Full of quiet wisdom
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Hesse's work was always concerned with spiritual quests that had a Buddhist 'feel' to them but which, in the early days, were always couched within a largely Christian framework. In Siddhartha he finally nails his own spiritual credentials to the mast as this is a novel about the Buddhist path. Hesse's other great preoccupation was with the tension between the hedonistic and the ascetic life, and this finds it's place here, too. Siddhartha, Hesse's central character, finds just as much wisdom via sensual pleasure as he does via spiritual devotion. In fact, to renounce the sensual world, perhaps one must have experienced it?
This is a book which can take multimple re-readings and certainly gives me something new and inspirational each time I read it.
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A Philosophy For Life
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This novel is about our hero Siddartha's search for spiritual truth and his eventual discovery of a personal philosophy, which leads him to enlightenment and a life free of fear and desire. Siddartha is also an allegory that can apply to all of us. It teaches us how to have a liberating philosophy for life, which most westerners will very different from their usual modern, materialistic perspectives. Should you decide to read this wonderful work, it is worth noting from the outset that, though it contains religion, it does not preach the tenets of any faith. It is purely and simply about philosophy. This book is worth reading for it's own merits, but if you read Hesse's Demian and Steppenwolf first you will get even more benefit from it. These three novels changed my life!
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An all time classic!
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When someone gave me this book, I openend it up somewhere in the first third, just to have a glance at a few pages. Well, once started I never stopped reading till the last page and then I read it all over again. Throughout the book you get glimpses of deep wisdom in order to find out what our lives are truely about - at the end... Hesse's "Siddharta" is "The Alchemist" of the beginning of the 20th century; an all time classic! A must for everyone, who likes meaningfull stories. J.
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One of my personal favourites
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I've read Sidharta many times and every time I discover something new and inspiring. Worth experiencing it.
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Interesting from the start
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I do not usually enjoy a book that is assigned to me. I thought that Siddhartha was going to boring, but from the first couple paragraphs I enjoyed how the writer describes siddhartha's life. The story line is very interesting, even if you do not enjoy to read about buddhism. This is a very spiritual and compeling novel and I enjoyed it greatly.
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