![]() ![]() It describes an entire subspecies of mankind, and it is one that I identify with completely. My favorite part, unlike the last reviewer, was the Steppenwolf treatise. The reader was alright, but the book itself was fascinating. This is one of the most profound books I've have ever listened to. Unfortunately, I am a bourgeoisie bitch cloaking myself in cashmere and not a mangy wolf from the steppes. Somedays, I wonder if I had my druthers I'd be a shepherd and write poetry on rocks. It depends, I guess, on what part of me is dominating at the time, which of my selves is dislocated and which is demanding the most. There are parts of me that get super irritated by Hesse and parts of me that absolutely love him. You will either spill your drink or spill your blood or lose every printed word, the hot water erasing pages and pickling your fingers, toes and time. This isn't a book you want to read in a hot bath with scotch in one hand and a razor blade in the other. ![]() ![]() ![]() Hesse's novels seem to flirt between the edge of memoir, scripture, prose poem and Eastern philosophy tract. Just like it is better to save King Lear for late in one's life, it is better to save Steppenwolf for those crisis years of the midlife. Unable to exist in hot or cold of the absolutes he tries to find his way between the extremes in the comfortable center. This midpoint between birth and death where man is trapped alone. There is this bourgeoisie period in every man's life. Save this Hesse novel for your midlife crisis. ![]()
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