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kapsyl3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
swunderful's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
5.0
elcapu's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
solid_circle's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
3.75
suzzeb22's review against another edition
3.0
Certainly a very interesting novel about the lonely Harry Haller, a character who seems unable to find happiness anywhere. He begins to look at the world as though he were a lonely nomad or a wolf. Then he meets the female protagonist. Good reading for the college years.
karittw's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-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
4.5
ruiponce's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I had to read this book in school and hated it! As an adolescent I couldn't bear the whiny main character, so in love with suffering, so cut off from real life while being self-centered and arrogant in his misery.
Reading the book again 14 years later was pleasantly surprising. Harry Haller is still very much all of the above, immensely unlikeable. But that is exactly the point: Hermann Hesse wrote a precise portrait of a man with depression and focuses on his reconnection with reality. One could say we witness Haller's first steps into therapy. I am baffled about the fact that I apparently missed the book's hopeful and life-affirming tone in my youth - but then again I don't think it is the most suitable literature for teenagers.
Although I enjoyed it much more the second time around - most of all the metaphors, the symbolism and the overall message - it is not an easy read. In the very insightful treatise ("Tractat") on the Steppenwolf Hesse tells us everything we need to know about Haller and people like him, about the essence and salvation of his kind. This is the best part of the book. All that follows is a literary extension of the same content, demonstrating with weird fever dreams what we have learned before in clear language. I could have done without the second half of the book.
I am still wondering why Hesse chose this structure. Yet it serves the clever purpose of anticipating and stymieing most objections or doubts that might arise in the reader. You got me there, Hesse! But it makes for a lesser/too long/strenous story.
Reading the book again 14 years later was pleasantly surprising. Harry Haller is still very much all of the above, immensely unlikeable. But that is exactly the point: Hermann Hesse wrote a precise portrait of a man with depression and focuses on his reconnection with reality. One could say we witness Haller's first steps into therapy. I am baffled about the fact that I apparently missed the book's hopeful and life-affirming tone in my youth - but then again I don't think it is the most suitable literature for teenagers.
Although I enjoyed it much more the second time around - most of all the metaphors, the symbolism and the overall message - it is not an easy read. In the very insightful treatise ("Tractat") on the Steppenwolf Hesse tells us everything we need to know about Haller and people like him, about the essence and salvation of his kind. This is the best part of the book. All that follows is a literary extension of the same content, demonstrating with weird fever dreams what we have learned before in clear language. I could have done without the second half of the book.
I am still wondering why Hesse chose this structure. Yet it serves the clever purpose of anticipating and stymieing most objections or doubts that might arise in the reader. You got me there, Hesse! But it makes for a lesser/too long/strenous story.
meram's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
1.5