Well it took me a year of off and on reading, but I finally finished it. The problem with longer books is that they are up and down. Overall I would say this was a really decent read though. I particularly enjoyed the arguments between Settembrini and Naphta. They really capture the spirit of the times. I can almost see a similar environment in Amerca today, I guess we will have a huge war sometime soon lol. An aquaintence of mine said once that he felt like he should take a philosophy course before reading this book, though he may of had tongue in cheek, there is quite a bit of philosophising in here. You are exposed to a great many extremes of thought which are fascinating. When you sit back and observe all the things that happen in the book you really do begin to see Europe right before the war as a microcosm at the sanitarium.