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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
''Talvez possa voltar a viver, talvez possa voltar a ser gente. Minha alma, que havia tombado adormecida no frio e quase se enregela, respira de novo e volta a bater sonolenta as pequenas asas débeis''
''O apego desesperado ao próprio eu, a desesperada ânsia de viver, são o caminho mais seguro
para a morte eterna; ao passo que o saber morrer, rasgar o véu do mistério, ir procurando eternamente mutações em si mesmo conduz à imortalidade''.
banger absoluta... a quantidade de poesia e existencialismo contida nesse romance é de cair o queixo. o mais brutal é se identificar com o lobo da estepe — ao menos em determinadas fases a vida (quem nunca né). com certeza lerei mais do Hesse.
''O apego desesperado ao próprio eu, a desesperada ânsia de viver, são o caminho mais seguro
para a morte eterna; ao passo que o saber morrer, rasgar o véu do mistério, ir procurando eternamente mutações em si mesmo conduz à imortalidade''.
banger absoluta... a quantidade de poesia e existencialismo contida nesse romance é de cair o queixo. o mais brutal é se identificar com o lobo da estepe — ao menos em determinadas fases a vida (quem nunca né). com certeza lerei mais do Hesse.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As you'll know if you follow me on Instagram, this was my second time reading this book. I read it in my early twenties and quite liked it (especially the bit where he is briefly fighting a war against cars) but it's a cult book and the author said that he thought the young guys reading it wouldn't really understand the feelings of the fifty year old protagonist. So now, a few weeks from my fiftieth, I had a second pass at it. I think, strangely, I found it harder work than last time, so maybe I am just generally less patient now.
The central character has formed a sense of himself having two natures - a man, outwardly confirming to social norms, and a wolf who serves as a repository for all his repressed but untamed urges. These two natures are constantly struggling against one another. Through a chance encounter with a woman, he starts to see new possibilities are on offer and, as he is drawn further into her world he has a kind of drug-induced hallucinatory experience akin to those described by hippy writers in the 60s that opens his mind even further to the myriad roles he can play in the world, not just the two he thinks are his.
It's often hard to really get a sense of how the book would have struck its original audience since the philosophy and the social conventions he struggles with are from another age and culture (its written after the First World War and already looking ahead to the second), but although I am not beset by rigid bourgeois expectations, an obsession with my own digestion and the life of Goethe, I can feel an affinity with Harry Haller and his belated reawakening. I think I understood it even in my twenties, but I feel it more viscerally now that I've had years more to develop a hardened worldview.
I'm not such a miserable git as him though.
The central character has formed a sense of himself having two natures - a man, outwardly confirming to social norms, and a wolf who serves as a repository for all his repressed but untamed urges. These two natures are constantly struggling against one another. Through a chance encounter with a woman, he starts to see new possibilities are on offer and, as he is drawn further into her world he has a kind of drug-induced hallucinatory experience akin to those described by hippy writers in the 60s that opens his mind even further to the myriad roles he can play in the world, not just the two he thinks are his.
It's often hard to really get a sense of how the book would have struck its original audience since the philosophy and the social conventions he struggles with are from another age and culture (its written after the First World War and already looking ahead to the second), but although I am not beset by rigid bourgeois expectations, an obsession with my own digestion and the life of Goethe, I can feel an affinity with Harry Haller and his belated reawakening. I think I understood it even in my twenties, but I feel it more viscerally now that I've had years more to develop a hardened worldview.
I'm not such a miserable git as him though.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
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
I'm just not enjoying it. It's cool that he was having all these existential spiritual thoughts in the 1800s in Germany. But it's quite a slog reading big walls of text about philosophy and the bourgeoisie. Give me something a bit more fun please.
Πήγαμε στην τραπεζαρία, και ενώ πάσχιζα συνεχώς να πω ή να ρωτήσω κάτι αθώο, έφαγα περισσότερο απ' όσο ήμουν συνηθισμένος κι αισθανόμουν ώρα με την ώρα όλο και πιο αξιοθρήνητος. Θεέ μου, σκεφτόμουν συνέχεια, γιατί λοιπόν να καταβάλουμε τόσες προσπάθειες; Αισθανόμουν καθαρά πως οι οικοδεσπότες μου δεν ένιωθαν καθόλου καλά και κόπιαζαν να φαίνονται ζωηροί, είτε γιατί ίσως τους ενοχλούσε η παρουσία μου είτε γιατί υπήρχε κάποια άλλη δυσαρέσκεια στο σπίτι. Με ρωτούσαν διαρκώς για πράγματα στα οποία δε μπορούσα να δώσω ειλικρινή απάντηση, τα ψέματα δεν άργησαν να με φέρουν σε αδιέξοδο, ώστε να πολεμάω με την αηδία σε κάθε λέξη. [..]Μέσα μου ο Λύκος της Στέπας γελούσε δείχνοντας τα δόντια του σαρκαστικά.
Γενικότερα είχα πολύ χαμηλές έως και καθόλου προσδοκίες και με εξέπληξε ευχάριστα. Είναι μια σχετικά καλή κριτική της αστικής κοινωνίας, αλλά εκεί που με χάνει είναι πως ο λόγος για την κριτική αυτή στέκεται πολύ στη "δηθενιά" της κοινωνίας αυτής και στο πόσο προσποιούνται οι άνθρωποι. Το οποίο ισχύει, δε λέω, απλά ήθελα το κάτι παραπάνω. Όταν σκέφτομαι μειονεκτήματα των αστών σκέφτομαι πολλά παραπάνω από το πόσο ψεύτικοι είναι.
Για να λέμε και τα καλά, το βιβλίο περιγράφει τρομερά τα συναισθήματα, και ειδικότερα αυτό της μοναξιάς αλλά και αυτού του να έχεις φτάσει στο αμήν και στο σημείο να είσαι εκτός εαυτού. Νομίζω διαβάζοντάς το κατάλαβα μετά από πολύ καιρό τι εννοούσαν με την κάθαρση μετά από παρακολούθηση τραγωδιών.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
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