summer2205's Full Review: Hermann Hesse, Sherab Chodzin, Joachim Neugroschel...
I chose this book because it looked short and pretty interesting, however I soon learned that it was full of information and actually a fairly difficult read. This book is mainly about a young Brahmin's life and the lessons he learns about religion and life from various mentors. I really liked the author’s style of writing; he incorporated a lot of similes and poetic techniques. One of my favorite metaphors in the book is, “just as the potter’s wheel, once set in motion, still turns for a long time and then turns only very slowly and stops, so does the wheel of thinking” (pg. 61). I also liked the author’s description of the river that Siddhartha lives by at the end of his life because he made if seem so peaceful and lifelike.
Although we have studied Buddhism and other ancient Indian religions in history class, it was interesting to read what one person actually felt about religion throughout his life. Most of Siddhartha’s friends and family were devoutly religious, however Siddhartha didn’t always agree with the doctrines and wanted to discover enlightenment by himself. I noticed that the father and son relationships between Siddhartha and his father and Siddhartha and his son were very similar. Siddhartha was born into a wealthy Brahmin family and was a well known scholar, but he had a rebellious personality and decided he wanted to become a Samana, who are wandering ascetics. After standing motionless for a whole day, his father finally relented and let him set off into the forest. I was really impressed that Siddhartha was so dedicated to being a Samana and fasted and mediated for days on end. After a while, Siddhartha decided to become a rich merchant and met a prostitute whom he had a son with. It was many years until Siddhartha actually met his son, but he soon recognized that his son had his same rebellious spirit. I thought Siddhartha’s son was a spoiled brat because he refused to eat and listen to his father and later ran back to town after taking all of the money and breaking the oar to the fishing boat. Siddhartha recognizes their similarities when he thinks to himself, “Had not his father also suffering the same pain that he was now suffering for his son? Was it not a comedy, a strange and stupid thing, this repetition, this course of events in a fateful circle?” (pg 107).
Another theme of the book was that things are transitory. When Siddhartha returns to the river as an old man, he realizes that he has changed into many forms throughout his life including that of a scholar, rich man, and a poor ferryman. I liked Siddhartha’s life as a ferryman the best because at that point he was older and wiser and realized that he didn’t have to be a proud rich man to be happy. In fact, he was miserable when he was wealthy because he had so much and kept risking more when he gambled. One important lesson that Siddhartha learned was that everything in his life was necessary for him to be happy with himself then. He thought, “It was necessary for me to sin and strive for property in order to learn not to resist them and to learn to love the world” (pg 116). In other words, you have to experience the bad to realize the good. Overall, I enjoyed this book because it had a lot of lessons that Siddhartha learned throughout his life that can also be applied to modern life.
This classic novel of self-discovery has inspired generations of seekers. With parallels to the enlightenment of the Buddha, Hesse's Siddhartha is the...More at HotBookSale
In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a so...More at Buy.com
Siddhartha (1922) by Hermann Hesse is a deceptively simple, intense, and lyrical allegorical tale of a man in ancient India striving for enlightenment...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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