#91 in Classics
Siddhartha
- 142
- Pages
- about 2.5 h
- Reading time
- Film 1972
- On screen
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Our view
In under a hundred and fifty pages of plain, lyrical prose, “Siddhartha” takes the reader along on its seeker’s journey of self-discovery. What stays with readers are the ideas, about time and about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, set out with unusual simplicity. Plot is slight and the tone meditative throughout. It rewards anyone curious about spiritual questions and willing to read slowly.
Worth knowing Hesse subtitled it An Indian Poem; he had travelled to Ceylon and Southeast Asia in 1911, and he stalled for more than a year midway through writing it before finishing in 1922. Its hero shares a name with the Buddha but is a different man, who meets Gotama and chooses his own path. Short and simply written, it became a counterculture favourite in the United States in the 1960s. Hesse won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Siddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, lyrical style. It was published in the United States in 1951 by New Directions Publishing and became influential during the 1960s. Hesse dedicated the first part of it to the French writer Romain Rolland and the second part to Wilhelm Gundert, his cousin.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- FilmSiddharthaIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 1,678 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 92% of the weight and the score stays at 8.0 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.1 | 64 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 1.6K | 96% |
Frequently asked
How long is Siddhartha?
It has 142 pages — shorter than 90% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Classics — and a score of 8.0, the closest to this book.
