Siddhartha

By: Hermann Hesse

Narrated by: James Langton

Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hermann Hesse's famous and influential novel Siddhartha is perhaps the most important and compelling allegory produced in the last hundred years. Integrating Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with psychoanalysis and philosophy, this strangely simple tale, written with a deep and moving empathy for humanity, has touched the lives of millions since its original publication in 1922.

Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha. His quest takes him from a life of decadence to asceticism, through the illusory joys of sensual love with a beautiful courtesan and of wealth and fame to the painful struggles with his son and the ultimate wisdom of renunciation.

Public Domain (P)2009 Tantor

Siddharta

It was not the same wording as my copy of the book and thus was hard to follow

For searching souls and people lucky enough

Pretty easy and fast to hear. Enlightenment gets closer by each turning page so to say...

very well written just not meant to entertain

This book is a classic. That means if you have heard of it you either already know you will like it or you have to read it for class. If you know you like it congrats, you have probably already spend weeks picking apart each leg of the journey and know all the wonderful writer moves that Hesse makes. You can pat your self on the back for being part of the in crowd but please keep your superior intelligence to your self. If you are part of the second group you have a week or two of picking apart this book ahead of you. I am not saying that there isn't a lot there. Your next stop will most likely be clifnotes and you will find pages of analysis all of it valid, I am not trying to analyze the book for you I have already done that and do not wish to do so again. I simply wish to give you a bit of foresight into what reading this book will be like. Like most classics you were assigned there will be a lot of exposition. That means the book will be slow and dry. The plot will also take a lot of twists and turns. Not in the way a thriller movie would but in the way a biography does when someone suddenly changes jobs and moves across the country. It felt to me like each episode in the main character's journey was a story in and of itself and the only real thing that connected them was that they each happened to the same guy on his path to enlightenment. You should be able to get over the disjointness of the story but the fact that it is meant as an allegory and not as entertainment will drag after a while. Still if you have to read it for class then this wont stop you.

0 of 4 people found this review helpful

A story for your Soul.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Want to know the meaning of life, read between the lines of Siddharta.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Siddhartha?

When Siddharta meets the great Buddha in person.

What about James Langton’s performance did you like?

Compassionate storytelling.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Siddharta discovering how his father would have felt the moment he left him to go and pursue his dreams.

Any additional comments?

Hats off Herman Hesse.