chorus of this size and scope' - the point about the Eighth is that it not just orchestra and chorus, because there are so many solo singers too. There is an enjoyable scene describing a visit to the beach at Venice where Visconti's excellent film serves as a reference point. I feel that Toibin's success in previous books is due to close observation of characters who express themselves through feelings rather than thoughts, but here this approach is sadly out of keeping with the subject. I can recommend the first third of the book but I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the rest of it.

In his latest novel, The Magician, Tóibin chronicles the life of the author Thomas Mann from childhood to his dying days. He has done so in a form of fictionalised biography that links Mann’s private life with wider social change both in Germany and beyond. Its a novel with family at its heart; tensions, rivalries and unspoken desires. It follows Mann’s literary career, as well as his exile to America due to the rise of the Nazis. Despite a long lasting marriage and six children Mann was always attracted to men but suppressed his sexuality. He lived through a particularly turbulent time in European history and his political views often seem unconventional at best.
What I loved about this novel was the way in which fact and fiction were welded together to paint a highly enjoyable portrait of Mann and his life. If like me, you are interested in Thomas Mann its an easy and engaging way to find out more about his life and work. His early family life depicting his relationship with his arty Brazilian mother and strict German father was insightful; as well as his rivalry with his elder brother Heinrich. His marriage to Katia and his subsequent experience of fatherhood also gives a glimpse into upper class parenting and his lack of involvement in his children’s upbringing. His suppressed sexuality could have been delved into further; but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the book in any way. I found the historical backdrop, the people he encountered including Mahler, Wagner, Einstein amongst others fascinating. Overall, this is an engrossing read which will no doubt by enjoyed by fans of Tóibin’s skilful writing.
Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Penguin Books and the author for the opportunity to read this in return for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this book it sadly I was disappointed. Despite making a number of attempts to get into the story I didn’t succeed. This was undoubtedly down to me as the book is very well written but unfortunately not the book for me.

My thanks to Penguin U.K./Viking for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Magician’ by Colm Tóibín in exchange for an honest review.

‘The Magician’ is a fictional biography of German writer, Thomas Mann. Years ago I had read Mann’s 1912 novella, ‘Death in Venice’ and at times I have considered scaling his ‘The Magic Mountain’ - yet I had no knowledge of Mann’s life and work and so was intrigued by this novel’s premise.

Thomas Mann is considered one of the greatest writers of 20th-century European literature and had won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. His life was quite complex - balancing a seemingly conventional marriage with his desires for young men. His struggles were detailed in his private diaries that were eventually unsealed and informed later biographies and literary criticism.

Colm Tóibín focuses upon the contradictions within Mann’s personal life as well as his turbulent relationship with his homeland, including his vocal stance against Nazism and his campaigning for the USA to enter WWII.

The novel also tells the story of the first half of the twentieth century through the lens of this singular life and his extended family. I felt that Colm Tóibín was skilled in creating realistic dialogue and I had to remind myself more than once that I was reading a novel.

This was my first experience of Colm Tóibín’s writing though I am now eager to read more of his novels, especially his fictional biography of Henry James. I was not only impressed by his writing but by the depth of his research and at how well he handled his large cast of characters set against the epic backdrop of history.

Overall, an ambitious and lyrical work of literary fiction that I found highly engaging.

I knew nothing about Thomas Mann, except that he was an author, and I like fictionalisations of historical figures. So fir me this was a great read. . Well written , as expected of a Colm Toibin, , i found this an engrossing read., and will recommend it, whenever i can.

Colm Tobin is a fantastic writer. So much research went into this book which is about Thomas Mann – an award-winning German writer. At times it felt like a biography snd sometimes like a fictional story.
This would not be my typical genre but I enjoyed reading my way though. I knew nothing about Thomas Mann before this story. I gave this a 3.5 star rating.

Colm Tóibín’s book about Thomas Mann is a cross between a novel and biography, imaging dialogue between himself and family, using established historical information to root the novel in reality. I found this to be a slow burn but once you get a third way through you are totally hooked. The tragedies Mann endures throughout his life are well detailed and I came away with a greater knowledge of Mann than I had previously. The Magician is well worth reading, especially if you would like to get to know more about Thomas Mann and the historical events taking when each of his novels were written.

The Magician by Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín is one of my favourite writers so I was delighted to get an ARC of his latest book. This is a biography of the writer Thomas Mann and an insight into life and politics in Germany in the early 20th century.
It is well written, fastidiously researched and interesting but despite this I struggled to get into it and put it aside at 50% complete. For me this is a straightforward biography but I wanted more emotional depth and character / relationship development.

This is a wonderful novel: fiction based in reality, aspects of the story of a great writer, Thomas Mann, told by another, Colm Tóibín. I am not a biography person, and this novel does what a novel does: create a character who goes through a peripeteia and in so doing enlightens our own life and world. The fact that the character is a historical one, and a writer I have read with great enjoyment, makes it doubly interesting. In fact, it deepens the many insights the novel affords about living, creating, surviving at a crucial time of the 20c (Mann being German and living when he does is of course crucial to the novel's objectives).

Mann's life is definitely worth telling (the shadow of ancestors, the search for identity, the choice of partner, the construction of a career, the finding of subjects, the making of a family...) I found the way Tóibín marshals the disparate elements of anyone's life into a coherent fictional narrative deeply interesting, as well as the wonderful style of his prose, able to make you be in a place with just a few well-chosen words, a comment directing your attention to an object, the description of a particular dress. The links between biography and fictional creation are explored thoughtfully, always in an entertaining manner (Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain...). Again, this is a fiction and the ambiguities, omissions, emphasis, leave the reader able to complete the possible picture either using her imagination, or even sending her back to Mann's novels, or the extensive further reading section the author has included - he has definitely done his reading!!

A great book that will give pleasure to all readers interested in the life of an artist and the difficulties, compromises, decisions made in order to fulfil an ambition. I loved it. Thank you so much to Penguin via NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful novel.