Siddhartha (1922)

I'm terribly disappointed.

The prose is lovely, but I was expecting more. If I didn’t have a rudimentary understanding of the most basic tenets of Hinduism and Buddhism, I might feel differently. However I do, and the book strikes me mostly as a European rehash of ancient Vedic ideas.

I also derive little pleasure from quest for enlightenment stories. I expect that’s partly because I neither need nor desire an outside meaning for life. I make my own purpose. Being is enough for me, so I struggle to relate to people whose sole source of unhappiness is not knowing the ultimate truth of life.

Also I must say, the lead character is utterly unappealing. He's miserable and superior pretty much up until the last ten pages or so. Everything is made so easy for him, yet he suffers. I just don't have much in the way of patience for that sort of person. ( )

This might have influenced me when I was younger, as it has many others. While Hesse is again exploring his theme of the intellectual's place in society, this famous novel of course is also strongly centered on Eastern religion. But it follows a character arc I never saw coming. The opening chapters lulled me with their expected tone, filled with contemplative and indulgent overlapping sentences. I had falsely assumed this was a fictionalized biography of the Buddha, but in an early chapter Siddhartha actually meets the Buddha (Gotama), and from that point on I had no idea where this was going.

Siddhartha steps away from the Buddha's teaching - from all teaching - in the belief that he cannot find true peace of soul through following anyone else's path, only through pursuing his own to self-discovery. He begins to indulge in the world, to experiment with the senses, beginning with sexual pleasure and then proceeding to capitalism and riches. This proves to be a dead end that I felt was an unfair analysis, but Siddhartha has more stones to turn over before his journey is complete and these bring missing shades of meaning to his experience. The lesson about fathers allowing sons to make their own errors and follow their own paths was well portrayed. There are many paths up the spiritual mountain and all may arrive at inner peace. We must allow for this in witnessing the journeys of others, and in looking back on our own. ( )

Corto y genial ( )

4/26/22

I did enjoy this book. I expected this to be a book that would not be an easy read but surprisingly it wasn't. It is relatively short but with a lot of contect in its few pages. I did enjoy the book and it did make you think. I am glad I read it. ( )