Reviews

Gertrude by Hermann Hesse

martydah's review

3.0

I confess, I was little disappointed by this novel. I guess I shouldn't have read Steppenwolf first. It's hard to follow that lead. A conventional love story, which this is, fades in the shadow of Hesse's later, greater work.

The story is narrated by Kuhn, a musical composer, looking back on his youth and development as a musician. Wounded for life by a sledding accident (he will always walk slowly and with a definite limp), he almost despairs of having a life, much less a career. Then he meets the famous opera singer Heinrich Muoth, who eventually is revealed as a strange mix of strong supporter, steadfast friend, tortured genius and abuser of women. He helps Kuhn to advance his career, and pushes him to persevere in the face of the initially unsympathetic musical world.

Just when everything is rolling along nicely for Kuhn, he meets and falls in love with Gertrude Imthor, a kind, lovely and intelligent young woman who sings beautifully. Kuhn declares his love, but his gently rejected. Gertrude meets Muoth and falls in love with him instead, despite her father's somewhat weak opposition to the match. The marriage proves to be the undoing of them both.

Kuhn, on the other hand, triumphs. Not only is his music receiving raves from the public, he is learning to live for others as well as himself. On the advice of an old friend, after an aborted suicide attempt, he begins by trying to support his mother after the death of his father. Gradually, he comes to see that his efforts, while not bearing fruit in the beginning, lead him to a greater understanding between the two of them.

Sadly, he can do nothing for his two best friends. Gertrude leaves her husband's house in Munich to try to revive her health. Without her, Muoth falls into alcoholism and eventually destroys himself. This is the ending any reading can see coming from the time that Kuhn falls for Gertrude: we know this isn't going to turn out well for anyone concerned. All in all, this is a poignant little novel, if not a very satisfying one. Still, it is Hesse, and that makes it worth reading.

forka's review

emotional inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

katrinky's review

4.0

i loved this book. i found it to be sometimes soothingly and sometimes terribly accurate in describing a creative person's lifestyle, from the horror of unrealized potential to the quiet realization that a life is, in fact, being made in the arts, having arrived with no fanfare. i was going to leave this at a hostel while i traveled, but it´s a small book, and worth the extra weight so that i can reference it often in my own artsy endeavors.

jonnes's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

david_rhee's review

4.0

Hesse tells the story of the composer Kuhn which is both (unintentionally) humorous and (intentionally) beautiful. We are taken through Kuhn's childhood during which he suffered an injury which left him physically handicapped for life and into his music school years and his life as a composer. The book has its quirky parts good for a few laughs, such as Kuhn's run-in with a Rudolf Steiner-esque theosophist...or his **mild spoiler** pitiful friend-zoning which the reader sees coming a mile away but totally catches Kuhn by surprise. These are, however, bumps along a much more pleasant road. The flow and language are graceful as Hesse makes the courageous attempt to capture the inner life of a musical talent. He takes the reader along the creative process where works of art become "beings with a life of their own" and are therefore "familiar and yet strange at the same time." I found myself getting lost in this one quite deeply...so lost that I finished it by reading the last 110 pages in a single evening. My favorite Hesse book out of the five that I've read.

alexa_d90's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

likecymbeline's review against another edition

5.0

Speaking with a friend here in Ireland about my well-documented love of Hesse and about my recent writing involving composers he rooted through the bookshelves in his house till he could find me this book, insisting upon the necessity of reading it. It's very much a book I needed at this time in my life, but then Hesse always seems to be that for me. I love that he talks about individualism and "the artist's way" somewhat cynically here. At times I feared he veered too much towards accepting the "art = suffering," but I think ultimately he's critical of that. Kuhn thinks deeply about what it means to be a creator, but he also thinks about what it doesn't have to mean. People keep telling him this is what an artist feels, this is what I know you feel but he repeatedly ends up finding that no, he doesn't feel what they are telling him he feels, he doesn't want the things they're telling him all artist's want, he doesn't see his experiences the way that they keep insisting he must see his experiences. I think the novel straddles the line and that my own bias brings it to one side rather than the other. I think if I were younger I would have read it and said: "I don't trust Kuhn's narration, I think he's lying to himself, he has suffered greatly and put it into his work and we can see that and he is only denying it." But that's exactly what the people around him say.

There's more that meant something to me in this book, but I don't think I can say it here, or say it yet.

todesschlaefer's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

danutza's review

3.0

the story was okay, i liked the way a musician's life was described (never really read about it like this), the psychological part was notable; even if i didn't get attached to the book as much as i do with others, i still got sad over some parts of the action there

melinac's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0