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The Magician

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The Magician

By: Colm Tóibín
Narrated by: Gunnar Cauthery
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The Sunday Times top 10 best seller

Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize 2022

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 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 breath-taking story of the 20th century.

©2021 Colm Tóibín (P)2021 Penguin Audio 20th Century Biographical Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World War I Biography Thought-Provoking War

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Critic reviews

"As with everything Colm Tóibín sets his masterful hand to, The Magician is a great imaginative achievement—immensely readable, erudite, worldly and knowing, and fully realized." (Richard Ford)

"No living novelist dramatizes artistic creation as profoundly, as luminously, as Colm Tóibín...reading him is among the deepest pleasures our literature can offer." (Garth Greenwell)

"This is not just a whole life in a novel, it's a whole world." (Katharina Volckmer)

All stars
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What an innovative way of writing a biography. Toibin really entered into Thomas Mann’s consciousness and brought alive his way of being and writing with great dialogue and ideas, something that could only be done by another author of great stature. A sad and fascinating piece of literature.

What a brilliant book.

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Outstanding authorial insights, subtly and magically conveyed - and the reader does justice to the spare and elegant prose. A treasure.

Mesmerising

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For anyone who has read all of Mann’s books this is an essential read. If you haven’t read his major works, be advised that spoilers run throughout. I loved this book. It has everything I love about literature and music. Yes the chapters are full of Mahler and Beethoven and I felt that Toibin was singing the book to me, helped on by the great deliberation by Gunnar Cauthery. However, there was one section which alluded to Mann’s observation to one of his sons that didn’t sit right with me. But that is just the view of an ageing heterosexual which might not be an issue with more modern readers. All in all I would give it 9.9/10 and will buy the hard copy when it comes out in paperback.

Cometh the Mann

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I knew little of Mann before listening to this. I am so grateful to have shared his life

ama,ing life of Thomas Mann

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this book gripped me and angered me in equal measures.
A gripping family saga, it is a fictionalised account of Mann's life but based on his diaries and Toibin's thorough research. What angered me so much is the arrogance and entitlement of Mann and his family, especially his wife. Those were the people who were living in nonchalant luxury while the German masses couldn't buy a loaf of bread after WW1. For all their opposition to the Nazis, they bear responsibility for the Nazis coming to power.

It made me furious how brutally Erika and Katia judge those who remained in Germany and didn't fight the Nazis hard enough while they are enjoying the Californian sun and living like God in France. At some point Thomas says " I would be dead had I stayed in Germany". The same is true for those who did stay had they opposed the regime.

Their rudeness and arrogance towards Heinrich, who was a proper opponent of the Nazis, and his wife Nellie, who Katia referred to only as "das Stück" (Short for piece of dirt). Mann sitting on his high, non-committal horse all his life... Klaus and Erika, never doing a day of honest work in their lives but feeling entitled and opinionated nevertheless.

Katia's cruelty and indifference towards her children, except sometimes Klaus. Leaving them behind as babies and toddlers for months. No wonder they were all so messed up. Whatever respect I might have had for this family of one of the most prominent German writers ever has gone.

Brilliant work by Toibin.
The narrator was ok but as so often, it would have been helpful (and respectful) to figure out how to pronounce the Germans names and locations correctly.

A brilliant account of how it may have been

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An excellent book and the reading was enjoyable. Now time to read Thomas Man’s books again.

Excellent book and reading

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it drives you to want to read more of his novels. a very enjoyable read

A very vivid story of Mann's life.

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When I began listening to this story I was not convinced that it was for me. The subject matter didn't appeal to me at all but I'm extremely grateful that I persevered with it. It is a brilliant book and was read in a very accomplished manner. I learned a great deal about the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party from a different perspective than the documentaries I have seen in the past. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in modern history and literature.

The history behind the story.

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Stunning chronicle of the life of Thomas Mann & his family through the 20th century & 2 World Wars.

Stunning Chronicle - what a life

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i have thoroughly enjoyed this - such an insightful journey - this is the second novel i have read from this author (first was the story of the night) and it just makes me want to read more and more! i cannot recommend this enough!

spectacular novel

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