Rating: 
Summary: Hesse's Best
Review: When in my 30s, after having read several of Hesse's novels, I attempted to read The Glass Bead Game. I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. I was unprepared to accept Hesse as a humourist and satirist. Now, approaching 60 and having learned not to take life or Hesse so seriously, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and consider it Hesse's greatest. A mature Hesse, who understood life's ironies, wrote The Glass Bead Game for a mature audience, who could laugh at life's ambiguities. The Glass Bead Game is comprised of a novel, 13 poems, and 3 short stories. I think the reader would enjoy the novel more by reading the book in reverse order, starting with the three short stories: The Rainmaker, The Father Confessor, and The Indian Life. The underlying theme of the stories is that the forfeiture of self, or self-interest, leads to redemption or an awakening. The poems superbly unite the novel's cultural, spiritual, and mental perspectives. Hesse's best known poem "Stages" is included. Here's a four line excerpt:
"If we accept a home of our making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence." The novel is set in the future and located in the sequestered province of Castalia. This is a world of academia that consists of theory, analysis, interpretation, and debate - all elements of "the game". Absent from Castalia are action, creativity, originality, and experiment. The protaganist, Joesph Knecht is raised in this culture. He also lived at a couple of subcultures outside Castalia. At Bamboo Grove, under Elder Brother's tutelage he learned to meditate, play I-Ching, read Chuang Tzu, and learn Chinese studies. (All this self absorption without gazing at his navel; instead, he stared at the carp.) Later at a Benedictine monastery he was the guest of Father Jacobus, with whom he discussed politics, religion, philosophy, music, and history. Knecht learned everything to play "the game" and was elevated to the role of Magister Ludi. But his knowledge went unapplied beyond Castalia. Even those within Castalia were not immune to mid-life crisis. Knecht, while in his 50s is impacted by the words in "Stages":
"Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces." Anyone who has made a break from the routine will enjoy The Glass Bead Game.
Rating:
Summary: Magisterial
Review: A magisterial work of art (excuse the pun)! A synthesis of profound philosophy, captivating storytelling and that distinctive smattering of sublime moments particular to the greatest of novels. In masterful fashion, Hesse achieves a seemingly impossible balancing trick of, on the one hand, invoking the game as a metaphor for the sum of human experience and knowledge yet, on the other hand, never allowing the reader to directly encounter it's practice. Would that it were so that one were fortunate enough to have the time to re-read this book many times over.
Rating: 
Summary: Too bloated and unclear to enjoy
Review: Hermann Hesse is my second-favourite writer, but this is the only of his eleven novels which I found boring, bloated, and a chore instead of a delight and joy to read. It's not because it's long (I love long books, the longer the better in fact, and this book is far from the longest book I've ever read), but because there's a lack of focus on a real plot. Hesse was a master at writing short memorable novels; by the time this one ends, in media res, you get the feeling that he realised he'd created a monster and needed to slay it before things got any further out of control and there were another 400 or so pages dedicated to the life of Joseph Knecht! All of his other books, even the earlier less-memorable ones like 'Peter Camenzind' and 'Knulp,' can be summed up by giving distinct synopses of what happens in each chapter, or a memorable scene from each chapter. You don't get that here. It's so given over to the story of the life of the mind that it loses track of the lively things which make his other books so enjoyable. I never even made out any sort of plot beyond describing things that happened to Joseph Knecht. Hesse's other books usually have friendship as one of the important plots, like the friendships shared by Narcissus and Goldmund, Peter Camenzind and the poor cripple Boppi, and Max Demian and Emil Sinclair. The other characters in this book don't seem to do much in the way of friendship with Knecht besides philosophising. Father Jacobus would have made a great dramatic foil, but unfortunately he only appears in one chapter and then this potentially great character never shows up again. Even the most important foil, Plinio, gets bogged down in boring philosophy discussions. The closest we get here to a story of real human friendship is that between Knecht and the old Music Master, who is his mentor and father figure besides just a friend. This relationship is truly touching and one of the better parts of the novel. Other problems with this book, besides being overly long and being bogged down in bloated conversations and philosophical meanderings, is that we're never really told how this Glass Bead Game is played. We get a general sense in the Introduction on its origins, but other than that there's no sense of how it's played, or how Knecht and his friends go about making their own sketches for future Games. And if it weren't stated in the introduction, I'd have no idea this story takes place in the 23rd century. A story set in the future doesn't have to be a sci-fi story, but it at least should be obvious that this story isn't set in the present. Where are all of the future technologies, for example, and where are all of the women? The only woman in this book is Plinio's wife, who doesn't even have a name. This book reads like it was written during WWII, which it was, not like a true book about a futurist utopia. We don't even know who's telling the story; is it an original document, a biography by an Castalian admirer, or a biography from a non-Castalian? I also had a problem with Plinio Designori, the first person to come along and challenge Knecht to reevaluate the monastic and overly intellectual and stagnant lifestyle he's living in Castalia. After Plinio leaves the school, which he was attending as a privileged outsider, he doesn't return till their college years. He's offended and hurt that his friendship with Joseph isn't the same as it was before, and then years later, after Knecht has already become the new Magister Ludi, he confesses the depth of his feelings over this matter. I sympathise with Plinio, since this has happened to most people, but after you get over the wounded ego and hurt feelings, you usually come to realise that it's normal for friends to grow apart and develop other interests, particularly if they've been apart for awhile like he and Joseph were. People move on. This was bothering him for twenty whole years? The poetry section and the "Three Lives" stories are so much better and much faster reading. I felt the story finally majorly picked up when there were only about 20 more pages left to go, and then bam, it ends so abruptly, in media res, with a lot of unanswered questions. I think I would have liked this book a whole lot more had it been condensed into maybe 300 pages and given more room to exploring Joseph's relationships with characters like Father Jacobus, Fritz Tegularius, and Carlo Ferromonte. I can admire Knecht for following his convictions, even though they went against the grain, and coming to these beliefs only after decades of careful thought, but I'd be able to sympathise with him a whole lot more if we got a clear idea of just how he got those beliefs, instead of being bogged down in layers of bloated and superfluous verbiage.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Pictures and Stories
Review: In my humble opinion The Glass Bead Game is the greatest novel of the 20th Century. A fine piece of art which will simply weave its way into the readers subconscious as subtly as the sublime nature of its content will inspire a feeling of peace during and after the reading Hesse's opus. I found the first 100 pages truly fascinating but can understand how one could stumble through the opening and take leave of the book to return at a later date. Indeed many of my friends, from all accounts, have this book sitting on their shelf unread seeming to both call to them and daunt them as well. Oh my panthiestic friends, fear not childern for it is you who truly have the keys and a full tank of gas for your journey to self fulfillment. As for me, I ate the last page of my book after the first read. I plan on reading this book a few more time throughout my life the last of which should roll me gently into my convalescent bliss. Please do enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Go ahead and hate me, folks...
Review: I'm usually the sort to give excellent authors their due. I have a tremendous admiration and respect for Hesse (who can read Steppenwolf or Siddhartha and be unmoved?), but The Glass Bead Game was, in my opinion, an exercise in reading the absolutely unreadable. After a hundred pages or so of attempting to awaken myself from what is purported to be an intellectually stimulating plot (the term "plot" here is used until such time as another word is coined to best define the quagmire in which Hesse would leave us sinking), I was prepared to disengage myself from this book at all costs - the idea of chewing off my leg in order to rid myself of this tome came effervescently to mind. However, I stuck with it, as it had been recommended to me by friends who obviously keep the book on their shelves to appear cerebral to visitors. Weeks later, lying exhausted in the muck that was this book, I promised to cleanse myself by reading not only the other Hesse books that I had come to love, but also those of his contemporaries. Wanna read a good book that espouses the same virtues? Give Mann's "The Magic Mountain" a try. Sure, it's predictable, but it's also readable. Thanks for hearing me out.
Rating:
Summary: Anti-Utopia!
Review: The world of this book is boring for a reason, folks, and so are most of the characters (especially the flimsy hero J Knecht). The Glass Bead Game is a satire; while it's much gentler and more subtle than 1984 or Brave New World, the thrust is the same. The reader is left *not* wanting to embody the values Hesse identifies with Castalia. These values have a goofy relationship to bodies anyway. There are literally no women in there at all. European scholars play at being Chinese. And everybody follows the rules at all costs. Spiritual and intellectual life are all tools to keep the order... and a boring order it is. The Game they play doesn't seem to involve much play; the players participate in a way, but the Master is responsible for establishing the structure of everything with a golden stylus. Ho-hum. Not even pretending to be Chinese or Indian or prehistoric is interesting to these people, but the orientalism of their gestures is interesting to us (see Edward Said's book Orientalism if you're unsure of what I mean). As an aside: Nietzsche would hate Castalia. Notice how Knecht dies once he enters the mountains and takes a plunge? He's no Zarathustra. If you're approaching this book in an attempt to Gain Wisdom, take it as a cautionary tale rather than a model to emulate. Some of the play you may be seeking could be snatched from the experience of reading, say, Tarthang Tulku's Time, Space, Knowledge series of books, or the writings of E.J. Gold.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: Joe Sixpack here. Recovering homophobe. This is the gayest book I have ever read. The hero has strong feelings for everyone and is in love with several of the handsomer men. This guy dumps on all of his buddies and evaluates his emotions like no man I have ever met. This guy analyzes way to many things. And I have been told there is no glass bead game explained. I am on page 320. I started out with fifty pages a day then 25 and am down to 10. This book has to get better. I don't know why the author of Mozart's brain and the fighter pilot recommened a game that does not exist.
Rating:
Summary: Hesse, Wilbur, and Brown
Review: I read this, by coincidence, while reading Ken Wilbur's Theory of Everything and Brown's Angels and Demons. They all dealt with issues of faith versus science, contemplation versus service, and broad integration. The Brown and Hesse books were so similar I sometimes forgot which I was reading. Wilbur's book puts the other two into a broader perspective, albiet of his own design. It has been an extremely thought-provoking two weeks for me.
Rating:
Summary: a great book!
Review: There are many things that were missed by many of my friends who have read the book, even though they could've done it many times. Everyone finds something in the book, according to one's character, knowledge, or even needs, and there is nothing wrong with missing some of the most sound points (which are sound in my opinion, of course) and getting from it something else, be it entertainment, plenty of which I had while reading it, or whatever else. What I want to stress here is one of the concepts of the Game and it's relation that it has, again in my opinion, with some other writings and thoughts by other people. For those who already know what I might mean by that, there will be nothing new, as there was pretty much nothing unexpected that I found in the Game also. There were writers who showed relations between different sciences and compared those sciences with other non-scientific disciplines. One of whom I know is, first of all, Mircea Eliade. His way of mixing linguistics, philosophy, history, etc. to express many of his positions as a historian and a coparativist of religions might not seem related to the Game at first, but his ideas in his earlier books (which were more philosophical than scientific) are certainly tied to some of the Game's principles. It was not only Eliade, of course, who started to merge different disciplines to come up with new and fascinating results. Another example is the modern science. Neurology and psychology now are often expressed using the language of quantum physics, and, at the end, all that mix is often used to explain some aspects of shamanism, for example. T. Leary, R. A. Wilson, and others in some of their books show similar relationships. To explore the trend deeper, also check Stan Grof (e.g. "Beyond Death"). I think Hesse showed a future step that this trend may take or already took in a very beautiful and metaphoric way. Of course, the Game is much wider than the idea I just mentioned, that Hesse might have meant. The Game is multi-dimensional. I did not mention Kneht. I perceive his biography somewhat separate from the story about the Game, but it is not less interesting than the Game at all. It is as great. I would strongly suggest reading the book in its original language. There are also some translations in other languages, which seemed to me much better and closer to the original than those of the English ones I saw. They are satisfactory though. (I think it is not the fault of the interpreters. It is the author's great style, which, I think, is difficult to translate.)
Rating:
Summary: Book for a select class of readers
Review: Took this book up as a challenge when i read a review that one needs to have an understanding of all of modern western philosophy to appreciate it. Regardless of the fact that a lot of impact is lost in the translation, the structure and pace of the novel does not make for easy reading. One way to read this book is to skim through the tedious prose and look for anything that might be of import to the plot or of interest otherwise. Being Indian, was able to appreciate the story of Dasa better than any other section of the book. In a very deft manner, the writer has combined elements from the Ramayana, the life of the Buddha and other tales to make an interesting tale. The character of Parvati is very atypical of heroines in Indian myth (supremely virtuous). That might be typical Hesse, though. As many readers have pointed out, the book lacks any credible analysis of life in the future. A greater limitation of the book is the lack of detail of the glass bead game. At the end of the book, i dont even have an idea of how a typical game might have played out. Baroque music and ancient Chinese architecture - does anyone know if these two can be mixed? Or is the author just being pretentious? Two thumbs down for the English translation!!
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