The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mannby Thomas Mann
Shares rank 40 of 122 novels by recommenders
Readers call it funny and memorable, but critics find it slow, boring and hard to finish.
Readers call it funny and memorable, but critics find it slow, boring and hard to finish.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow and boring
“but I find it so dragged and boring, I just can’t get myself to read it for long.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “How Thomas Mann Wrote the Magic Mountain” “Well it was at that time no pleasure and boring.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “How Thomas Mann Wrote the Magic Mountain” “I just found it remarkably boring given the glowing reviews.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “How Thomas Mann Wrote the Magic Mountain” Hard to get through
“but I find it so dragged and boring, I just can’t get myself to read it for long.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “How Thomas Mann Wrote the Magic Mountain” “I found this book (idk which English translation) unreadable when I looked at it in college.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “How Thomas Mann Wrote the Magic Mountain”
Other novels people recommend
The four most recommended other novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime and Punishmentby Fyodor Dostoevsky | 39 | 9 | 81% | 6 | — | Approved |
| The Brothers Karamazovby Fyodor Dostoevsky | 28 | 8 | 78% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Infinite Jestby David Foster Wallace | 26 | 5 | 84% | 9 | 10 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald | 24 | 9 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| The Magic Mountainby Thomas MannThis page | 5 | 2 | 71% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Well it was at that time no pleasure and boring.”
“but I find it so dragged and boring, I just can’t get myself to read it for long.”
“I just found it remarkably boring given the glowing reviews.”
“I found this book (idk which English translation) unreadable when I looked at it in college.”
“It is one of the funniest book I ever read.”
“Standsrd Ebooks have a US public domain translation available”
“It is a great book, certainly made an impression on me.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.