Customer Reviews

Peter Camenzind: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
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i'm from germany, sitting in the town, hesse wrote peter c. and I read it yesterday in english. first, it's a great translation. but I think, the book is very european, so, whenn you read it in usa or elsewhere, you got a good feeling of the living art of the "schwarzwald"(black forest), where the author came from. and you stay in the chance of the century, so I think, p.c. is today an historical and social adventure,more than a spectacular novel. but just for younger poeple between twelve and twentysomething, p.c. can help to find their way, hardly as deep as the famous siddhartha do

Hermann Hesse is a superb writer. This book is very good for a first novel (and very good for a novel, period). I have read all of Hesse's major novels except Gertrude and I can honestly say that none of them moved me in the way which this book did. Hesse's description of the yearnings of one's soul are always stirring. But the story of the narrator's relationship with the hunchback, Boppi, is unforgettable. To claim that Peter did not find what he was looking for and that "he does not enjoy life", as one reviewer claims, is absurd. It completely misses Hesse's point. Anwyays, read the book and find out for yourself -- don't take my word for it.

I've read all works of Hesse that I could find during my teenage years. I read them not as books but as a starving person would devour delicious food.

I have not yet encountered another book (Hesse or not) that is as striking as Peter Camerzind. That's partly because I had some tough times during my teenage years and in Peter C. Hesse is 100% realistic to me.

It's been 12-13 years that I had not read Hesse again with maybe with one or two exceptions. As I said before, I read Hesse when I was a teenager and I had no intentions to analyze, criticize or whatever ! There are too many people who go into to analytical descriptions of Hesse's works. Don't do it. I do not think that Hesse's works are intellectual. I doubt he is after anything intellectual, rational or analytical. It could be the opposite ! Forget about the feeling you had while reading, do you think a wolf wandering in the steppes would philosophize ?

I felt Peter Camerzind deep in my heart. That's all I have to say.

I really enjoy Hermann Hesse's novels. In general they are written in such a way that I feel tranquill and happy by the end. The prose is gorgeous and the stories are broad. However, Peter Camenzind, while a fine first novel, does not have the same impact as a Siddartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, or Demian. At the end I felt disgustingly depressed. Hesse's intent is assumably to attack this sort of feeling in the end, but the character just doesn't convince one that he enjoys life anymore. If you like Hesse a lot, read it. You might take more out of it than I did. Otherwise, this one is better left on the shelf.

Hesse's first book is an enjoyable novel about youth in search of the ideal and touched by the romantic. Written by Hesse in 1904 when he was 26, it is a precursor to his famous works. In Peter Camenzind, Hesse reveals a naivety, innocence and humor that is rarely found in his later writings.

Here is an excerpt that relects the lyrical quality of young Hesse:
"These thoughtless words made me realize that the helpless cripple, beseeching, suffering Boppi, whom we did not love, whom we wanted to get rid of, sat sad and alone, locked in one room....And then I remembered that I had told the neighbors in Assisi about St. Francis and had boasted that he had taught me to love all mankind. Why had I studied the saint's life and learned by heart his hymn to love and tried to retrace his footsteps in the Umbrian hills, when I allowed a poor and helpless creature to lay there suffering though I could help him?
The weight of an invisible, mighty hand fell on my heart, crushing it with shame and hurt, and I began to tremble. I know that God wanted a word with me."

I love this book. Hesse's descriptions of scenes in nature always make me smile. There are some paragraphs in this I go back and read over and over again. I am a fan of all if his books.

Hesse is known for many amazing works, and I've read through almost all of them. The two that most people have read, or at least can reference in conversation, are Siddartha and Der Steppenwolf. Both are great reads to be sure along with everything else I've picked up by Hesse (with the possible exception of Magister Ludi but that is possibly because I've been reading about 50 pages of that one a year for the past 5 or so years and I lose some of the context in the long interludes). Peter Camenzind is Hesse's first novel and he started off with one of the most poignant and beautiful stories He would ever write. It's very short but inside he conveys amazing imagery and great emotion with very direct and powerful wording. I highly recommend you pick it up (I got mine for a penny here on Amazon) and read it. It can easily be read in a day by almost anyone with a good bottle of wine and a pack of cigarettes (which I also recommend to everyone EVERY DAY).

Great book from Herman Hesse, I am a huge fan of his work, and may be biased, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I usually do with his work. Highly Recommended.

Another great book by Hermann Hesse decribing the search of Peter for peace...

Peter coming for a very small town is taken by a priest to learn and get cultured. He spends a lot of his life trying to get that perfect combination, he goes through a tragedy in the loss of a friend, and misery romances.

Boppi shows up and life changes, standards change, and Peter starts seeing the beauty in the small everyday behaviors...

Hermann Hessse expresses in Peter some of the things he went through, the pain in the beginning before finally understanding what life is all about...

Having travelled through three of Hesse's worlds( The Glass Bead Game, Demian and Peter Camenzind) I find myself completely engrossed by this brilliant writer. The three novels are so different from one another, yet, each have their own special value. P.C may seem trivial, particualarly if one has read the some of hesse's other works, or vain attempt to explain life's porpose. This is not the case. I read this book as it stood, without any unfortunate expectations, and found it a wonderfully human description of one mans strugle through life. I don't believe Hesse was trying to use peter's life as metaphor for us all. He was rather just showing how moving life can be. Before i read this book i was under control of my emotions. A boring condition. As the yellow, book-worm riddled, pages turned in my hands i found myself opened up more and more by Hesse's rolling tide of sweltering emotion. I cried like a child, and my heart filled with a strange yellow-red glow. A truely magnificant book Wrought with feeling and decorated with poetry.