- Hardcover: 132 pages
- Publisher: New Directions Publishing (1 Feb 1951)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0811202925
- ISBN-13: 978-0811202923
- Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 14.6 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,253,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In the shade of a banyan tree, a grizzled ferryman sits listening to the river. Some say he's a sage. He was once a wandering shramana and, briefly, like thousands of others, he followed Gautama the Buddha, enraptured by his sermons. But this man, Siddhartha, was not a follower of any but his own soul. Born the son of a Brahman, Siddhartha was blessed in appearance, intelligence, and charisma. In order to find meaning in life, he discarded his promising future for the life of a wandering ascetic. Still, true happiness evaded him. Then a life of pleasure and titillation merely eroded away his spiritual gains until he was just like all the other "child people," dragged around by his desires. Like Hesse's other creations of struggling young men, Siddhartha has a good dose of European angst and stubborn individualism. His final epiphany challenges both the Buddhist and the Hindu ideals of enlightenment. Neither a practitioner nor a devotee, neither meditating nor reciting, Siddhartha comes to blend in with the world, resonating with the rhythms of nature, bending the reader's ear down to hear answers from the river. --Brian Bruya
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
In the novel, "Siddhartha," a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of his life -- the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace, and, finally, wisdom.
"From the Paperback edition." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
In the shade of the house, in the sunshine on the river bank by the boats, in the shade of the sallow wood and the fig tree, Siddhartha, the handsome Brahmin's son, grew up with his friend Govinda. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
In the shade of the house, in the sunshine on the river bank by the boats, in the shade of the sallow wood and the fig tree, Siddhartha, the handsome Brahmin's son, grew up with his friend Govinda. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The message of Siddhartha is a personal one. As such, it can't be forced on someone as "required reading". Readers will either find Siddhartha inspirational because of an inherent truth they recognize relative to their own conduct in life, or boring because they find nothing personally relevant below the surface of the simple narrative. Siddhartha is wonderfully concise...if you hate it, its over quickly, and it doesn't require too much investment to revisit years later when your relationship to the story may be profoundly different.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This novel is about our hero Siddartha's search for spiritual truth and his eventual discovery of a personal philosophy, which leads him to enlightenment and a life free of fear and desire.
Siddartha is also an allegory that can apply to all 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 and simply about philosophy.
This book is worth reading for it's own merits, but if you read Hesse's Demian and Steppenwolf first you will get even more benefit from it. These three novels changed my life!
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was bought for me by a friend of mine, and I can never say enough thank you's for it. It is the most amazing read. Once I started it, I truely found I could not put it down, I was compelled to read it, and I will again. From the very first page, it makes you sit up and examine your own life. Do I really know who I am? Before your search of knowledge begins, do you know who you are?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A haunting story
A good friend of mine was aware that I was going through a bad time. She just said to me read this book. So I did. It's not a long book. it's a simple tale simply told. Read more
Published 5 days ago by wren
interesting and worth a look
This is quite a short novel, which I believe was very popular in the 60's. It contains some interesting concepts and indian philosophy and will appeal to anyone with an interest... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Jasmine
surprise, surprise.
i only picked this book up because i had never read anything by herman hesse, and it was just lying there. Read more
Published 1 month ago by victor's voice
Siddhartha Flows Like Water, Depending on the Translation
I just finished reading Siddhartha, and I can safely say without a shadow of a doubt, that it is now my favourite book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Michael Cunningham
Siddhartha
`Siddhartha' is one of those books that is both simple to read and yet powerful and profound at the same time. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by Spider Monkey
Hesse
There are several translations of this beautiful and powerful book but this one is the best and I recommend it thoroughly to all Hesse fans and to any new reader yet to taste the... Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2009 by Mrs. J. E. Mcavoy
Stepping into the river again
Hesse is, for me at least, one of the most undervalued and under-read authors of the early twentieth century. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2009 by A. Grewcock
Truly wonderful
I felt such warmth and hope when I read this book. It evoked so many feelings, but what I will remember most of all is those profound moments I had in course of reading this book. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2009 by reet
The River Laughs
This allegorical tale of a Brahmin's son who gives up everything in the search for his self is, in my opinion, one of the masterpieces of the 20th century. Read more
Published on 18 May 2008 by Oliver Redfern
Full of quiet wisdom
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. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2007 by S. Lovat
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