A review by allison_reynolds
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
4.0
I was told that this book was something of a monster to get through, that it was convoluted and difficult to follow and a real 'book' book.
Sure, it's no beach read, but it's not at all the monster it was presented to me as. It took me nearly a month to get through, to absorb each passage, each carefully selected word. Nothing in this book feels like it could have been left out or written any other way. It brings questions of academia, of religion, of simple meaning to the fore, and never answers them for you. It does give you the sense that you now have more lived experience to uncover the answers for yourself.
Sure, it's no beach read, but it's not at all the monster it was presented to me as. It took me nearly a month to get through, to absorb each passage, each carefully selected word. Nothing in this book feels like it could have been left out or written any other way. It brings questions of academia, of religion, of simple meaning to the fore, and never answers them for you. It does give you the sense that you now have more lived experience to uncover the answers for yourself.