Rating: 
Summary: Hideously well written, Extraordinarly well thought...
Review: Demian is one of the very best books I have ever read in my life. Especially people who enjoy reading Kahlil Gibran, Friederich Nietcshe, should enjoy reading this book. This book makes you think about our everyday life, and especially some of our childhood memories. It is well thought, and well written, but I recoomend you get a good translation of it.
Rating: 
Summary: A book about growth
Review: Demian, like several other books by Hesse, is a book about the growth of an individual, in this case Emil Sinclair. Emil Sinclair's life is an ordinary one: he is an ordinary adolescent growing up in an ordinary household, encountering ordinary troubles and coming up with ordinary and ineffective solutions to these problems. Into this world enters someone who is not ordinary, who does not live in an ordinary household and who does not seem to have any of the ordinary problems. This someone, Demian, solves Sinclair's inconsequential problems quite easily. He takes Sinclair under his wing and shows him that what distingishes between ordinary and extraordinary is simply thought and action based on a deep rooted understanding of human nature. This knowledge is enough to alleviate many of the troubles which afflict most people, allowing more time for higher pursuits, for growth. Demian guides and helps Sinclair during the early stages of his development. Sinclair's growth is incidental - he takes to Demian because Demian solves his problems. Ultimately he must move away. If he is to continue growing significantly however, there must ultimately be an awareness and a desire for it. Growth must eventually come alone and will only come if there is a strong and persistent hunger for it. Demian is a good teacher, but like most teachers he fails because of his zeal to educate. For higher education to be successful, the student must seek out the teacher. If the teacher has to seek out the student, the student is probably not yet ready to learn. Moreover, the teacher in seeking out a student halts his own growth. In Demian, as in many of his books, Hesse suggests a philosophy which stresses that an essential requirement for mental fulfillment is an awareness of what is required for fulfillment. This awareness in turn leads ultimately to the realization that the road to fulfillment is a lonely one.
Rating:
Summary: the magic of the unknown that could be anything in your mind
Review: the things that sinclair did to help his friend, things the author never said what were became a whole especulation of posibilities that are really in our minds. It is amazing
Rating:
Summary: A Reclamation of the Soul
Review:
I was forced to read this book in my junior year of my High School career. While I generally did not read the required books and articles, I did read a lot on my own and when Demian was assigned, I decided to read it. I can't say that it was the best thing that I have ever done, but I am glad that I did not let this fantastic book pass me by. With my usual tact, I ignored the 2 chapter-per-night assignment, and finished the entire book in two nights. Hermann Hess (author of Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, and Steppenwolf) begins his half-autobiographical, half-fiction tale of young Emil Sinclair. Emil is trapped between two worlds: one a world of Holiness and Purity, the other a world of Darkness and Mystery. In one world, times like Christmas and Easter; in the other, a world of "scandal" and "ghost stories". In an attempt to gain more repute with the "bad" gang at his school, Emil concocts a story of him stealing apples from a townsman notorious for his bad temper. Franz, the leader of the gang, then goes, steals the apples, and blackmails Emil making him pay Franz money that he does not have. Emil then begins to steal from his parents to pay his fee until an incredible figure comes into his life. Max Demian, new to the area, is young in body, yet ancient in spirit and knowledge. He befriends Emil and influences him in a way that will affect the rest of his life. As Emil and Max grow up together, it seems to Emil that Max has supernatural powers. He is apparently able to influence people to do his whim and demonstrates this many times to Emil. Max also has a unique interpretation of the Bible which as he shares with Emil, undermines Emil's entire beliefs of what he has always taken for truth. Max forces Emil to open his eyes, and think about what he is being force fed. Their tale continues through depression, insecurity, drunkenness, love, sex, and violence. Hermann Hesse writes with a powerful, sharp quill. This book cut through my defenses of duty to my English class. It easily pierced my own struggles with fear and depression and women. The unique thing about it is that I cannot pinpoint the source of this strength. Where Jack Kerouac inspires freedom with his writing and Stephen King purveys sheer terror, Hermann Hesse provides myriad emotions, each different, yet equally potent. This book did affect my life. For you who are stable, controlled, and have unconvoluted lives, this is not for you. Rather, for those who have skeletons in the closet, confessions to make, and raw emotion to exhume, get this book, a blanket, and a cup of coffee, for you will read it from cover to cover. "I wanted only to try to live in accord with the promptings which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?" -- Demian, Hesse
Rating:
Summary: engaging, philosopical, and worth every minute
Review: Demian was a wonderful short novel, describing Sinclair's spiritual evolution with the tangetial help of Demain, a mystical and seemingly omnipotent "new kid." Sinclair's personal struggle is reminiscient of Joyce's "Portrait of an Artist," complete with spiritual and metaphysical wrangling and just as meaningful character development. Hesse develops a fantastic philosophical thread which takes unexpected turns
Rating:
Summary: A pre-cursor to Hesse's greatest books.
Review: The story of a young man attempting to overcome his bourgeois background and the difficulties he faces in
embracing a new, more spiritual attitude, _Demian_ stands
as Hesse's first novel to go beyond the straight and rather
lifeless realism of his early books and to have the courage
to reach into new and more imaginative realms.
Rating:
Summary: Still my favorite among Hesse's novels
Review: Demian, as described by Hesse in the original title, is the "story of a youth." The book relates the experiences of Emil Sinclair, a boy at the beginning of the 20th century whose model childhood is tranformed through his encounter with Max Demian. The novel reflects Hesse's fascination with mythology and religion. An extensive symbolism drawing on both Christianity and the theories of C. G. Jung permeate the work. The central message of the novel is a powerfully affirming one: that amidst chaos, amidst disintegration, one can remain loyal to a value system that has existed since the first human being. I have read Hesse's works for many years, and this novel remains my favorite. It has some remarkable scenes, including Sinclair's conversations with the organist Pistorius and the fantastic conclusion on a World War I battlefield in Flanders.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but misunderstood.
Review: Let me begin by saying that this is one of my favorite novels. Although I agree with the other reviewers about the novel's qualities, I tink most readers came out with the wrong idea. Most reviewers have categorized this book as a coming-of-age story. That's what it seems like on the surface. I think the book is much more subtle. You will understand this when you realize that Demian is the devil, and the main character ends up in hell. If you do not believe me, read the last couple of pages carefully. Everything from the Judas-like kiss to the subtle description about the dying man. If you think this is outlandish, take the time and read articles on this book in scholarly journals. ...and once you understand the real meaning of the book, consider if you really are on the right path yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Memorable
Review: This book about Emil Sinclair, makes you think about what has gone wrong in your life, and remember what was right. Through all the pain that Sinclair had in his life he still had himself.
Rating:
Summary: The quest for the higher self
Review:
This is a classic, one of a kind work that transcends generations or time-frames. I originally read this work in high school--and as I have gotten older and wiser, I realize now just how unusual a choice this book was on the part of the teacher that had us read it. To describe the power this story had on me as a 17 year old is almost impossible, but this is one book where I can honestly say, my life and my naive notions of it had shifted--not "changed "-- but something moved in me that made me see life in a richer and deeper way.
This little wonder of a story was written during the time of WWI--and it is just as remarkable now as then. There are no other books quite like this one---however, one novel I read did remind me of the spiritual elements herein and that is "Simon Lazarus" by M.A. Kirkwood. I don't think this book is as well known as it should be--but after I read it, I had to come back to this immortal classic. ( On the back cover, Eckhart Tolle mentions Hesse in reference to "Simon Lazarus" and rightly so.)
These kind of explorations of the spirit in fiction are too precious and rare to come by--highly recommend. Especially for the late adolescent.
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