Olga Tokarczuk's previous book *Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead* was a big hit for this group back in 2022. *The Empusium* is her twist on Thomas Mann's *Magic Mountain.* She takes us to a 1913 sanatorium where a young engineer seeking a cure finds himself caught in a web of secrets.

**From Goodreads:**
**The Nobelist's latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas.**

In September 1913, Mieczysław, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz's Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in Görbersdorf, what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the surrounding highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone—or something—seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczysław realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of *The Magic Mountain*, Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore, and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.

Liz Samuels

Jason

Maria

The Millennialish Book Club

Hobbies & Passions

20's

Reading

Novel Reading

Fiction

Book Club

20's-30's

Literature

New In Town

Social

Millennials

30's

20's-40's

Make New Friends

International Friends

Intelligent Conversation

"The Empusium," by Olga Tokarczuk

Cre8tive Space Studio 2-4

Share

The Millennialish Book Club

"The Empusium," by Olga Tokarczuk

The Millennialish Book Club

Details

Members are also interested in