Siddhartha

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Summary: Truth is not as much out there as in here.
Review: I'm looking at the different reviews about this book and while majority has been favorable, there are some that are not towards this book. Each of these reviewers is exactly correct about this book for him/herself. It's about being on a particular path in your life that is exactly the right one for you at this time of your life. Siddhartha was very intelligent, yet intelligence has nothing to do with enlightenment that he desperately sought. He often felt superior to others, yet could not experience the intensity of passion that others experienced. It wasn't until he experienced humanity himself, including the hurts of love and conceit and sorrow with the appearance and disappearance of his son, that he understood that each person's path towards enlightenment is one's alone, yet intertwined with everyone else's. My favorite part was when Vasudeva reminded him that his role was not to spare his son of pain because each person has to experience life for himself in order to fully understand his own existence within that context.

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Summary: Better to read when you are young.
Review: I first read this book as a teenager and it was truly inspiring. The lessons to learn are profound and this book should be required reading in high school. It still is a great read now that I'm older, but young people with a good head on their shoulders will gain the most from this fine book.

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Summary: It turned my life around
Review: Siddhartha turned my life around because I was ready to let it. If you read the book with your heart and head open, it can happen for you. I was a Jr. in High school (1989-1990) and was failing English. I had not a care about school or where my life was heading. I didn't even read Siddhartha at first (while the rest of the class was reading it). However, I managed to stay awake for the class discussions on this book I had never picked up, and I heard the message loud and clear. I began to read and did not put it down. Subsequently, I took the LEAD on classroom discussions about Siddhartha and went on to make straight A's in my English classes from then on. (The next book we read that year was Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya -- another good one). As a 26 year old, I am purchasing Siddhartha. It may not be as awe inspiring as when I first read it, but reading it the first time made it possible for me to be here, today.

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Summary: Not the spiritual epiphany I had hoped
Review: I had to read this book for my 11th grade english class, and at first I was very excited. From what I had read on this site this book was going to be a very spiritual experrience. It was going to change my life. But the further and further I got into the book the more disappointed I got. This was not what I had expected. The charachters were all extremely shallow, except for Siddhartha. And I found Siddhartha conceited and macho. Two traits I had hoped that Buddha had not had. Maybe I was looking at it from the wrong perspective but I was let down by this book.

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Summary: A spiritual search beyond religious dogma
Review: The review by the previous gentleman (a Muslim from Turkey) shows what is so precious about this book. Although the setting is in ancient India, and Siddhartha studies and practices with Hindu brahmins and the Buddha, his experience is not restricted to any specific religion. It is something that an open-minded person of any religion would be able to recognize as a true spiritual search, which is really the essence of all the world's great religions. And any person sincerely drawn to their own spiritual search will see something of Siddhartha in themselves, regardless of the particular dogmas of their own religion or culture. I think this is why this book has stood the test of time and still inspires today.

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Summary: A good book on the search for inner-peace
Review: This is a very good book on an individuals search for true inner peace. The author uses good descriptive paragraphs to show the different journeys Siddhartha must encounter to reach his final goal. This is a good book for someone who is struggling in their own life.

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Summary: THE BOOK OF LIFE, IN FACT MY NEW LIFE!
Review: I am really interested in Eastern culture, especially that of Buddhist people. In Siddharta, I learned a lot about Buddhist clerics, especially about their lifestyles... I believe that what Hesse tells us about those people are the typical information that we could ever get... I am a young man, and I have my own problems...I found myself in Siddharta, and I could look at the world through Siddharta's eyes...that is, I insistently recommend this book to young people of the world... I am a Muslim, and I could find lots of things in Siddharta that are similar to my worldview...and I believe that Siddharta emboddies the main properties of all religions... Siddharta: a book for all people,a book for all religions....

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Summary: Worth reading more than once
Review: I hadn't read Siddhartha for about 25 years, and after seeing some of the reviews below, it inspired me to read it again. (It's quite short.) I enjoyed it just as much as the first time and understood it in a different way than I had when I was younger. For such a small and simple book it's surprisingly rich, and really does make you kind of look at life in a new way. It's definitely worth the short time it takes to read it once --- or even twice!

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Summary: A WONDERFUL BOOK FORE EVRYONE!
Review: I THINK THAT THIS BOOK IS WONDERFUL. I AM AN ATHEIST, AND IT SPOKE EVEN TO ME.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I couldn't put it down! It is one of the few books out there based in this coutry and time period. One of a kind! Oh, by the way Mr. Pandolfalo sorry big bad book make head hurt.....