The Man Without Qualities, Vol. 2: Into the Millennium

The last reviewer obviously does NOT appreciate Musil in any true sense. There are no "unnecessarily longwinded, only somewhat interesting, conversations" --the reader who thinks this way has definitely ignored Musil's central concept of "Essayismus," which is essential to any understanding of the book. With this "essayism" Musil strove to find the perfect balance between the antipodes of life--art and science (clearly evident in the book's style), precision and soul, intuition and logic. It is the path to Utopia. Musil's "anti-Semitism": The last reviewer points this out as a factor which might put off some readers. This is comparable to putting an emphasis on Dostoevsky's alleged anti-Semitism--you end up missing the whole point. By the way, Musil's wife Martha was Jewish. After Hitler's rise to power, the Musils, like many other intellectuals, fled to Switzerland. I don't know where one finds any anti-Semitism in Musil. This book is highly rewarding when given the time. Don't be turned off by the length. It is much easier to read than Joyce and Proust and can actually be a real page-turner. Anyone who gives it less than five stars is just not getting it.

good quality product.

Continues Musil's masterpiece, which combines the incisive character analysis of Marcel Proust with the biting cynicism of a Kafka or Andrei Bely, this volume also contains such a ridiculously large amount of draft material that editors of other authors' masterpieces must be green with envy. I would literally kill for an extra volume like this for In Search of Lost Time. The Man Without Qualities is not too shabby either though -- an underrated classic that slips under the radar but deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with the likes of Ulysses, Buddenbrooks, In Search of Lost Time, and any other groundbreaking modernist work

A very good novel. IF...you are serious reader, enjoyed Proust, and do not mind listening to people prattle on endlessly. I do not mind the prattle, because I think it helps me become a better conversationalist.

The copy arrived, well packaged, and turned out to be 'used' only in that it was a remainder (the 'dot' was on it). This was actually a brand new book at a used price. A real value.

I first read this novel when I was 27 and I have just re-read it at the age of 69. I thought it was one of the most amazing pieces of literature I had ever read and I feel more adamantly this way now; the only writer who might still perhaps surpass Musil is Dostoevsky although the comparison seems unfair since Musil's writing is more cerebral, an intensely philosophical work and not for the superficial reader who enjoys "a good read."

This extraordinary novel, told in non-linear time and with many eddies and currents, captures the last of the "golden years" of the 19th century--technically the early 20th--when people in Vienna still clung to their traditions, their emperor, their rigid social order. A microscopic look at the middle European world before the abyss told through the viewpoint of a highly attractive and intellectual man, too individual for his time, a man, perhaps, of the future.

This work is a classic of Twentieth Century world literature and is essential reading if you ever want to listen to Vienna before and after World War One. What you hear is its edginess, its nervousness as if in anticipation of World War II. Get it!

Great great book with writing to take you away in far far lands if you are as old as me , probably to the past era when everything was so new , it was not new but as we feel it was strange for me .

I echo all the sentiments of those here who have given this amazing book 5 stars. But first, I think, there should be warning. Lets face it, a slow plot AND the story doesn't even have an ending (the author died before it was finished) - doesnt bode well, does it? Well, yes, actually it does. This is not easy. There is so much going on here, within the strictures of a slow-moving plot, that this is in no way a pool-side read. It's not one of those books where the prose and/or the action carries you along on the crest of the bow-wave of reading, like some novels. This examines the minutest details of the reasons for a characters actions; and in doing so, reveals thoughts, insights and epiphanies that are both remarkable in their perception and staggering in their scope. One of the reviewers here says he/she could only manage 30 pages at a time. There were times when I didn't even manage that, but each time I was rewarded. I get the impression if I was at a loose end I could dip into any part of this novel and it would enlighten me even further. Now that some time has passed since I finsihed it, I will try this. So... Take your time. Dont rush to finish this. If you want to leave it a little while, do so. This is a marathon not a race, and pacing yourself is all important. Do this, and you will gain so much from it. Lets all spread the word and bring this superb work to a wider readership. And let's finish on word: awesome.

As with other reviewers, I have to say this is quite easily the greatest novel I have ever read. This is not, though, the same thing as saying it is the most memorable, engrossing, or moving. It is though the summit of European prose - I don't think anything greater was written before it (and, yes, this includes Dostoevsky) or since. Its ambition is breathtaking - an attempt to tackle head-on the greatest philosophical questions. It achieves its ambition. Pessoa in The Book of Disquiet does something similar in a way - but that is a book without a narrative, which is more like poetry. It is also very sad - not so much for what it actually contains, but for what it points to. As someone wrote in the Spectator recently, Europe committed mass suicide in two world wars, having achieved amazing cultural feats (the invention of modernity in short). Vienna in 1913 and then again in 1938 for good measure - it is hard not to be overwhelmed by all that was lost, both in terms of human lives and human culture. It takes a long time to read - 30 pages at a time was all I could manage, given the concentration required. It is though, significantly easier to get on with than Ulysses, or later Henry James, say. Not sure to what extent the translator should get the credit for this.

Excellent translation, and edition

Quite a large book, Ive only just managed to pass the introduction but it is a really interesting read, i would definitely recommend.The book came in good condition