Review: Siddhartha

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Me reading the first paragraph: Sweet jeezuz I feel like I'm already in struggletown with this trash.

Me from page 2 onwards: THIS IS SO PROFOUND I AM AN ENTIRELY NEW SPIRITUAL BEING.

So, yeah. Kinda loved it.

There are so many facets to spiritual growth, and I loved how layered Siddhartha's learning was. He begins his journey with a very strong will, and I was impressed by his determination to follow his own path. But every time he/the reader thinks he's become superior, there's the revelation of another lesson to learn. The discussion of materialism is here, but also of learning from all experiences. It raises plenty of psychological questions, and I really appreciated the thought that went into this story.

This is a spiritual journey that will lead the mind to a lot of interesting places, and hopefully convey some lessons that will allow the reader to appreciate more of their own life experiences. If that's not really your thing, you'll get an interesting story about a guy who wanders the world, experiencing many of its pleasures and learning from everyone he meets.

I loved this so much more than I thought I would, and I definitely got a lot out of it. I'm actually amazed at how much zen its given me. I'll have to go out and buy a physical copy so I can return to this repeatedly. There's a lot of wisdom here.

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