This is about the fall of the Habsburg empire. There are some really good scenes as well as depictions of Franz Joseph, the emporor himself. The book is also a saga, following four generations of the von Trotta family. Beautiful, clear, easy-to-read prose, but would have liked to see better and more dialogue. ( )

Few people are fortunate enough to have a friend who loves reading at the same level. Fewer still have a friend who can be trusted enough to recommend books that “must be read.” I am fortunate enough to have several such friends. My first encounter with Joseph Roth is the result of such a friendship. To say I loved this novel amounts to the greatest understatement I could make about this sprawling epic of the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the outbreak of “the Great War” in 1914.

Roth has reminded me that my heart lies firmly in the 19th century – the Brontës, Austen, Stendahl, Gaskell, Flaubert, and Thackeray, among others, all drove me to graduate school, and I still revel in the lush land of romantic and realistic literature of that period.

This novel of three generations, who revered and served Emperor Franz Joseph, encompasses not only the politics of the era but the relationships among fathers, sons, and even the memory of a deceased grandfather. The prose sparkles, and I am hard pressed to recall more than a few novels with prose so consistently beautiful, lyrical, and engrossing.

Normally, I provide a quote or two, but I could pull a paragraph at random from any page and give the slightest glimmer of the power of Roth’s artistry. The story he weaves holds the reader’s attention from page one through to 331. Even the introductory essay by Nadine Gordimer gushes with praise and allows the reader a glimpse or two into the magical, romantic, and psychological depth of these characters.

At times, I felt as if I were watching a film. The detail of the dress, the food, the carriages, and the houses had such precision and completeness of detail my mind had no trouble calling up clear images as backdrops for the story.

Roth wrote a sequel, The Emperor’s Tomb, and I already have it on my Amazon wish list. 10 stars for one of the finest novels I have ever read.

--Jim, 4/11/09 ( )

The Radetzky March is Joseph Roth's brilliant tale of the declining years of the Austro-Hungarian or more accurately the Hapsburg Empire as told through the fortunes and misfortunes of three generations of the Von Trotta family. The book opens in 1859 with young Lt. Joseph Trotta saving the life of the also young emperor Franz Joseph at the Battle of Solferino. That deed earned the `von' for Baron and began a connection between the Von Trotta's and the emperor that was intermittently called upon when the family's fortunes suffered. The book ends with the outbreak of World War I.

In addition to the slow motion disintegration of the Empire, the book focuses on the relations between successive generations of father and son. Strict notions of honor and duty figure in their thinking above all other considerations. The third generation Von Trotta, Carl Joseph leads a foolish and dissolute life, but still clings to honor and duty above all else. The decline in the family's fortunes traces the decline in the Empire.

A New York Review of Books piece by J.M. Coetzee called Roth the `emperor of nostalgia', a phrase which summarizes my own sentiments (the article is freely available on the Internet). While the writing is excellent, at the end of the day the book is simply an examination of a mostly forgotten time and place. An enjoyable read, yes, but do not look for lasting or universal insights. (The Radetzky March was recommended by fellow Amazonians and I enjoyed the book and appreciate the recommendation.) If an extraordinarily well-written period piece on the decline of Hapsburg Empire meets your fancy, then you must not miss The Radetzky March. ( )

An amazing work, beautifully, vividly written, about the end of a way of life, the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and with it, a set of beliefs and values that seem unable to deal with the coming catastrophes of nationalism, revolution, and war. Roth portrays the lives of three generations of men - a reluctant hero of peasant stock who saves the Emperor's life and receives nobility; his son, a dutiful civil servant who questions nothing about his role; and the grandson, a sentimental soldier who is haunted by death and devotion. What stays with you are the richly painted scenes - the stillness of a Sunday afternoon dinner, the young man offering his condolences to his deceased lover's husband, the death of a faithful servant. Without resorting to internal monologue or stream of consciousness, Roth is able to convey the psychological weight of the smallest details of the things the occupy the characters' environments, so you feel that all has depth and meaning, originating in a slower, denser time, an age of deeper shadows and longer memories. ( )

This book swept me up unexpectedly for many different reasons. So much so I was able to ignore the horrid pink marker which the books previous owner had used to underline 50% of most pages and the 99% of the book which they had dog eared (Not to mention the incredibly misinformed margin notes... "Beginning of WW2" being one! The book was written in '32! Ugh...)
The horrible state of the previous owners education aside, this book brought me into a world that my meager Ameri-centric historical education has never been able to take me. The world reaches only as far as the borders of the Austro-Hungarian empire and within this world unfolds strained father-son relationships, battles with alcoholism, gambling and a constant obsession with upholding ones honor against all things no matter how absurd they may seem in a modern context. The story is steeped in history and customs of the Austro-Hungarian empire yet the themes are universal. Roth captured a snapshot that will forever allow us to see the world before everything changed in ways more drastic than we can even fathom still.

Simply and beautifully written.
A ( )

Brilliant picture of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before WWI and the sorry state of the professional military man http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st... ( )