Siddhartha

Rating:
Summary: A 13 year-old's retrospective on Siddhartha.
Review: This is seriously one of the greatest books around. There's nothing else to say. I was forced to write this review in backlash of all those idiots who gave 1-star reviews. Seriously, if you find this too boring or if you didn't understand this book, then I have bad news for you. You either have ADD or some other mental disability. It doesn't take an idiot to realize the genious of Herman Hesse and "Siddhartha."

Rating:
Summary: Featherweight Philosphy
Review: In Siddhartha, Hesse has used the life story of the Buddha as the loose template to write his own story about spiritual yearning and maturation, much as Kazantzakis would later do with his masterpiece The Last Temptation of Christ. This book does not describe, nor does it attempt to describe, Buddhism or Hinduism. I have seen many readers describe this book as "wonderful for understanding Eastern philosophy" (as though there is an "Eastern philosophy"), or "a terrific introduction to Buddhism". This book is certainly neither.

In my opinion this book is far from a masterpiece. It is quiet and competent, modest in scope, and mostly serves as a launchpad for a rather facile philosophy. Readers who have never considered the significance of the transitory nature of the world or the futility of blindly following desire may be struck by what it offers, but these perennial motifs are universal and somewhat obvious.

I suspect Siddhartha is appealing to many who are looking for a reflection on these topics in a form that is short, light, and easily digested. A lightweight offering.

Rating:
Summary: Classic questing novel
Review: I love this novel because it's a novel about spirituality that isn't the least bit dogmatic, preachy, boring or self-indulgent. It's actually a fairly simple story of one man's unlikely spiritual journey. Siddhartha goes from golden boy, to wandering Brahmin, to successful businessman to humble ferryman. Ultimately, he learns more by listening to the river than he did from Gotama the Buddha, riches, or self-denial. Just read it!

Rating:
Summary: sweetness subsides within inevitable reality
Review: This is pure delight.
Every once in a while, you stumble across a thin book with a simple tale, but an immense impact--this is one of those books.
Herman Hesse verifies what all of us struggle with repeatedly.
The softness Hesse uses to string a reader along is matched only by the stark theme that holds the whole together.
Read this book: simply the only was to describe its importance.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the hype
Review: You won't lose any weight. I recommend "The South Beach Diet."

Rating:
Summary: Actually pretty good
Review: When I was assigne this book to read over the summer I though, "Hmmm, why waste my time on this, it is most likely boring, and I have much better things to do". After I picked it up a few times I thought "Hey not to bad". This book actually was a bit catchy for an upcoming freshman (which is odd), and the message it delivered was one of value. I do not recomend this bok to any highschoolers really, because it will be a roaring bore, but if you are an adult and you like to read books that have some value to them (i.e Symbols motifs and all that garbage), then give this a try, but you will probably not like this book, but that is ok because it doesnt exactly keep you on the edge of your seat, but overall it was not bad at all.

Rating:
Summary: Hmmm....
Review: This was an okay book, I guess, but I didn't like it very much- it seems like it would be more suited to be read by boys than by girls.

The characters didn't seem to be very substantial- you learned more about the Buddhist religion and achieving Nirvana than about the main character himself, Siddhartha.

Siddhartha is the son of a Brahmin, and is big and smart and is expected to be a holy man. He decides he wants to be a Samana (a kind of holy beggar that searches for inner peace in harsh conditions), though, and goes off. His travels lead him to a Buddha, then on the earth, that tries to teach to other people. His best friend joins with the Buddha, named Gotama, and Siddhartha decides that he does not need to be taught- he needs to teach himself.

He walks on, and somes to a village where he gets rich in the merchant business, is befriended by a courtesan, Kamala (who seems quite stupid, and is pretty much the only girl in the book), and gets for the most part un-enlightened.

He realizes his mistake, though, eventually, after twenty years and goes and finds inner peace from the old ferry man who rafts down the river. His son that he had with Kamala is left with him after Kamala dies from a snake bite, and then his son runs away.

His old friend that joined the Buddha, who later died, finds him rafting down the river on the ferry and thinks he's kind of crazy at first. Then he realizes that Siddhartha has actually found enlightenment, and is in awe.

Like I said, I don't really like this book. I might if the plot was a bit more complex, but this is, in all essence of the words, just the bare facts of the life of Siddhartha, who later became Buddha.

Rating:
Summary: Can someone say "snooze fest"?
Review: I never would've read this book if I hadn't been assigned it in my 10th grade English class. And I truly wish I hadn't. Really, it's quite awful. For one thing, it is WAY to introspective for me. Am I the only one who thinks that Siddhartha thinks way too much? If he just stopped analyzing everything for one second, he'd realize that all is well, you can be happy. To him the world is a terrible place, until he finally finds peace at age 60. Gee, that took a long time! He was never satisfied and blamed it on the world around him. Get over it!
In other words, I've had more fun reading the ingredients on food labels. And they're more interesting too! But I read it and now its done, thank god. In conclusion, if you aren't assigned this book for English class, don't read it!

Rating:
Summary: a male journey of discovery...
Review: that happened to be the comment that a woman friend of mine made when she saw me with the book, as in 'god, what's with you men? all men seem to relate to and own this book!' and that really got my attention, so when i read it again (about 5-times by now) i felt that hesse had in reality given short shrift to kamala the female lead. hesse has used kamala to epitomize the eastern woman (she's a courtesan!) and has somehow left her completely shallow. if he were around and given the modern predilection for sequels, prequels et al, i'm sure there was enough in kamala to merit an even longer book.
i've subsequently bought narcissus & goldmund and that too is about men. and even in the early part of the book, the women seem to lack depth. will be more informed when i finish.
nevertheless, siddhartha does make very involved reading with many layers of personal meaning. it has charm as an eastern novel and also depth if you're introspective. enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Cure For Insomnia
Review: When I first read this book as a junior in high school, I though I would die from boredom. Don't get me wrong, I loved English and enjoyed most of the other "classics" we were assigned to read; from Shakespeare to Vonnegut to Salinger to Steinbeck.

Fast forward 25 years and my son was assigned this book in his AP English class and I thought I would give it another try. Maybe as a more mature and experienced adult, I would enjoy it. Nope. It is still the same 160 page sleeping pill. To each, his own.