What did you think of Siddhartha by Herman Hesse?

@PnL It was supposed to be a classic when I was in college, and I had exactly the same reaction then that you did now. A real Peggy Lee, “Is that all there is?”

I felt the same way about The Grapes of Wrath and Atlas Shrugged.

i’d have more but i have never read Sidhartha

I liked it, but I was 14 when I read it so I’m not really sure if that counts.

@Marina – that seems to be a case with many classics sadly :(. Perhaps they just get overrated over time and so we expect too much?

@timeand_distance – why wouldn’t that count? What exactly did you like about it?

I haven’t read it since I was about sixteen, but I was very impressed with it then. I hate to tell you how many decades ago that was.

@PnL I’m not sure if it would count because I don’t agree with a lot of the opinions I had when I was fourteen (ie. Catcher in the Rye is a good book and Nirvana is, like, the best band evar).

Anywhos, I read it on a rainy day and it kept my interest up enough to finish the whole thing in a few hours, and that’s a pretty rare thing, so there’s that. I was really into the whole “I’m exploring different religions because I’m deep” thing, too, now that I think of it, so there’s another reason I probably liked it.

Now that I’ve really thought this through, I think it was less that I liked it and more that I didn’t dislike it.

I read it many years ago, when I was first exposed to Buddhism. My recollection is that it was simple in the way that many Bible stories and myths are simple: if you read them on one level, they are engaging stories, imaginative, evocative perhaps, perhaps teaching obvious lessons. You may also read them on another level, and they may lodge themselves in your psyche and continue to deliver meaning that deepens over time as you mature.

I say that I thought it was a story of that kind, but it did not in fact have that effect on me. My sense of it was that there was less to it than met the eye and that it was a young person’s gee-whiz book, administering bite-size philosophical ideas that seem so profound just because they are being encountered for the first time. A lot of thin little volumes that are fashionable with college students seem to fall into this category.

BUT I know a woman who has been a serious and faithful practitioner of Zen over many decades and who reads this book every year, finding more enrichment in it each time. Clearly she sees something in it that eludes me, and so here I may simply be confessing my own shallowness and lack of discernment.

Perhaps if I read it again now I would find that it is one of those books that are really mirrors, reflecting who you are when you read them and showing you the changes in your face over the years. Perhaps I would be struck with awe by its jewellike single-pointed yet multifaceted concentration of wisdom. Or maybe I would just put it back on the shelf next to Le Petit Prince and go on my way.

@Jeruba Everyone into the shallow end then.

It’s on my list of books to read in the near future so I’ll let you know how i get on…

I loved The Grapes of Wrath, and I thought Siddartha was good, but I think it’s a go-to favorite for some people because they aren’t that well read in the first place. I see how someone (regardless of their brevity within literature) could really like it. I appreciated it for what I took from it, but it’s not my favorite.

I read it in the ninth grade, and remember being very moved by it. It intruduced me to Eastern philosphy, and taught me how to appreciate the journey itself in the pursuit of goals.

I’d like to qualify my previous response by saying that “first exposed to Buddhism” meant first actively engaged in study and practice of Zen. My first actual acquaintance with Eastern philosophies predated this by several decades and included, over time, many readings and classes. I meant direct exposure to, as opposed to reading about.

Good point, @TitsMcGhee, about degree of wowedness being possibly related to how well read the person is.

I enjoyed it, both in ninth grade when I first read it and about a year ago when I decided to reread all the books I read in high school. In high school, I did think it was “OMG DEEP.” When I was older, not so much. But it was still an enjoyable story. I’m not well read, but even if I were, I’m sure I would still call the book one of my favorites. Not necessarily because of the story, or the message it has, but because it has the fond little place in my heart as being the first book I picked up and couldn’t put down.

I read Siddartha when I was knee deep in my martial arts training and I loved it. I should probably read it again now to see if my reaction is the same. I do still love the thought of being saved by the Mighty Ohm.

@ Mr Melted Crayon ~ I know what you mean, isn’t that an awesome memory?

I had to read it in high school. I just couldn’t get into what I saw as endless navel-gazing. That’s just me, though – if meditation is a path to something, it has a point; but as a point itself, I don’t relate.

I read Siddhartha when I was 18, and then promptly read it again. Then again, I was 18 and was into anything that struck me as “deep.” Having re-read it since, I still found it compelling as a parable. Yes, it trades in platitudes and easy answers at times, but I think if you see it as a myth or parable rather than as a novel, that’s easier to swallow.

For me, the most compelling component of this character is the way he sits down at crossroads’ in his life, thinks for a while, then gets up and says “that’s not for me, I’m going in a completely different direction” and then he just does…right then. I think we could all learn something there.

incidentally, I don’t think that The Grapes of Wrath belongs on any list of overrated books – it deserves every accolade and more

Honestly i couldnt get through it. i thought it was boring…