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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Goldmund is a loverboy whose favorite song is Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody.” As he went from one house to another I hear him singing,
“I've been roaming around,
Always looking down and all I see
Painted faces fill the places I can't reach
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody.”
Goldmund is an emo. A romantic. A charmer of wives and daughters. A medieval Joey Tribbiani.
He will lure you with words like,
“How beautiful that was, Lydia, to watch you ride from a distance, your hair trailing after you like a golden flash of lightning.”
But Lydia is having none of it so she snaps, “You are a seducer of women Goldmund. . . Have you no shame?” Lydia dismounts off her horse, breaks into a dance, singing Britney’s “Womanizer.” (Did not happen)
The book is not about Goldmund and Lydia. Judging by the cover (which we’re not supposed to do), this looks like the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobe and Darth Sidious, set in a whorehouse. But still, no.
As the title suggests, this is about Narcissus and Goldmund. Actually, more about Goldmund and a little bit of Narcissus.
This book is so eventful that it reads like a movie. Goldmund experiences the world— all the pretty and the ugly; the living and the dead; and earth’s heaven and hell.
Goldmund is the antihero you’d learn to love because he is by Hesse after all.
“I've been roaming around,
Always looking down and all I see
Painted faces fill the places I can't reach
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody.”
Goldmund is an emo. A romantic. A charmer of wives and daughters. A medieval Joey Tribbiani.
He will lure you with words like,
“How beautiful that was, Lydia, to watch you ride from a distance, your hair trailing after you like a golden flash of lightning.”
But Lydia is having none of it so she snaps, “You are a seducer of women Goldmund. . . Have you no shame?” Lydia dismounts off her horse, breaks into a dance, singing Britney’s “Womanizer.” (Did not happen)
The book is not about Goldmund and Lydia. Judging by the cover (which we’re not supposed to do), this looks like the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobe and Darth Sidious, set in a whorehouse. But still, no.
As the title suggests, this is about Narcissus and Goldmund. Actually, more about Goldmund and a little bit of Narcissus.
This book is so eventful that it reads like a movie. Goldmund experiences the world— all the pretty and the ugly; the living and the dead; and earth’s heaven and hell.
Goldmund is the antihero you’d learn to love because he is by Hesse after all.
5/5 … “We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other's opposite and complement.”
Peace and Love.
Peace and Love.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Loved this book!
I just enjoy how Hesse writes, they way the story flows, even when nothing huge is happening!
Narziss and Goldmund, their differences, but most importantly their love for one another was undeniably the heart of the story.
Goldmund is a Romantic, who needed to get away from cloister life, and experience the world, as a wanderer, and an artist. Yet i got the feeling that a part of his heart would always remain with Narziss.So tragic then, that his love for the world and his desire to experience it would lead to his demise. So fitting, that he would return to his old friend just before he died
Narziss is a bit harder to parse. A perfect student, a perfect abott (?), good with his prayers, and with his latin.Yet he loved Narziss, a boy who abandoned the church for a worldly life.
Definitely need to reread this soon, as it's been a while and many details are evading me. But i remember really loving this book
I just enjoy how Hesse writes, they way the story flows, even when nothing huge is happening!
Narziss and Goldmund, their differences, but most importantly their love for one another was undeniably the heart of the story.
Goldmund is a Romantic, who needed to get away from cloister life, and experience the world, as a wanderer, and an artist. Yet i got the feeling that a part of his heart would always remain with Narziss.
Narziss is a bit harder to parse. A perfect student, a perfect abott (?), good with his prayers, and with his latin.
Definitely need to reread this soon, as it's been a while and many details are evading me. But i remember really loving this book
it's really difficult rating my coming of age novels now - I'd have to revisit them, but I was extremely fond of them at the time.
I enjoyed thinking about and revisiting this novel while I was reading it and after, but more to negate it than internalize it. So while I found it useful and interesting, and discussed it with many people, I haven't given it many stars. (It makes me wonder if I should rearrange my rating system...)
First and foremost among my problems with this novel is its treatment of gender. His romanticizing the fickle, creative, emotional, uncontrollable nature of the feminine borders on the silly. The dichotomy between the wildness of women and the dry, scholarly air of masculinity was not insightful or interesting; it was embarrassing.
And so it was throughout the novel, the two halves that the characters represented were too extreme to represent any kind of wisdom. Those who feel that both paths lead to enlightenment puzzle me, because both men are troubled near the end, and accepting one's death does not necessarily enlightened make. (I was reading [b:Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory|20663702|Smoke Gets in Your Eyes And Other Lessons from the Crematory|Caitlin Doughty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392581807s/20663702.jpg|39962326] around the same time, and that led to a much more death positive outlook than consideration of death at the hands of either of the ruling entities in this story.)
So thanks to my friend Dave for the recommendation, now I'll have to complete the other half of his pairing, [b:The Glass Bead Game|16634|The Glass Bead Game|Hermann Hesse|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922806s/16634.jpg|2959456].
First and foremost among my problems with this novel is its treatment of gender. His romanticizing the fickle, creative, emotional, uncontrollable nature of the feminine borders on the silly. The dichotomy between the wildness of women and the dry, scholarly air of masculinity was not insightful or interesting; it was embarrassing.
And so it was throughout the novel, the two halves that the characters represented were too extreme to represent any kind of wisdom. Those who feel that both paths lead to enlightenment puzzle me, because both men are troubled near the end, and accepting one's death does not necessarily enlightened make. (I was reading [b:Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory|20663702|Smoke Gets in Your Eyes And Other Lessons from the Crematory|Caitlin Doughty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392581807s/20663702.jpg|39962326] around the same time, and that led to a much more death positive outlook than consideration of death at the hands of either of the ruling entities in this story.)
So thanks to my friend Dave for the recommendation, now I'll have to complete the other half of his pairing, [b:The Glass Bead Game|16634|The Glass Bead Game|Hermann Hesse|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386922806s/16634.jpg|2959456].
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes