Narcissus and Goldmund

Narcissus and Goldmund - Hermann Hesse Shamefully, I only started reading this because I had a competition that took it as a subject. I was told I had to read this in order to compete. It was already on my reading list, I already loved Hesse, so I knew I was in for a treat.

Surprise surprise, the competition had no connection to the book whatsoever. The text in there was by Miller and in no way related to this.

Nonetheless, let's get back to the review.

It's one of my favorite books of 2013. About that - I will post a list of them and some details on my blog, which you can acces here. http://www.cocainepages.wordpress.com .

For the book, now.

Beautiful. Flawless writing, perfect character building, analytical to the bone, honest to human emotions, chilling in its truth.. just perfect. One of those works you don't take for granted because you know for sure they meant work and dedication and were written in virtue of experience and for only one purpose: unveiling the true nature of things.

I don't even want to get into details because I fear I'll spoil the experience for anyone who's interested out there. Hesse delivers, as he usually does, a piece that is full of force and thought. His writing is at times impossible to follow and at times easily understood. One of the few writers that I know to use this technique, he combines the "stream of counciousness" technique with rapid firing of dialogues or vivid descriptions. Written in the third person and still very personal, it leaves this feeling of permanent presence in his character's minds and it's stunning how at times he seems to see so well into the human mind and descipher mysteries that others were afraid to.

Capable of both fluid and hard writing, Hesse gives off the feeling of fullness. His books are complete. That is a wonderful ability for a writer.

Take this book in, please, if you read it. Don't rush through the pages. Understand it and let it understand you. This deserves a round of applause and be sure to give it that at the end.