Buddenbrooks

The Decline of a Family

By: Thomas Mann

Narrated by: David Rintoul

First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author's former neighbours in his native Lübeck.

As he charts the Buddenbrooks' decline from prosperity to bankruptcy, from moral and psychic soundness to sickly piety, artistic decadence and madness, Mann ushers the reader into a world of rich vitality, pieced together from births and funerals, weddings and divorces, recipes, gossip and earthy humour. It is perhaps the first great family saga of modern literature, and it brought to public notice a writer of world stature who, three decades later, was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. David Rintoul gives one of his finest performances in this committed and deeply moving reading.

©1993 Alfred A Knopf (P)2016 Ukemi Productions Ltd

Superb novel--beautifully read!

One of the world's great novels: full of deep philosophy, warm comedy, the joys and sorrows of a memorable family. Wonderful characters are portrayed perfectly in this rendition.

David Rintoul should get an award!

The combination of Thomas Mann's masterful story, and its reading by David Rintoul, is mesmerizing.

Excellent all around!

I am sad it ended. I had never read anything by Thomas Mann before. Amazing writer - extraordinary narration.

Bourgeois tragedy

I loved the narration and what stood out to me was it was like movie script and all characters familiar and almost I thought I saw this as a movie before loved it. Narration was the high point for me

outstanding

the reading by david rintoul is superb. the book is vibrantly divine, one of my favorites for revisiting.