The life of Thomas Mann is fascinating and complex- morally and historically. Born in Lubeck Germany in 1875, it was assumed he would succeed and take over the family business. However, it became clear that he was unsuited and disinterested and the demise of that company and the effect on the family became the basis of Buddenbrooks. Throughout his literary career, Mann’s fiction drew closely from his own experiences. ‘Death in Venice’ where a married father falls in love with a young hotel guest mirrored Mann’s own infatuation with a ten year old stranger. When his letters were published, many were shocked by his homosexual admissions including finding his own sons attractive.
Reading Toibin’s book I wondered if the decision to make the Magician read more like a biography than a novel reflected difficulties of portraying such a sexually complex person. It’s a way perhaps of keeping both the reader and author at arm’s length from Mann’s interior world and letting the reader come to their own conclusion.
It is packed with research, thoughtfulness and Toibin’s characteristically elegant prose.

I'm afraid I share the disappointment of other readers. Although it is evident that Colm Tóibín did a lot of research (I did learn a lot from this novel, not being familiar with Thomas Mann's life and works), I felt that the style was surprisingly classic compared to Tóibín's usual subtle prose. I found the character of Thomas Mann itself rather dull, something which I'd never thought of Tóibín's characters before. I don't think I would have finished the book if it had been by any other writer ; as it stands, I wanted to give Colm Tóibín the benefit of the doubt, but nothing in this novel really impressed me. I hope that Tóibín hasn't lost his magic and that his next book will be closer to his previous ones.

The Magician tells the life story of Thomas Mann, an early-to-mid 20th century German writer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel The Magic Mountain, and who was later revealed to be gay (or at least bisexual), following the unsealing of his diaries in the late 1990s, several decades after his death.

Colm Toibin (himself a gay novelist, which might have informed/drawn him to this project?) has clearly done his research for this novel, and covers the periods of Mann’s major works: Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus, and Felix Krull. We see Mann discover his sexuality as a teenager and become involved with several men, before meeting his wife Katia, and then his homosexuality seems to be confined to his diaries, though it does feature in his work (most notably in Death in Venice).

Together they had six children: Erika, Klaus (both of whom were also gay but out and not closeted like their dad), Golo, Monika, Elizabeth, and Michael, and lived through both world wars. The Manns did better than most through the post-WW1 inflation years in Germany, thanks to Thomas’ books selling well abroad, but the family fled the country once Hitler rose to power, eventually settling in America until returning to Europe after the war.

I didn’t know much about Thomas Mann before this so everything in The Magician was new to me, and I thought it was all really interesting stuff. Toibin picks the most compelling times in Mann’s life to write about so the narrative is consistently engaging throughout. He’s also wonderfully adept at characterisation, bringing Mann’s family and the times they were alive in convincingly to life, so that you get a strong idea of who they were like as people, as well as what life was like during late 19th century Germany, the Weimar Republic, the war years in America, and Europe in the aftermath of WW2.

The only real criticism I would give the novel is that, ironically, Thomas Mann himself, despite being the subject of the novel, remains somewhat inscrutable even after all of it. As well as Toibin does in writing all of the characters in this novel, I left the novel not really knowing what to make of Thomas. When his son Michael speaks to him as an adult, there’s palpable bitterness and hatred from the son to his father, which was surprising because Toibin didn’t really show us any scenes where Thomas was a bad father that would explain Michael’s animosity towards his dad.

Yes, it is mentioned in passing by Katia that Thomas is a distant father who doesn’t really play with his children (though he does do magic tricks at the dinner table for them when they’re young - hence the title), so I guess that explains why Michael (really all of Thomas’ children) didn’t like their dad? It’s odd because you don’t get the sense, until the scenes when the children are grown up, that Thomas failed them in any serious way, and I think that’s due to Toibin not writing anything to indicate that.

So why omit scenes that would let us know Thomas better? Perhaps Toibin thought that by making Mann distant, he would be true to the person and that this was the best representation of his character. It’s not to say that there is no insight into his inner life - there is, particularly with his enduring fascination with young men - but I was expecting Toibin to delve deeper into Mann than stay more or less surface level. You expect to come away from a novel about a person having a fuller understanding of who they were than not, and he could’ve done that with fiction, rather than stay so steadfastly within the boundaries of nonfiction. It feels like a wasted opportunity.

The overall effect is a bit like Toibin almost wrote a nonfiction biography here. The novel aspects make it seem like those documentaries which include occasional dramatised scenes featuring actors because no footage exists. It’s not a huge complaint but it’s worth mentioning anyway.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel. Thomas Mann led an interesting life during tumultuous times and Toibin takes us through it with smooth prose and engaging storytelling, full of illuminating details. Colm Toibin’s The Magician is well worth checking out for anyone interested in the writer and/or well-written and accessible historical/biographical novels.

Tòibín wades into fertile territory by attempting an expansive biographical novel of Thomas Mann and the broader circle of his family. The Magician reflects the extensive research by the author in crafting this engaging and informative novel. However, remembering that it is a novel, it reads more as a biography attempting to look to the more emotional and human aspects of the story than a chronological examination of the themes or motivations of the author-subject.
Thomas Mann was the progenitor of a clan of exceptional and individuals in their rights. As a Nobel laureate and an outspoken critic of the rise of fascism is ripe territory for exploration. Tòibín produces a novel that focuses on posthumously uncovered diaries that revealed Mann's private homosexual reflections and become a critical narrative arc for the story. One develops a sense that Mann floats along in his world with little control over his destiny.
The novel opens with a young Thomas living in the shadow of his older brother Heinrich. The machiavellian Thomas attempts to inveigle his way into becoming his father's favourite and the one chosen to inherit the family concern. However, on his father's passing and the resulting will largely disinheriting the mother and her children, Thomas seems to become a pawn of his times, forced but never seeking to speak out or to influence. This behaviour appears to fly in the face of an accepted appreciation of his life and paints a discordant view of Mann's subsequent life. Mann seems to be a hostage of homosexual stirrings that he can rarely act upon yet preoccupies (if not controls) his existence. Books, which earned him the Nobel prize in literature, are presented with little apparent effort or more profound reflection. I am not sure this is Tòibín's intent, but this seems an odd realisation.
The novel is quite readable, and Mann's eldest children are well characterised. The wider tale is colourful, engaging, and leaves the reader satisfied for having read, although possibly unconvinced, based on the evidence presented that he lacked self-determination or a desire to speak out publicly against fascism. For example, his decision to speak in the nascent East German Republic on a speaking tour celebrating the Goethe centenary in opposition to shadowy advice from the US State Dept not to seems contradictory to the character developed over the bulk of the novel.
Ultimately, the novel is expansive, engaging, but the author's own editorial decisions may seem contradictory to some readers - myself included. Nonetheless, it does raise these questions, provokes reflection, and thus serve as an effective vehicle to further understanding.

Colm Toibin is a master at his craft. Took a while to get into the clipped style he's turned to for this exploration of Thomas Mann's life, the novel as a whole is an affecting study of his life as well as time and place. 4 stars

Thomas Mann won a Nobel Prize and hid his sexuality while married and having six children. Two world wars saw the view of his beloved Germany change. An insight into his life, his loves and his feelings.

The Magician by Colm Toibin is about how he imagines the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas Mann. It describes his life from teenage years onwards, covering both World Wars and beyond.

I don't know if maybe Tóibin wasn't able to write Thomas Mann's story from a more intimate point of view because he didn't have sources or because he didn't want to. The fact is that I felt I got to know him better through the pages of Buddenbrok, The Enchanted Mountain or Death in Venice. This book seems more focused on recounting details than on introducing us to one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

Io non saprei se forse Tóibin non é stato in grado di scrivere la storia di Thomas Mann da un punto di vista piú intimistico perché non aveva fonti o perché non abbia voluto farlo. Fatto sta che mi sembrava di averlo conosciuto meglio attraverso le pagine dei Buddenbrok, de La montagna incantata o de La morte a Venezia. Questo libro sembra piú focalizzato sul raccontare dettagli che teso a farci conoscere uno dei piú grandi scrittori del '900.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

In some parts ‘The Magician by Colm Tobin is quite interesting but for the most part I found the novel boring. The writing style is not what I would expect from the author, it being pedestrian and lacking in feeling. Perhaps if you had a particular interest in Thomas Mann this book would have been enjoyable and informative but it’s just wasn’t for me.

A long novel based on the life of Thomas Mann. Although I’ve heard of Thomas Mann, I was not familiar with his life during the two world wars, including exile from Germany. An interesting read for those who like historical fiction.

A very interesting book about the German writer, novelist and philosopher Thomas Mann.
His life story from a young boy until his death at 80.
He was actually homosexual but settled with fantasising about young beautiful men.
He actually married and fathered 6 children. All of his children seemed to have their own problems with life possibly caused by his detached attitude to them, although he certainly loved them. This was partly due to his own upbringing.
An unusual but enjoyable read

Thank you for sharing this book. Colm Toibin is a wonderful writer. I wasn't expecting to enjoy a long book about the Second World War, but this novel offered a completely different perspective, as seen by the German writer Thomas Mann, and his family in exile. It demonstrates how a country can change by using ideology to stir up hatred between different sections of society, and is relevant to the present day. Absolutely brilliant and a must read.

Although the subject and the storyline was great, I felt that the book dragged in a few places and I found it a bit boring at some places. The relationship Thomas shared with his children was very depicted and I would have liked to read more about his relationship with his wife. It was very well written but it could have been shorter.

Anything written by Colm Tóibín is very worth reading, and his latest novel is no exception. A literary reimagining of the life of the famous German writer Thomas Mann, the novel opens in a provincial Northern German City at the beginning of the twentieth century. The fictional Thomas Mann grows up here with a conservative father heavily involved in local politics and trade, and a beguiling Brazilian mother who cannot settle. Thomas Mann has his own issues, as he realises his homosexuality at an early age but chooses to marry Katia, a cultured, affluent young resident from Munich, and over the years becomes a father to six children. Literary endeavours, including the publication of his famous novella ‘Death in Venice’ and the Nobel Prize for Literature follow, as well as emigration to Switzerland, France and the USA from where he broadcasts a regular message to his former German citizens.
This is a richly nuanced, evocative portrait of an influential author and his family who lived through turbulent times. Plenty of biographies of Thomas Mann exist, but what I found particularly appealing about Tóibín’s book is the literary space that he affords Katia, who also worked as an author and had as complex and multifaceted a character as her famous husband. Highly recommended! I am grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a free ARC in return for this honest and unbiased review.

The Magician is a huge and complex book, written from the point of view of Thomas Mann, the Nobel prize winning German author of Death In Venice and The Magic Mountain. It is full of Toibin's stylish and sumptuous prose and reads like a compelling family saga. written from the point of view of Mann himself. I very much enjoyed it, particularly once the setting moves to America where Mann is first feted as an anti- Nazi and then comes under scrutiny as a suspected Communist. Yet again he is forced into exile, this time into Switzerland .I think the problem for me is that it seems at times he is an unsympathetic character, and an austere father and it seems at times that the author feels this too. Not withstanding these thoughts, I really did enjoy the book and will reread it.

Whew, this is one heck of a book! It's incredibly ambitious, covering the majority of Thomas Mann's life (and also a hugely significant portion of German history). I loved it. I think this is a MUST read for any Thomas Mann fan. I think Hilary Mantel fans would also enjoy this.

I really liked Colm Toibin's Henry James novel ("The Master"), and this feels like a really good companion to that.

Some of the key themes in this:

- Shame and secrecy. Like James in "The Master," Mann is basically in the closet/not capable of confronting his desires and his sexuality. I thought the way the book connects this with his fiction (most obviously with "Death in Venice" and with "Faustus") was really well done - in the sense that it's not overdone, if you get me. The relationship with his wife (especially their early courtship) was really interesting (her family's Judaism is a key plot point, for obvious reasons).

- Family. This is the #1 reason I would recommend this book. It is SO, SO interesting to learn about Thomas Mann's family. <b>It is absolutely essential that you do NOT read Wikipedia and spoil yourself.</b>DON'T DO IT. DON'T FREAKING READ IT. Trust me, you'll thank me. It was the biggest pleasure of the book for me. My jaw just kept dropping. What a family! What a life! Okay, I'll give you a few details: Thomas Mann's mother was Brazilian. Several of his children were famous homosexuals. And his brother, an aspiring writer, worked for a long time on a novel about Faustus. Believe me, it is... JUICY!!

- The writer and politics. This is the #2 reason I would recommend this book. IT IS SO FREAKING INTERESTING to read about Thomas Mann working as a writer during World War I, being all patriotic and shit, getting shattered, and then dealing with freaking NAZISM. He doesn't take Hitler seriously at all initially, and sees him as a complete joker, an utter clown. He's proven wrong pretty quick, needless to say. While reading this I kept shaking my head and thinking of you-know-who (I'm not even gonna use his name; you should know who I'm talking about). It feels EERILY resonant and I am DYING to read an interview with Mr. Tóibín about his writing process for this book because I feel like there is NO WAY he was not thinking of current events from 2016-2020 while writing this. It is extremely powerful and made me think a lot about how history will look back on us, how history will hold us accountable, and how we will hold ourselves accountable.

I'll leave it at that. Overall, it was the content of this book more than anything that really gripped me. I also liked the style - unadorned, plain, not fucking around, unpretentious, lots of scenes with dialogue. It suited me fine. I loved all the scenes that dealt with music. My one complaint is this book would have really benefitted from a killer Ishigruo ending, but it doesn't quite reach that height.

I think any fan of historical fiction or of Thomas Mann himself would enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This is an excellent work of fiction, inspired by the life of Thomas Mann, aka <i>The Magician</i>. Colm Tóibín masterfully weaves a tale that takes us through a tumultuous period in history, from Mann’s conservative ‘starched’ upbringing in late 19thC Germany to 1950s Switzerland.

Exceptionally well researched, the story dramatises the extraordinary life of Mann, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. It explores the internal conflict to keep his sexual identity locked up and hidden from view for fear of disgrace. We witness the outbreak of WWI, the rise of nationalism, hyperinflation and fascism, WWII, and McCarthyism. We encounter a society where infantilism and ‘primitive populism’ have taken a foothold through ‘repetitive mantras’ and dissenters are labelled an enemy of the people. The arts and sciences are equally represented, with notable figures such as Mahler and Einstein (‘E equals old goat’) making guest appearances.
The story is seductive and charming, and meticulously detailed. A long read perhaps, but thoroughly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fictional account of the life of the novelist Thomas Mann. This is a beautifully written and very well researched book that follows Mann from childhood in Germany to the last years of his life in Switzerland. His family and children provide the main interest of the story and the political situation of the first half of the twentieth century forms a dramatic backdrop to the story.
An enjoyable read that was easy to read and flowed well. I did find it a bit slow going at times especially as the character of Thomas Mann was rather inaccessible. It is difficult to get close to him as he doesn't seem to really know himself and always seems rather bemused by life, by his family and especially his children.

This is a big old beast of a book. I feel it would be a worthy read for our book group, so will be putting it forward, when appropriate. "The Magician" follows the life of Thomas Mann. The early years are easy to follow as very few characters but as he marries and has 6 children and time evolves there are many characters to consider, many called Klaus. Took me a while to work out this is based on a real life person. An interesting read but very involved.

A masterful fictionalised biography of Nobel prizewinning author, Thomas Mann, encompassing his entire life from his childhood in Lubeck to his last days in Switzerland. Although I’ve only read Death in Venice, it was fascinating to read about the people and places that influenced and inspired his other works. Toibin not only gives us a detailed account of Thomas Mann’s life, he also covers in some depth that of his brother, Heinrich, as well as those of his own extraordinary children, all of whom had distinguished, if in some cases chequered, careers. I often found the lives and personalities of the children much more interesting than Mann’s own.

Mann comes across as a complex character with little personal warmth or charisma. He is rather pompous and self satisfied with his success and I felt nothing for him at all most of the time. We occasionally see a lighter side. His children nicknamed him The Magician because he would show them magic tricks and tell them magical stories. It seems odd then that he had such a difficult relationship with some of them. I enjoyed the breadth of history his life spanned, through World Wars I and II to the Cold War, and his changing fortunes as various governments and politicians used him for propaganda purposes. His despair at the rise of Nazi Germany and his disgust with his fellow Germans for supporting Hitler led him to seek refuge in the USA, a country that feted him until he visited East Germany after the war. As the paranoia about communism rose so the Manns were treated with increasing suspicion, leading to most of them leaving the country for good.

4 stars as it was a long read and I felt strangely removed from what sometimes felt like a rather clinical account.

With thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for a review copy.