I sort of need to read The Magic Mountain, y'all. First, it was Colm Tóibín's The Magician, now Olga Tokarczuk... Is the (literary) universe trying to tell me that Thomas Mann is relevant or something? Honestly, the blurb about a horror retelling was what really hooked me, but that's one thing on which the book didn't really deliver. I mean, without spoiling anything, horrific things do happen, but that's (very) far from the main drive of the novel. Now the unselfconscious woman-bashing throughout: that was a sight to behold, but the real final nail was the coda in the Author's Note at the end where she lists the (shockingly all male, what?!) authors from whom she lifted the sentiments expressed by the characters in the book. That was chef's-kiss savage.