First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Originally published in Germany in 1901, Buddenbrooks is Thomas Mann’s first major novel, and one of the two for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929.

Buddenbrooks tells the story of four generations of a wealthy bourgeois family in northern Germany. With consummate skill, Mann draws a rounded picture of middle-class life: births and christenings; marriages, divorces, and deaths; successes and failures. These commonplace occurrences, intrinsically the same, vary slightly as they recur in each succeeding generation. And as the Buddenbrook family eventually succumbs to modern influences – influences which are at variance with their own traditions – its downfall becomes certain.

The weekend has finally come! Happy Friday everyone! We survived yet another work week. Luckily, mine was shortened as I was on leave during the first three days of the week; I climbed Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines. To those who were at the office the entire five days, I hope that you are ending the work week on a high note. I hope you were able to accomplish all the tasks you set to accomplish at the start of the week. I hope the work week went well and that we are all diving into the weekend carefree. If the work week went the other way around, I hope the weekend will provide a reprieve, even if just a quick one. Which reminds me, we are going to have our company outing this weekend. I still hope that my officemates and I will have a restful time away from the rigors of office work.

However, before I could ditch my office clothes and don more comfortable articles of clothing, let me wrap up the work and blogging week with a fresh First Impression Friday update. This has become a weekly tradition. After two months of venturing into the works of female writers, I pivoted to the works of European literature for my May reading journey. My focus, however, is on the works of Nobel Laureates in Literature. This was a journey that I commenced toward the end of April when I read the works of three female Nobel laureates: Herta Müller, Doris Lessing, and Annie Ernaux. So far, I was able to expand this list after I read the works of Herman Hesse, Halldór Laxness, Knut Hamsun, and Patrick Modiano. The latest addition is my current read, Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks.

Interestingly, it was a different Mann novel that first piqued my interest. For the longest time, I fancied reading The Magic Mountain, his first work I encountered. Last year, I was able to tick it off from my long reading list. As expected, I ended up liking the book. This set me up for an immediate return to Mann’s oeuvre. Luckily, I was able to obtain a copy of Buddenbrooks last year. Due to my growing anticipation, I included Buddenbrooks in my 2024 Top 24 Reading List and 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge. Also listed as one of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Buddenbrooks is making me hit three birds with one stone; it is my goal to read at least 20 books from the aforementioned list.

Originally published in 1901, Buddenbrooks is Mann’s first published novel. It is also widely recognized as the book that elevated Mann to global recognition. It was even singled out by the Swedish Academy in their citation for the Nobel Prize in Literature; interestingly, Mann preferred that the Academy cited his other works, particularly The Magic Mountain. Regardless, Buddenbrooks is a book I am looking forward to. The titular Buddenrbooks is an affluent family residing in the Northern German city of Lübeck. When their story commenced in 1835, the family was settling into their new home. The success of their trading firm allowed them the luxury of acquiring a grand four-story house at 4 Meng Street.

The opening sequence of the story takes the readers to a grand housewarming dinner hosted by the patriarch, Johann Buddenbrook Senior, and his son Johann Junior (Jean). The housewarming dinner was also a vessel for Mann to introduce the other family members, including Jean’s wife Elisabeth, and their children Antonie (Tony), Thomas (Tom), and Christian. Absent from the gathering which also included prominent locals was Gotthold, Jean’s estranged stepbrother. Gotthold has been cut off from the family by the patriarch following his marriage to a woman of lower rank. Following the death of the patriarch and the matriarch Antoinette, Gotthold requested a share in the inheritance. Jean also took on the reins of the family business while serving as a consul.

The story then starts to chart the fortunes of the members of the family. It follows the growth of Jean’s children. As the story moved forward, their personalities started to float to the surface. Thomas was diligent and hardworking. He was being groomed to take over the family business. His brother Christian, on the other hand, was his antithesis. Christian was preoccupied with entertainment and leisure. He yearns for a decadent life. Their sister Tony, meanwhile, grew conceited. Jean and Elizabeth later have another daughter, Klara. The dynamics and the complexities of families were vividly captured as the story moved forward. This was among the novel’s main themes. We read about Jean’s children going to school.

The children eventually got married. Some marriages, however, were not meant to last. Deception abounded, eventually resulting in divorce. With this, more characters were also introduced. Among them was Bendix Grünlich of Hamburg. Tony disliked him but the pressure from his father made her relent to marry him. Their union bore a daughter named Erika but, unfortunately, their marriage ended in divorce. Alois Permaneder, a provincial merchant from Munich, was Tony’s second husband. Meanwhile, Klara marries Sievert Tiburtius, a pastor from Riga. More marriages took place as the grandchildren grew up; the novel charted the story of four generations of the Buddenbrooks, including their trials and tribulations.

The novel is bereft of a robust plot but it is, nevertheless, engaging. The contrasting personalities of the family members gave the story different textures. And yeah, it has been established that the Buddenbrooks family was inspired by Mann’s own family. The book has also influenced a book I read last year, Morio Kita’s The House of Nire. I am midway through the novel but it seems that there are still quite a lot of events that will transpire, events that will shape the family and the members’ values. I can’t wait to see how Mann wraps it all up together. How about you fellow reader? What book or books are you going to take with you this weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!