Status Updates From Čarobna gora

Spannend and tiring at the same time.

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The atmosphere of the metropolitan seaport, the damp atmosphere of global shopkeeping and prosperity, had been the air of life for his forefathers, and with great gusto he breathed it now as a matter of course and found it profoundly satisfying.

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Within three or four months after his father died, he had forgotten death; now he remembered it, all the impressions, from before reemerged simultaneously - in every precise, piercing, and incomparable detail.

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And in his curiosity, Hans Castorp took a deep breath, testing the alien air. It was fresh - that was all. It lacked odor, content, moisture, it went easily into the lungs and said nothing to the soul.

Hans Castorp was instructed that waitresses here were called "dining attendants."

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Space, like time, gives birth to forgetfulness, but does so by removing an individual from all relationships and placing him in a free and pristine state - indeed, in but a moment it can turn a pedant and philistine into something like a vagabond.

Hans Castorp goes to visit his cousin, Joachim Ziemssen, at the International Sanatorium Berghof. His cousin has tuberculosis. His visit should be for three weeks. They are five thousand three hundred feet above sea level. His cousin has been at the sanatorium for six months and Behrens, his doctor, believes he has another six months to go.

His grandfather, Hans Lorenz Castorp, wasa conservative man and followed old traditions. A year and half later his grandfather died and he was sent to live with his guardian Consul Tienappel, his mother's uncle.

He had a privileged life with his uncle. His inheritance was invested well. But, living off the interest will not give him a privileged life. Hans Castorp decided to be an engineer.

I actually started this book on October 2, 2026. It is a good read. I must look up some words because of the time the book was written and the country of Switzerland where the novel is taking place.

Hans Castorp has lost his mother and father within months of each other. His mother died first of a embolism and the following spring his father died. At seven years of age he went to live with his grandfather.

This is reminding me of a Russian novel. I am not sure how many hundreds of pages I have left in me 😅