book report

Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. New York, NY. New Directions publishing company: 1951.
Reason, Type and Setting: I chose this book because I had heard from a lot of people that it was really good. Also I have always been fascinated with Buddhism. The book is in an older time, it is also realistic fiction. It didn’t actually happen but it could, and it was from a different time period. The book takes place in India. Basically there's a guy named Siddhartha. He is a very good meditator but thinks that he can no longer learn from his father. He decides he must go on a journey to reach enlightenment. He brings his friend. They eventually reach Buddha and receive teachings from him. Siddhartha’s friend decides to stay and become a monk. While Siddhartha does not really think that he can be taught to reach the ultimate enlightenment, so he decides he must go and reach it on his own. Along the way he falls in love, has a son. He also ends up reaching the ultimate enlightenment on the river.

Character: Siddhartha. He is the main character. The whole story is about him. I picture him being very skinny, without much clothes, and Indian looking. He is very determined driven person. He dreams of becoming enlightened. He is constantly trying to understand himself, as well as himself. I chose this character because he is the main character. He is interesting because he is very motivated and he lives an extremely different life than I do, which I think is very fascinating. The plot eventually made the character reach the ultimate enlightenment.

Evaluation: I did like the book. During parts it even made me want to move to India, and devote my life to meditation. It sounded so cool. It was definitely entertaining and interesting. I liked how different his life was from mine. I learned a lot about this style of living. I learned a lot about meditation and enlightenment. I would recommend this book to open minded people. I just think that this book wouldn’t be that great for a really religious republican for some reason. It is like a real life book, so that’s how it compares. It isn't important to read. I mean you can live your life without it, but it is definitely an eye opening book.


Put yourself in the plot: I cant even imagine going through what he went through. Its wild. Its crazy to think of letting go of absolutely every want and desire in your body, and not owning anything. That’s so different than my life. So its hard for me to imagine what it would be like. If I were him I don’t think that I would have been as resilient. I don’t think that I would have been able to go all the way through with it. It definitely ended the way that I wanted it to.


I know nothing about the author, and I have never read a book at all like this. I may possibly read one like this in the future.