The story follows a young man named Siddhartha (and I thought I had a weird name) on his path to find the true meaning of life which he believes is enlightenment. He and his friend Govinda join a religious group, then follow a true Buddha, but Siddhartha grows frustrated as he seems unable to find what he's looking for. So he goes a different path in his pursuit for happiness, one of sexuality and greed. But oh wonder, this isn't really what he's looking for either (men and their mid-life crisis) and so he decides to continue on his old path to enlightenment. He comes to a river where he hears a noise that ultimately signals the beginning of his new life.
I must admit I struggled a bit through the first half. It didn't capture me right away. I think Hermann Hesse is a brilliant writer though. You can feel that Hesse himself was looking for said enlightenment and when I did some research, I found out that the second half of the book took long to write because Hesse "had not experienced that transcendental state of unity to which Siddhartha aspires". So he lived in seclusion from society and got totally emerged in the Hindu and Buddhist teachings.
The book was a good read but unlike a lot of reviews that I read, it didn't inspire anything in me. So I'm just stuck with a weird name and no enlightenment.
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