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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
reflective
This book was so bizarre and strange... but also pretty enjoyable? All I can really say is that I'm happy I read it, and that wouldn't have happened if not for BTS (yes, the K-Pop group) based parts of their album Wings and the MVs for Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Boy Meets Evil on it.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“We can understand each other, but each of us can truly grasp and interpret only himself”
Through the tale of a boy’s coming of age, this novel shares a philosophy of introspection as the key to making sense of the chaos and incoherence of the world around us. Written in a transformative period of the early 20th century, Hesse remarks on how the isolation of our own minds affects our perception of morality, identity, and our role in the social fabric as we grow up and become independent agents of our will. A very interesting read that I will no doubt occupy my thoughts for a long time.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It’s funny how, by complete accident, this is the second book I’ve read in a row that engages thematically with the biblical story of Cain. Weird coincidence!
I’ve read a few books this year published toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that seem to give way to philosophical and/or spiritual discussions that almost overtake the narrative, as though the ideas and discussions of the characters are more important than the plot itself.
Demian, though, sets itself apart by being very well written, as one would expect from Hesse. I overall was engaged with the story of a bullied child saved by an enigmatic classmate, the friendship that ensues changing the course of his life forever.
I’ve read a few books this year published toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that seem to give way to philosophical and/or spiritual discussions that almost overtake the narrative, as though the ideas and discussions of the characters are more important than the plot itself.
Demian, though, sets itself apart by being very well written, as one would expect from Hesse. I overall was engaged with the story of a bullied child saved by an enigmatic classmate, the friendship that ensues changing the course of his life forever.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
...It was OK. I found the novel slow to start, difficult to deliver its theme, and a bit pale in the spectrum of existentialist literature. I have a feeling that I may have enjoyed it more at age 17 but it held no new revelations for me nor did I find the style particularly captivating. That said, I was intrigued by one particular passage:
"Always, you must think of these things in evolutionary, in historical terms! When the upheavals of the earth’s surface flung the creatures of the sea onto the land and the land creatures into the sea, the specimens of the various orders that were ready to follow their destiny were the ones that accomplished the new and unprecedented; by making new biological adjustments they were able to save their species from destruction. We do not know whether these were the same speciments that had previously distinguished themselves among their fellows as conservative, upholders of the status quo, or rather as eccentrics, revolutionaries; but we do know they were ready, and could therefore lead their species into new phases of evolution. That is why we want to be ready."
...Hesse as a pre-Kurzweillian proto-Singularity transhumanist? Or Hesse attempting to appeal to us that we are otherwise base, animal creatures that seem capable only of destruction?
Complete: [http://blog.founddrama.net/2007/03/demian/]
"Always, you must think of these things in evolutionary, in historical terms! When the upheavals of the earth’s surface flung the creatures of the sea onto the land and the land creatures into the sea, the specimens of the various orders that were ready to follow their destiny were the ones that accomplished the new and unprecedented; by making new biological adjustments they were able to save their species from destruction. We do not know whether these were the same speciments that had previously distinguished themselves among their fellows as conservative, upholders of the status quo, or rather as eccentrics, revolutionaries; but we do know they were ready, and could therefore lead their species into new phases of evolution. That is why we want to be ready."
...Hesse as a pre-Kurzweillian proto-Singularity transhumanist? Or Hesse attempting to appeal to us that we are otherwise base, animal creatures that seem capable only of destruction?
Complete: [http://blog.founddrama.net/2007/03/demian/]
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-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