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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
break out of the shell that is the world!!!! i did read tbis cuz of utena
FUN FACT: A quote from the first chapter of Demian can be found on the inside of "The Blue Record" cover by Baroness -- one of the best American metal bands of our time.
This is a weird one.
Demian is a reflective, fictional memoir recounting how our POV character Sinclair has weirdly obsessive relationship with a boy named Max Demian, and how this relationship leads him to becoming a sort of occult hippie.
There are a lot of quotable passages and dense prose to analyze from this book that can help you out on your journey to self-realization. For that reason enough, I felt it was worth reading. As a work of fiction though, it's not as entertaining as much as it was thought-provoking.
This is a weird one.
Demian is a reflective, fictional memoir recounting how our POV character Sinclair has weirdly obsessive relationship with a boy named Max Demian, and how this relationship leads him to becoming a sort of occult hippie.
There are a lot of quotable passages and dense prose to analyze from this book that can help you out on your journey to self-realization. For that reason enough, I felt it was worth reading. As a work of fiction though, it's not as entertaining as much as it was thought-provoking.
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If I had read this 50 years ago, in the heyday of the “consciousness” movement, or in high school a couple years before, I may have become a gloomy mystic, repeating powerful and nonsensical phrases that would have scared away everyone. Hang on, that’s what actually happened, and I didn’t read it then. Damn.
I did read Siddhartha, another of Hesse’s gnostic offerings, and it was sufficient to make me insufferable.
For the right reader, someone who feels truth and meaning burbling up from within, this is an accurate coming of age (coming of sage?) story. I suspect it would be rejected by anyone who enjoys living in the real world. But I was not that lucky.
Friend, if you are 16, or perhaps 20, read it. If you are anyone’s grandparent, you may pass it by, unless you are nostalgic for your own lost youth. Hesse explains the introvert very well. Forgive him if he gets a bit too wrapped up in spiritual motherhood.
I did read Siddhartha, another of Hesse’s gnostic offerings, and it was sufficient to make me insufferable.
For the right reader, someone who feels truth and meaning burbling up from within, this is an accurate coming of age (coming of sage?) story. I suspect it would be rejected by anyone who enjoys living in the real world. But I was not that lucky.
Friend, if you are 16, or perhaps 20, read it. If you are anyone’s grandparent, you may pass it by, unless you are nostalgic for your own lost youth. Hesse explains the introvert very well. Forgive him if he gets a bit too wrapped up in spiritual motherhood.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"There was only one true vocation for everybody - to find the way to himself... His affair was to discover his own destiny, not something of his own choosing, and live it out wholly and resolutely within himself."
Demian is a contemporarily exciting and strange exploration of the trials and fears of adolescence in the face of finding one's purpose. Sinclair is a delightfully inquisitive character and his investigations of morality are vibrant and intriguing.
I did feel that the form and style was a little incongruous to the purpose and progression of the story at times; it can be difficult to reconcile Sinclair as a child with Hesse's prose being a little pompous and convoluted at points, but this could equally be attributed to translation style.
The first half of the book was, for me, a little tedious and I feel the same could have been achieved with about half of the length. The second half is where my enjoyment largely occured. I was particularly fond of the pastoral relationship between Sinclair and Pistorius, finding their dynamic to evoke warmth.
As I was already more than acquainted with Freudian and Jungian schools of thought, the inclusion of these ideas felt a little elementary and surface-level to me, but this is not necessarily a strict negative.
A quote that particularly stuck out to me: "When we hate someone we are hating something that is within ourselves, in his image. We are never stirred up by something which does not already exist within us."
Demian is a contemporarily exciting and strange exploration of the trials and fears of adolescence in the face of finding one's purpose. Sinclair is a delightfully inquisitive character and his investigations of morality are vibrant and intriguing.
I did feel that the form and style was a little incongruous to the purpose and progression of the story at times; it can be difficult to reconcile Sinclair as a child with Hesse's prose being a little pompous and convoluted at points, but this could equally be attributed to translation style.
As I was already more than acquainted with Freudian and Jungian schools of thought, the inclusion of these ideas felt a little elementary and surface-level to me, but this is not necessarily a strict negative.
A quote that particularly stuck out to me: "When we hate someone we are hating something that is within ourselves, in his image. We are never stirred up by something which does not already exist within us."
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A fast read, managed to get this one done in a single afternoon!
By the end it gets a little overly focused on spirituality in a way that felt overbearing. Almost didactic! I felt desperate for more Demian content, just like Sinclair. Eve felt like a weird distraction that was too on the nose (and maybe a heterosexual cop-out); I initially assumed she was going to be a heartbreaking dead end as Pistorius was, but maybe I'm just projecting my desires for something a little more grounded in a book about spirituality and self-actualization. I also wish this book was longer, I felt like more could have been said about Sinclair coping with war and the aftermath. Hesse is getting to the Good Stuff and then the story just! Ends!
Still, it's a great book with sensitive, powerful statements about identity-searching and contextualizing oneself in the world; it's a much more evocative denouncement of conformity than Catcher in the Rye was. Wish I could have read this when I was younger!
By the end it gets a little overly focused on spirituality in a way that felt overbearing. Almost didactic! I felt desperate for more Demian content, just like Sinclair. Eve felt like a weird distraction that was too on the nose (and maybe a heterosexual cop-out); I initially assumed she was going to be a heartbreaking dead end as Pistorius was, but maybe I'm just projecting my desires for something a little more grounded in a book about spirituality and self-actualization. I also wish this book was longer, I felt like more could have been said about Sinclair coping with war and the aftermath. Hesse is getting to the Good Stuff and then the story just! Ends!
Still, it's a great book with sensitive, powerful statements about identity-searching and contextualizing oneself in the world; it's a much more evocative denouncement of conformity than Catcher in the Rye was. Wish I could have read this when I was younger!
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
reflective
slow-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
I found myself transcribing large portions of this book into my journal because I cherished it so much. The struggles of the main character resonated with me. Over ten years later I continue to think of Him as a friend. Beautifully written and provides added gems for readers willing to dig deeper.