Maybe these "Novels of Ideas" just aren't my thing. Thomas Mann writes well here. Sometimes too well leaving me at times having to re-read a passage jMaybe these "Novels of Ideas" just aren't my thing. Thomas Mann writes well here. Sometimes too well leaving me at times having to re-read a passage just to understand the gist of his idea. The plot is rather thin. A young man visits his cousin in a Swiss sanitarium. There is a lot of descriptive detail about surrounding and character appearances. I only read the first 300 pages and stopped because the story just wasn't enjoyable for me. There are too many other books to hold my attention. I doubt the last 400 pages will present any significant improvements in my reading experience. I wanted to like this book but I have failed. My two star rating stands alone in a sea of 5 star ratings here on Goodreads. Maybe you will like this book more than I did. Good luck....more
I didn't finish this book. Two thirds of the way through I just couldn't go on. I think this book is very overrated. It about a Russian student who isI didn't finish this book. Two thirds of the way through I just couldn't go on. I think this book is very overrated. It about a Russian student who is so obsessed with the idea of superior and inferior people that he decides that he, as a superior, has a right to murder other people. He does exactly that. Then the book gets so convoluted with dialogue that I lost interest. Oh, well. I gave it a shot. I didn't like the book and I make no apologies for it....more
I really like Tony's travel channel show, No Reservations. I think I have seen almost every episode. So I decided to give his book a shot. Tony gives I really like Tony's travel channel show, No Reservations. I think I have seen almost every episode. So I decided to give his book a shot. Tony gives a very hilarious and unglamorous history of his restaurant career. It is witty, sarcastic, vulgar, and macho. Having worked myself for several years at Jersey Shore restaurants, many of his descriptions about the business and its workers are very familiar to me. It does lose steam after awhile and I started to become tired of reading about what it's like to work in a restaurant. This book really is not well written but that's the point. It's not really for the literary types....more