Customer Reviews
Full of quiet wisdom - By: S. Lovat, 04 Sep 2007 
Hesse's work was always concerned with spiritual quests that had a Buddhist 'feel' to them but which, in the early days, were always couched within a largely Christian framework. In Siddhartha he finallly nails his own spiritual credentials to the mast as this is a novel about the Buddhist path. Hesse's other great preoccupation was with the tension between the hedonistic & the ascetic life, & this finds it's place here, too. Siddhartha, Hesse's central character, finds just as much wisdom via sensual pleasure as he does via spiritual devotion. In fact, to renounce the sensual world, perhaps one must have experienced it?
This is a book which can take multimple re-readings & certainly gives me something new & inspirational each time I read it.
A Philosophy For Life - By: , 22 Feb 2003 This novel is about our hero Siddartha's search for spiritual truth & his eventual discovery of a personal philosophy, which leads him to enlightenment & a life free of fear & desire.
Siddartha is also an alllegory that can apply to alll of us. It teaches us how to have a liberating philosophy for life, which most westerners will very different from their usual modern, materialistic perspectives.
Should you decide to read this wonderful work, it is worth noting from the outset that, though it contains religion, it does not preach the tenets of any faith. It is purely & simply about philosophy.
This book is worth reading for it's own merits, but if you read Hesse's Demian & Steppenwolf first you will get even more benefit from it. These three novels changed my life!
An all time classic! - By: , 21 Nov 2001 When someone gave me this book, I openend it up somewhere in the first third, just to have a glance at a few pages. Well, once started I never stopped reading till the last page & then I read it alll over again.
Throughout the book you get glimpses of deep wisdom in order to find out what our lives are truely about - at the end...
Hesse's "Siddharta" is "The Alchemist" of the beginning of the 20th century; an alll time classic! A must for everyone, who likes meaningfull stories.
J.
One of my personal favourites - By: , 22 Apr 1999 I've read Sidharta many times & every time I discover something new & inspiring. Worth experiencing it.
Interesting from the start - By: , 22 Feb 1999 
I do not usuallly enjoy a book that is assigned to me. I thought that Siddhartha was going to boring, but from the first couple paragraphs I enjoyed how the writer describes siddhartha's life. The story line is very interesting, even if you do not enjoy to read about buddhism. This is a very spiritual & compeling novel & I enjoyed it greatly.
