Reviews - El lobo estepario

2.07k reviews for:

El lobo estepario

Hermann Hesse

3.96 AVERAGE

secretass's review against another edition

4.5

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lesleyvv's review against another edition

5.0

Independently and alone, he decided what to do and to leave undone. For every strong man attains to that which a genuine impulse bids him seek. But in the midst of the freedom he had attained Harry suddenly became aware that his freedom was a death and that he stood alone. The world in an uncanny fashion left him in peace. Other men concerned him no longer. He was not even concerned about himself. He began to suffocate slowly in the more and more rarefied atmosphere of remoteness and solitude. For now it was his wish no longer, nor his aim, to be alone and independent, but rather his lot and his sentence.

I saw how deep my love and trust must have been for her betrayal to have inflicted so deep and lifelong a wound.

Your soul has fallen to bits and pieces. Good. Rearrange them to suit yourself.

I understood it all. I understood Pablo. I understood Mozart, and somewhere behind me I heard his ghastly laughter. I knew that all the hundred thousand pieces of life's game were in my pocket. A glimpse of its meaning had stirred my reason and I was determined to begin the game afresh. I would traverse not once more, but often the hell of my inner being. One day I would be a better hand at the game. One day I would learn how to laugh. Pablo was waiting for me, and Mozart too.

poffli's review against another edition

4.0

I think the book is among the better ones of Hermann Hesse.
As per usual with Hesse, it deals with a protagonist, that has a dichotomic character problem, which can be quickly summarised as animality/ instinct versus intellect.
In this novel the protagonist deals with something that reads to me like social isolation due to borderline personality disorder as well as severe depression.
I like the artisticity and the darkness of the book.
It is definitely more interesting to read, than it is fun in the traditional sense.

I would recommend the book to people, who have no affliction with suicidal thoughts, or drug abuse, since both are glossed over by the narrator and protagonist as solutions to their personal problems.

selmaro's review against another edition

4.0

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cthedan's review against another edition

5.0

It would be distasteful to give less than five stars to a book that near-explicitly lays out why I give books five stars. I mean, the explicitness might be a reason to decrease the rating, but nah.