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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Didn't quite understand this one. It moved too fast, felt repetitive, and didn't expand enough on its ideas and characters.
It started off good, ended well but whatever laid in between was a bit repetitive.
"Sanity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled."
~George Santayana
...if to live than how?
I found the movie "Waking Life" in the $1 VHS bin at a Blockbuster about a year after it came out. In the early 2000s it was easy and cheap to find VHS movies as the push for DVDs had just started and people wanted to get rid of their videos before DVDs, and now BLUE-RAYs, took over. I grabbed it up because I had, and still have a VHS player (I will never get rid of that thing!).
After watching it and taking notes and talking about it and making others watch it, I found out that I am a theist existentialist, in short, I believe that we should live our lives with meaning and without regret. I eat up books that proliferate these concepts The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Stranger, The Catcher in the Rye, Metamorphosis, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged...I have yet to read any Sarte, Dostoyevsky and this is my first Hesse.
I was talking about "Waking Life" to one of my friends and she recommended, and then bought me a used copy of, Demian by Hesse. She thought, based on what I was talking about and how I was talking about it, that I would like it.
I never opened the book and, over time, it got shuffled under other books and movies and other aspects of culture and living. After I finished The Stranger, I was talking with this same friend about Camus and she asked if I liked Demian...I said I hadn't read it, she reiterated that I would like it. More time went by...over the last summer I put it in a box of books to take to school for the children. Last week I took the box out of the closet with the intent of finally taking it to school, the tiny tot began playing with the books and Demian fell out of the pile she had created and landed at my feet. I took the hint and put it in my bag.
Demian does not move as fast as I would like, but like Rand and the others mentioned above it's really more a story teaching us about how we should live more than it is a story about a boy and the friend who, over time, changed his life. Maybe if that boy wasn't so self-depricating and mopey I would have given this book a 5...I feel that the narrator of this book really doesn't deserve such a friend as Demian.
~George Santayana
...if to live than how?
I found the movie "Waking Life" in the $1 VHS bin at a Blockbuster about a year after it came out. In the early 2000s it was easy and cheap to find VHS movies as the push for DVDs had just started and people wanted to get rid of their videos before DVDs, and now BLUE-RAYs, took over. I grabbed it up because I had, and still have a VHS player (I will never get rid of that thing!).
After watching it and taking notes and talking about it and making others watch it, I found out that I am a theist existentialist, in short, I believe that we should live our lives with meaning and without regret. I eat up books that proliferate these concepts The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Stranger, The Catcher in the Rye, Metamorphosis, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged...I have yet to read any Sarte, Dostoyevsky and this is my first Hesse.
I was talking about "Waking Life" to one of my friends and she recommended, and then bought me a used copy of, Demian by Hesse. She thought, based on what I was talking about and how I was talking about it, that I would like it.
I never opened the book and, over time, it got shuffled under other books and movies and other aspects of culture and living. After I finished The Stranger, I was talking with this same friend about Camus and she asked if I liked Demian...I said I hadn't read it, she reiterated that I would like it. More time went by...over the last summer I put it in a box of books to take to school for the children. Last week I took the box out of the closet with the intent of finally taking it to school, the tiny tot began playing with the books and Demian fell out of the pile she had created and landed at my feet. I took the hint and put it in my bag.
Demian does not move as fast as I would like, but like Rand and the others mentioned above it's really more a story teaching us about how we should live more than it is a story about a boy and the friend who, over time, changed his life. Maybe if that boy wasn't so self-depricating and mopey I would have given this book a 5...I feel that the narrator of this book really doesn't deserve such a friend as Demian.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i am fully convinced that taylor swift wrote „guilty as sin?“ about emil sinclair
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
4.25 ⭐️
Demian is a delightful and inspiring coming-of-age story about a boy named Emil Sinclair and his emotionally charged journey to self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment. Initially, we become acquainted with him as a young boy enclosed within the virtuous and comfortable confines of traditional devout family life. During the passage from adolescence to young adulthood, he becomes consumed by an inner turmoil, torn between his innocent and sheltered upbringing, and the rise of darker, more sensuous urges stirring within his soul.
The heart of its message can be distilled down to one word: Abraxas. The novel entertains this idea of reconciling the dichotomies inherent within us, dispelling the notion that we can be purely ‘good’ or purely ‘evil,’ as our nature transcends binary categories. There are intervals throughout the story where Sinclair plunges into the depths of despair and relinquishes himself to his darker impulses. But we are reminded at the end that this is not in vain, for it is in darkness that light can illuminate.
The narrative urges the reader to abandon all presentiments and mainstream ideals, and instead pursue their own unique destiny, untainted by external factors. This is where my sole gripe rests: as I am not well-versed in mysticism, I did find this overarching message to be mildly abstract and frivolous. I believe at one point he mentions how artistic endeavours are merely digressions from one’s true path to enlightenment, but my question is: can’t they coexist ? Can a poet not simply “fulfil his destiny” by writing haikus ? I appreciate the sentiment though (and I mean that genuinely).
I hope all my chakras are aligned after reading this.
Demian is a delightful and inspiring coming-of-age story about a boy named Emil Sinclair and his emotionally charged journey to self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment. Initially, we become acquainted with him as a young boy enclosed within the virtuous and comfortable confines of traditional devout family life. During the passage from adolescence to young adulthood, he becomes consumed by an inner turmoil, torn between his innocent and sheltered upbringing, and the rise of darker, more sensuous urges stirring within his soul.
The heart of its message can be distilled down to one word: Abraxas. The novel entertains this idea of reconciling the dichotomies inherent within us, dispelling the notion that we can be purely ‘good’ or purely ‘evil,’ as our nature transcends binary categories. There are intervals throughout the story where Sinclair plunges into the depths of despair and relinquishes himself to his darker impulses. But we are reminded at the end that this is not in vain, for it is in darkness that light can illuminate.
The narrative urges the reader to abandon all presentiments and mainstream ideals, and instead pursue their own unique destiny, untainted by external factors. This is where my sole gripe rests: as I am not well-versed in mysticism, I did find this overarching message to be mildly abstract and frivolous. I believe at one point he mentions how artistic endeavours are merely digressions from one’s true path to enlightenment, but my question is: can’t they coexist ? Can a poet not simply “fulfil his destiny” by writing haikus ? I appreciate the sentiment though (and I mean that genuinely).
I hope all my chakras are aligned after reading this.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nunca me había sentido tan identificado con tantos personajes...