Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man : The Early Years by Thomas Mann ISBN: 0-679-73904-1 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 March, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb
Comment: Thomas Mann as a writer definitely had his strong points, as no one really needs to be told, but his strongest point is probably the way he uses language. Some feel that he is overly descriptive and tends to drag things out a bit too much, like henry miller who called him a "great fabricator", but aside from all this, reading Mann is a unique experience. Now, Felix Krull is labeled a "con man extraordinaire" on the back cover of this book, which is fine if it is meant in the old fashioned, acting like an aristocrat way... but for people, like me, who expect a bit more "con" to the "game" the book is a disappointment. This of course, is no fault of Mann's...just do not be misled by people telling you this is a story of a con man. To make this brief, Felix is a person who finds it increasingly difficult do discern between reality and the illusory, making it hard for him to "find himself". This idea culminates near the end where for about 50 pages the "con" is definitely "on". The first half of this book is immensely entertaining, and it carries some passages that would jump out at anybody as fabulous. The second half for the most part, carries a different method of telling the story, as we get less and less of Felix's entertaining interjections...but it still keeps its magnificence due to Mann's incredible gift of flat-out "story telling". The end is strange to say the least, and there is a section where there is a letter of about thirty pages that is written in the dullest, victorian, aristocratic, "proper talk" that, at least for me, was ferociously boring; causing the story to lose a lot of the steam it had built up getting to this point. Not to sound trite, but this really is not Mann's best work, and just because it is "lighter" reading than his other books, does not make it the best introduction to the world of Thomas Mann. In fact, start with the Magic Mountain (yes, it is long) or Dr. Faustus, or even Buddenbrooks... then return to felix krull and it will be a lot more rewarding if for no other reason then because you have become aquainted with Mann's methods and techniques. Not a great book, yet still very good. Go elsewhere if looking for the confessions of a "con man."
Rating: 5
Summary: Mann in a humorous vein
Comment: This picaresque novel of adventure by the writer of such
ponderous masterpieces as The Magic Mountain is one of my
favorite books.
Many readers who come to it after Buddenbrooks or Tonio Kroeger
note the parallels Mann felt existed between the artist and
the confidence man. In Tonio Kroeger, the eponymous central
character has an encounter in his home town where he's mistaken
briefly for a con man. In the earlier story, it's an incident
full of irony. In Felix Krull, Mann turns that theme on its
head and plays it as a burlesque.
The elegance and suavity of the writing, captured well by
the Lindley translation, are both a pleasure to read, and
an analogue for the well-oiled confidence skills of the
first person narrator. It's helpful to remember that we
are being told "true confessions" by a man who has made
his way in life by taking people in.
Another feature of the work, not often commented on, is
the element of parody. Mann wrote the book with one eye,
as it were, on the great German picaresque novel by
Hans von Grimmelshausen, Simplicius Simplicisimus. Krull's
travails, talents, and successes are at times a humorous
transposition of those in Grimmelshausen's work.
Because the book was started back in 1911, and reflects on
a period 20 or more years earlier, it's a historical time
capsule of sorts. This might annoy some readers; for others,
it grants the work a certain period charm.
Finally, we should remember that the work is incomplete. This
was intended to be the first part of a full-dress fictional
memoir. Had he lived longer, Mann might have written 2 more
volumes. The result is that the book is a bright fragment rather
than a fully realized work of art. We're left to imagine what
the remainder of Felix Krull's adventures might have been like.
A pity we'll never know. I, for one, am happy with what Mann
was able to bequeath us. I feel almost as if he left me a
legacy.
Rating: 4
Summary: Delightful!
Comment: This is a wonderfully eloquent autobiography of a wonderfully arrogant young man. It's so artful and creative, you'd think it was nonfiction. I highly recommend it.
The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because toward the end, I found it got kind of boring when I thought it was about to get really interesting. It also ends abruptly, demanding a sequel, which there is not. But I won't spoil it by giving anything away.
For a good read, read Felix Krull!
 |
Title: Doctor Faustus : The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn As Told by a Friend by John E. Woods, Thomas Mann ISBN: 0375701168 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: Buddenbrooks : The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann ISBN: 0679752609 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 June, 1994 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann ISBN: 0679772871 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: Lotte in Weimar: The Beloved Returns by Thomas Mann, H.T. Lowe-Porter ISBN: 0520070070 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: November, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: Death in Venice : And Seven Other Stories by Thomas Mann ISBN: 0679722068 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 13 March, 1989 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
