Currently reading: Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
OK. So we don’t judge a book by its cover.
I listened to this on an audiobook 4 times last year when I had a job that required me to drive down to the Rio Grande valley a lot.
This book is SO delicious. What was the last book you read in which the plot alone was spectacular, but the prose! Ah, the prose, translated from German even, is just magical. It reminds me of Lolita in that same way – a heart-rending story and very controversial, but the beauty, the lyricism and poetry of the way the narrator speaks is rapturous.
Herman Hesse has the ability to string together miracles of lingual ecstasy. It doesn’t hurt that the first couple of times I went through the story, I identified closely with the main character Harry Holler in his world-weariness. Until I saw that Hesse was not praising this kind of existence but rather condemning it for its pride and uselessness.
I would love for folks to start leaving some comments. So go ahead. Leave a comment telling of a book that you loved especially for its beautiful language. I am always looking for the next book to read.
And you might just want to put Steppenwolf on your reading list.
