Siddhartha: An Indian Tale Novel by Hermann Hesse

I met up with my friends the day after I broke up with my ex and we had a long chat and I kept saying I was falling into the trap of reading numerous of self help books to try to regain and source my lost identity. It wasn’t really helping so my friend Will suggested I read this book about a guy called Siddhartha.  I’m currently 3/4 of the way through and I have to say this book is so much better than what I expected. It was a really easy fluid read, with a very poetic and whimsical flow to it. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Siddartha grew up leaning on religious teachings around the time of Buddha (which you’ll find he meets mid book) but it follows his path of trying out and experiencing all the normal things we experience; love, greed, wealth. There is so much beauty in this simplistic book and that every step of the way you compare his experiences to similar ones you have had and you can really connect and empathise with the struggles he faces and the things he learns. It’s almost like you’re learning a life lesson through him. Throughout the book he changes and he himself becomes lost in things that any other person would find desirable and yet he feels miserable and stuck in the vicious cycle. It really explains what I’ve been going through my whole life. Wanting something so much that I lost myself to someone who wasn’t worth it. A bigger flat, a better job, someone else’s successes. The book is to the point and every meeting Siddhartha has, every thought he processes is a journey. I feel like there are so many mini lessons to be learnt here and everyone has their own take on lesson and their own piece of the story to peel away for themselves – this makes it so special and definitely one to read again and again at different points of your life. I haven’t finished the book so I’m not sure what happens at the end if he finds what he is looking for but I don’t think that matters following Siddhartha and learning with him and seeing the beauty in the growth and what we are already surrounded by and of course ourselves is enough for me!