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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Masterpiece of a reflective literature, undercut by a gentle tone of humor and satire. I laughed a lot. It was a very enjoyable read
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
reflective
slow-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
Hesse is a master of existential literature. Time and time again the man has changed the way I look at the world as he adds little insights here and there ultimately leading to deep truths about the human condition. I feel like I need to say thank you to Hesse, he’s been a therapist and a mentor throughout the past few months (from Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, and Glass Bead Game). I can’t wait to read more - maybe trees and Demian will be my next 2
This book is 500 pages too long. In bits and spurts it's brilliant. Then it beats you to death with words.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Certain lovely passages and insights on music and ultimately on finding purpose
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Glass Bead Game (1943) is the ultimate work of Hermann Hesse, who took nearly ten years to complete. Perhaps this is why a large part of the novel escaped me. Too much. Too esoteric. Reading the Glass Beads Game was a torment as this book is so wordy and repetitive.
However, I got attached to this real false biography of Joseph Valet, a talented student, then a distinguished member of the Order of Castalia, a fictitious intellectual elite whose goal is to learn universal knowledge. This spirit of synthesis of science expresses through the game of glass beads, in which the participants combine music, mathematics, poetry, and philosophy.
The author takes up the themes developed in these previous novels: Self-realization, the opposition between Nature and Culture, sensuality, and spirituality (p.172). Hindu and Nietzschean philosophy, the myth of the eternal return (p.420). The emptiness of intellectual work for those who dedicate their existence to austere studies.
The book ends with three short stories that Joseph Valet would have written. This fact is the part that I preferred; the reader will find their ancient philosophical tales in the manner of Siddharta.
Obviously, behind its complexity, the game of glass beads hides multiple messages and, above all, an uncompromising critique of twentieth-century society, its wars, its ignorance, and its loss of values at a time of the rise of totalitarianism.
However, I got attached to this real false biography of Joseph Valet, a talented student, then a distinguished member of the Order of Castalia, a fictitious intellectual elite whose goal is to learn universal knowledge. This spirit of synthesis of science expresses through the game of glass beads, in which the participants combine music, mathematics, poetry, and philosophy.
The author takes up the themes developed in these previous novels: Self-realization, the opposition between Nature and Culture, sensuality, and spirituality (p.172). Hindu and Nietzschean philosophy, the myth of the eternal return (p.420). The emptiness of intellectual work for those who dedicate their existence to austere studies.
The book ends with three short stories that Joseph Valet would have written. This fact is the part that I preferred; the reader will find their ancient philosophical tales in the manner of Siddharta.
Obviously, behind its complexity, the game of glass beads hides multiple messages and, above all, an uncompromising critique of twentieth-century society, its wars, its ignorance, and its loss of values at a time of the rise of totalitarianism.
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Suggestion: After Chapter 6 ("Magister Ludi") start interspersing the posthumous writings. Read the poetry before "In Office" and then a Life between each subsequent chapter. In addition to providing valuable context (that lines up really well with the main biography), it leavens the whole experience so there's not as much dry academic biography in sequence.
While suffering a little from Hesse's German Catholic chauvinism, and extreme sexism by omission, the Glass Bead Game still tells a human story of an idealized ubermensch in an aspirational manner. It's nice to have a hagiography sometimes and, rather than enumerating a character's flaws, to humanize them by describing their path to greatness and humility.
I found this book meditative, structured and repetitive. In a good way, mostly -- although I definitely found myself veering off the page and into my own thoughts during some of the drier chapters.
I read Siddhartha in high school, and it hit teen me really hard. I think the Glass Bead Game is a more adult book, in that it takes a little more lived experience to connect with the actions of the characters. It didn't hit quite as hard, in any event, and I feel the Nobel Prize may have been (as in many cases) a sort of lifetime achievement award for Hesse.
While suffering a little from Hesse's German Catholic chauvinism, and extreme sexism by omission, the Glass Bead Game still tells a human story of an idealized ubermensch in an aspirational manner. It's nice to have a hagiography sometimes and, rather than enumerating a character's flaws, to humanize them by describing their path to greatness and humility.
I found this book meditative, structured and repetitive. In a good way, mostly -- although I definitely found myself veering off the page and into my own thoughts during some of the drier chapters.
I read Siddhartha in high school, and it hit teen me really hard. I think the Glass Bead Game is a more adult book, in that it takes a little more lived experience to connect with the actions of the characters. It didn't hit quite as hard, in any event, and I feel the Nobel Prize may have been (as in many cases) a sort of lifetime achievement award for Hesse.