not my fave hesse book..reminded me of tati’s playtime and dostoevsky’s underground man, but got insufferable at times

Силно начало, изгуби ме към последната трета. Може би не съм от тези "луди", за които е театърът, много повече съчувствам на Хари като диада между вълка и човека, отолкото като калейдоскоп на личностите си.


"Готов си да умреш, страхливецо, но не и да живееш."

Sometimes it is brilliant and piercing, the thoughts and ideas can resonate so sharply for me. Other times it is sooooooo tedious. A big jumble of thoughts, ideas, philosophy, stories, angst and dreams. It would have been better if the delivery was consistently good, but in a way that would not have fit with the character and nature of the book.

My mom gave me this book for my birthday: “This is really your thing”. A story about pure misanthropy. Besides my mom knowing me very well, she probably (or hopefully) also meant the humanization of the main character. One for my reread list.

4.5/5

It's fitting that I read The Razor's Edge right before this one. Both books are concerned with the innate unhappiness many suffer, trapped between thoughts of life and simply living. Steppenwolf focuses on a single person rather than many, and blows up this one man's psyche to an enormous extent, in order to fully illustrate the battle taking place within him.

I have to say, I sympathized enormously with this character, although I think one has to if they hope to like the book. Otherwise you're not going to understand the immense depression that results from disgust with society mixed with hesitation to break off with it completely. One tries to somewhat break off, of course, as Harry Haller the Steppenwolf does; the resulting boring mediocre lifestyle interspersed with wild attempts at suicide is only to be expected from such a introverted and critical soul. This doesn't last forever, and the Steppenwolf is later taken on a wild ride by a mysterious woman involving weeks of dancing, sex, and 'The Magic Theater: For Madmen Only!'

Sounds fun, doesn't it. I assure you it is, and you will most likely get more out of it than appreciation for a trippy ride. What I liked best is that, while Hesse certainly had a message, he wasn't preachy about it. Granted there was on section that focused heavily on the virtues of Buddhism and whatnot, but the Steppenwolf, much to my amusement, reacted contemptuously with thoughts that were quite like my own. The end message was definitely influenced by Oriental beliefs, but it is more concerned with telling people to enjoy life and laugh at its stupidities, essentially. It's hard to see the faults in that.