Thomas Mann, born in 1875 in Lubeck, Germany, grew up to witness some pivotal moments in world history including two world wars. During his career as a famed writer, Mann hid his homosexuality within his words, while outwardly enjoying a stable married life with his wife Katia, and raising six children. Outspoken against Hitler and the Nazi party, Mann and his family are exiled from Germany and eventually settle in Switzerland and the United States.

The Magician is Colm Tóibín's novelisation of Thomas Mann's life from his early childhood to his eventual death, and it's clear to everyone reading this that the author must be a very big fan of Mann and his work. While a lot of what Mann did in the lead up to the breakout of WW2 was interesting, and commendable, and some of the movements of his children in the anti-fascist circles were also fascinating and deserve praise, I did find a majority of this book quite dull.

Mann comes across as quite a cold character for most of this book, though I did enjoy seeing the warmth in his character come through in the latter half of the book with his love for his youngest daughter Elizabeth and then his fondness for his grandchildren. I definitely was a lot more engaged with the second half of this story as Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power within Germany and Mann realised something terrible was happening. At the end of the day it's also hard to forget that Mann and his family were in an incredibly privileged position where they could leave their home behind before they were in danger and go somewhere else where they could upkeep the style of life they were used to. They didn't necessarily struggle or endure any hardship when it came to their exile from their home country.

It was both sad and amusing to see Mann hide a huge part of himself in this novel, and instead content himself with watching young men he found attractive while out on his walks or in other places - always looking, never touching - and then some of his children celebrate their own queerness with aplomb for the majority of their lives.

While I can't deny this book was very well written, and Colm Tóibín always excels at a gentle, slow character study within his novels (thinking Nora Webster), I do think you have to be very aware and interested in Thomas Mann to get a whole lot out of this book as I'm sure the author did while writing it.