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benbru's review
reflective
sad
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
4.0
cjingreading's review
3.0
2.5
i liked the writing and everything up to, ironically, gertrude's first appearance
Quotes:
This period which I had yearned so much and which had promised everything to me, was the only one in my life when I travelled along joyless paths abandoned by the spirit of music and lived through days which had no meaning and rhythm.
I was sorry for him and perhaps I ought to put him before myself, but I wanted peace and did not want to let him in.
I don't want to thrust aside and be rid of anything but weakness and construction. I want to feel that pleasure and pain arise from the same source, that they are aspects of the same force and proportions of the same piece of music, each beautiful and each essential.
i liked the writing and everything up to, ironically, gertrude's first appearance
Quotes:
This period which I had yearned so much and which had promised everything to me, was the only one in my life when I travelled along joyless paths abandoned by the spirit of music and lived through days which had no meaning and rhythm.
I was sorry for him and perhaps I ought to put him before myself, but I wanted peace and did not want to let him in.
I don't want to thrust aside and be rid of anything but weakness and construction. I want to feel that pleasure and pain arise from the same source, that they are aspects of the same force and proportions of the same piece of music, each beautiful and each essential.
linsente's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dieses buch bedeuted mehr als alle möglichen welten zusammen für mich. >> art and music, nature, isolation, lonliness and being alone, admiration, fury, jealouy, pain,happiness.
“That is where my dearest and brightest dreams have ranged — to hear for the duration of a heartbeat the universe and the totality of life in its mysterious, innate harmony.”
kirkreads's review
5.0
This book came as a surprise to me. It is the fourth novel that I have read by Hesse, but I connected with it on a more visceral level than the others. I felt the pain and unease of the narrator, as well as his happiness. It is difficult to review a book when it profoundly affects you. All that I can really state is, if you like Hesse, don't overlook this often forgotten novel.
nthiatio's review against another edition
5.0
Çok çok güzeldi. Bu kadar içten ve dram yüklü bir hayat hikayesinde kendinizden minicik bir parça bulmak içten bile değil.
novalgina's review against another edition
3.0
Kuhn è un violinista ed ama la musica e la bella vita. In gioventù un incidente lo rende zoppo e questo gli preclude molte attività che prima allietavano le sue giornate, anche le donne, che ormai hanno per lui solo uno sguardo di pena e pietà che lui non sopporta. Finché un giorno non incontra la bella Gertrud, con cui comincia un bel rapporto di amicizia, anche molto intima, ma che finirà quando la ragazza incontrerà colui che, al momento, è il migliore amico di Kuhn, Heinrich Muoth, cantante e persona orgogliosa e sicura di sé.
La storia non ha un lieto fine, lo ha solo per il protagonista, che nonostante avesse meditato il suicidio per mettere fine alla sua disperazione di storpio, capisce che nella vita c'è di più e trova altre occupazioni; sua madre, la musica, gli amici.
Ovviamente è letteratura tedesca di fine 800, scritta in maniera egregia, ed Hesse ci racconta, tramite Kuhn, che piangersi addosso è inutile e non porta a nulla, quando intorno a noi ci sono miliardi di cose per cui valga la pena vivere, anche se il nostro grande amore ci è precluso. La sua solitudine, voluta e non, lo fa cadere in un vortice di depressione dal quale è difficile uscire, ed è anche un argomento molto attuale, a mio parere.
Nonostante tutto, la storia in sé, ben narrata e con una morale molto profonda, non mi ha toccato molto, mi è addirittura sembrata incompleta.
La storia non ha un lieto fine, lo ha solo per il protagonista, che nonostante avesse meditato il suicidio per mettere fine alla sua disperazione di storpio, capisce che nella vita c'è di più e trova altre occupazioni; sua madre, la musica, gli amici.
Ovviamente è letteratura tedesca di fine 800, scritta in maniera egregia, ed Hesse ci racconta, tramite Kuhn, che piangersi addosso è inutile e non porta a nulla, quando intorno a noi ci sono miliardi di cose per cui valga la pena vivere, anche se il nostro grande amore ci è precluso. La sua solitudine, voluta e non, lo fa cadere in un vortice di depressione dal quale è difficile uscire, ed è anche un argomento molto attuale, a mio parere.
Nonostante tutto, la storia in sé, ben narrata e con una morale molto profonda, non mi ha toccato molto, mi è addirittura sembrata incompleta.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
3.0
A good story of music, passion, and growing through life.
bvic's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The more of Hesses work I read, the more insight into him I feel I gleam. In this case, I’m disturbed yet again by his characters (and by association, his) bouts of alcoholism and depression. However disturbed I am, and I am for it’s a great shame that he suffered so much in his life, I’m grateful that he is able to articulate so distinctly the unique experience of these illnesses.
I’m also disturbed by the sexism - specifically the disregard of women as simple creatures with simple predictable emotions, as either objects of desire or pity but nothing else, and as characters with no development and therefore no possible redemtion - but after 7 Hesse books I’m almost numb to it. This book was a particular low on that front though and gave me a sour impression of Hesse that will stick.
I’m also disturbed by the sexism - specifically the disregard of women as simple creatures with simple predictable emotions, as either objects of desire or pity but nothing else, and as characters with no development and therefore no possible redemtion - but after 7 Hesse books I’m almost numb to it. This book was a particular low on that front though and gave me a sour impression of Hesse that will stick.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Sexism