Peter Camenzind, a young man from a Swiss mountain village, leaves his home and eagerly takes to the road in search of new experience. Trav...
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Oct 19, 2008
Patti
rated it: 
I love Hermann Hesse.
Peter Camenzind reminded me of a 1900's version of On the Road set in Switzerland. Prone to melancholy and drunkenness, Camenzind's wanderlust and love of nature might be better compared to Kerouac's Big Sur. Both books describe characters that you want to succeed, but end up drunk with their hearts broken. They also show an intelligence and self-awareness of the reasons of their failures.
Which makes sense why Hermann Hesse and Jack Kerouac are t More...
Peter Camenzind reminded me of a 1900's version of On the Road set in Switzerland. Prone to melancholy and drunkenness, Camenzind's wanderlust and love of nature might be better compared to Kerouac's Big Sur. Both books describe characters that you want to succeed, but end up drunk with their hearts broken. They also show an intelligence and self-awareness of the reasons of their failures.
Which makes sense why Hermann Hesse and Jack Kerouac are t More...
Dec 30, 2011
Liam
rated it: 
An autobiographical novel about a provincial young intellectual from the Alps whose education takes him to cultured Zurich, where his eyes are opened to the pleasures of a modern, cultured life. There he meets with urbane, learned associates and eventually travels to Italy as a poet, before returning to his father's house in the Alpine forest, his heart broken twice over by unrequited love. Well written, but otherwise an unimaginative and dull tale of an artist coming of age. The sentimentality
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Sep 07, 2009
Shaun
rated it:
4 out of 5 for Hesse. 5 out of 5 compared to novels in general.
Peter Camenzind is Hesse’s first novel, but it is truly a gem. Containing the brilliant prose combined with the deep philosophies that make Hesse’s books so compelling, it is an outstanding book. The narrative structure is first person, and at times it is a bit awkward (compared to his more mature works) and once or twice it tells more than it shows, but only for brief moments. It is very interesting to see Hesse’s earl More...
Peter Camenzind is Hesse’s first novel, but it is truly a gem. Containing the brilliant prose combined with the deep philosophies that make Hesse’s books so compelling, it is an outstanding book. The narrative structure is first person, and at times it is a bit awkward (compared to his more mature works) and once or twice it tells more than it shows, but only for brief moments. It is very interesting to see Hesse’s earl More...
Jan 28, 2010
George
rated it:
До някъде помага религиозното възпитание на Хесе, прави текста по интересен. Кои друг би започнал книгата си със следното изказване.
"In the beginning was the myth. God, in his search for self-expression, invested the souls of Hindus, Greeks, and Germans with poetic shapes and continues to invest each child's soul with poetry every day."
Разбира се и описанието на младежкия романтизъм и идеализъм, страха от отхвърляне, значимоста на добрите приятелст More...
"In the beginning was the myth. God, in his search for self-expression, invested the souls of Hindus, Greeks, and Germans with poetic shapes and continues to invest each child's soul with poetry every day."
Разбира се и описанието на младежкия романтизъм и идеализъм, страха от отхвърляне, значимоста на добрите приятелст More...
May 04, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
ربما أعجبتني لأنها كما قالت سلمى كأنها تتحدث عني..أو أنها أنارت لي جوانب غامضةً، وجلتها بيسر.
لكنني أحببتها أكثر، لأن هسه يكتب بطريقة لا تفسدها المباشرة، ويتأمل بحس شاعر أصيل النفس، يستكشف معنى الحب والحياة في نفسه عن طريق بطله.
جعلني أستشعر الرواية ثانية، لا بحس الصراع الداخلي أو دوامات التفكير التي تتركك لتصل أنت لنتيجة.
بل بطريقة أخرى متأملة هادئة، قد تتصاعد معها ثم تصل لسكينة ما، أو نقطة رضا عن المعاني الجيدة في الحياة. More...
لكنني أحببتها أكثر، لأن هسه يكتب بطريقة لا تفسدها المباشرة، ويتأمل بحس شاعر أصيل النفس، يستكشف معنى الحب والحياة في نفسه عن طريق بطله.
جعلني أستشعر الرواية ثانية، لا بحس الصراع الداخلي أو دوامات التفكير التي تتركك لتصل أنت لنتيجة.
بل بطريقة أخرى متأملة هادئة، قد تتصاعد معها ثم تصل لسكينة ما، أو نقطة رضا عن المعاني الجيدة في الحياة. More...
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Jan 20, 2009
Brittany
rated it:
I only gave this book three stars because I'm not sure how I feel about the protagonist, Peter Camenzind. Sometimes I liked him and sometimes I didn't. What I didn't like was Camenzind's air of superiority that I read in his tone of writing (Hesse wrote the book from Camenzind's point of view in the first person). Camenzind often came off that unless you appreciated or understood nature like he did/does then you didn't deserve to live amongst that nature. While I'm sure everyone appreciates natu
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Apr 14, 2011
Jacob
rated it:
I read several Hermann Hesse books when I was in high school and quite enjoyed them. Recently I found a little gem that I had never heard anything about before. Peter Camenzind is a somewhat autobiographical novel of a young man from the Alps finding his way in the world. As with his other works, Hesse's gift is not producing a unique story line, but rather presenting a common story line, uniquely. His prose is almost poetic in its descriptions of the young man's village on the shores of an
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Nov 16, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
Great first novel by Hesse. Extremely autobiographical, the book charts the life of one Peter Camenzind, a Swiss country boy with an extreme sensitivity towards nature. He comes from a rural Swiss Alpine village, gets himself educated in university, falls in love several times with women which end up being a failure (so ends up falling in love with wine instead...not a bad thing). His hero is Francis of Assisi, the nature saint, and he sees himself following a similar path. Peter eventually retu
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Sep 13, 2011
Julia
rated it:
"Peter Camenzind" ist ein typischer früher Hesse: schwärmerische Liebschaften, die zu nichts führen, an Verliebtheit gemahnende Freundschaften, die so nur in der Jugend möglich sind, die Suche nach dem Göttlichen in sich selbst. Besonders stark sind hier die schwelgenden Naturbeschreibungen, die noch an die Romantiker denken lassen. Große philosopische Themen behandelt Hesse nicht mit leichter Hand, macht sie aber doch jedem Leser zugänglich und verständlich. Besonders schön ist Camenz
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Feb 09, 2010
Patrick
rated it: 
“In the beginning was the myth. Just as the great god composed and struggled for expression in the souls of the Indians, the Greeks and Germanic peoples, so to it continues to compose daily in the soul of every child.”
“Love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure”
“That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive More...
“Love isn't there to make us happy. I believe it exists to show us how much we can endure”
“That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive More...
Jan 01, 2012
Lysergius
rated it:
A minor novel in the Hesse oeuvre. Worth reading for completness.
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Jun 26, 2010
Adam
rated it:
With every Hesse novel I read, my appreciation for him grows. I am constantly amazed by the way he is always describing a new feeling or experience that I've had in a way that I can empathize with on a level far deeper than any other author. I feel connected to Hesse when I'm reading him, which is something really no other books give me, even those I cherish and respect to the utmost.
Peter Camenzind had a lot of that, especially at the beginning, when Hesse describes Peter's love More...
Peter Camenzind had a lot of that, especially at the beginning, when Hesse describes Peter's love More...
Nov 24, 2010
Venus
rated it:
Peter Camenzind is the novel that ensured Hermann Hesse’s early literary reputation. Its semi-autobiographical basis betrays an important glimpse into the development of his beliefs and concerns, in particular the struggle of an artist to achieve a personal aesthetic ideal within a materialist and uncomprehending society.
Born into a Swiss village, Peter Camenzind is a introverted peasant boy who becomes a student at Zurich University where he is soon destined for some minor academic post. More...
Born into a Swiss village, Peter Camenzind is a introverted peasant boy who becomes a student at Zurich University where he is soon destined for some minor academic post. More...
Jul 22, 2009
Lorenzo
rated it:
Appropriately enough I read this book during a short holiday in the mountains. In lack of the Swiss ones, I opted for the Italian Alps.
Without having anything else to read in my backpack, I've had the opportunity of dedicating a second read to the book. An extremely rare habit of me.
As a bad conoisseur of Herman Hesse literary production (no Siddharta, no Steppenwolf) my impression on Peter Camenzind has very much to do with pouring a half litre water in a one litre bottle: on More...
Without having anything else to read in my backpack, I've had the opportunity of dedicating a second read to the book. An extremely rare habit of me.
As a bad conoisseur of Herman Hesse literary production (no Siddharta, no Steppenwolf) my impression on Peter Camenzind has very much to do with pouring a half litre water in a one litre bottle: on More...
Apr 25, 2009
Gertrude & Victoria
rated it:
A timeless story of a young man in search for adventure and new experiences. When Peter leaves his mountain hamlet to travel Europe he is filled with fanciful expectations. This young idealist meets people along the way who become his trusted and beloved friends. Their bonds grow deeper and stronger until tragedy tears them apart. Here, again, fate has dealt a cruel and crushing blow, which is a recurring theme in Hesse's works.
Peter Camenzind is a remarkable story, similar to m More...
Peter Camenzind is a remarkable story, similar to m More...
Aug 16, 2011
Brad
rated it:
I always like reading Hermann Hesse. 'Peter Camenzind' is a quick read where much of the narrator's life is painted in broad strokes of the brush. Here I am reminded of a poignent metaphor disclosed early in the novel. The painter's brush strokes, when observed closely, can be scrutinized as a part of an unfinished or imperfect work, however, these ambiguous contributions to the painting are not mistakes, but convey to the observer that it is not preciseness which speaks to the soul, but ambigui
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May 15, 2011
Erik
rated it:
This was one of the first Hesse novels read after deciding to seek him out. I also found it at once both exceptionally moving and, in comparison to his other work, amusing.
The lesson of the book, not unusual one in Hesse, is to appreciate what theologians call "ordinary grace" (as opposed to those miraculous gifts appealed for in all-too-ordinary prayer). Working at the Brookwood Convalescent and Nursing Center in DesPlaines (an old peoples' home) at the time, the lesson More...
The lesson of the book, not unusual one in Hesse, is to appreciate what theologians call "ordinary grace" (as opposed to those miraculous gifts appealed for in all-too-ordinary prayer). Working at the Brookwood Convalescent and Nursing Center in DesPlaines (an old peoples' home) at the time, the lesson More...
Nov 11, 2007
Moses
rated it:
Holy smokes! Peter Camenzind is both you and I, my friend(s).
The country boy moves to the city for school (knowledge), and it disgusts him. He does not fit, nor does he want to. He does not want anything, except to not be where he was born.
All that matters to this man is poetry, and climbing.
To you it could be good weather, and a nice yard.
To me it is drinking nice coffee, and walking (anywhere).
So...he leaves home (family and all), joins co More...
The country boy moves to the city for school (knowledge), and it disgusts him. He does not fit, nor does he want to. He does not want anything, except to not be where he was born.
All that matters to this man is poetry, and climbing.
To you it could be good weather, and a nice yard.
To me it is drinking nice coffee, and walking (anywhere).
So...he leaves home (family and all), joins co More...
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Aug 31, 2010
Katie
rated it:
I rarely rate a book with 5 stars, but with this book Hesse proves he is an artist. Everything comes full circle to Camenzind: not only does he mature as a character but he comes home again (and that's hard to do!). Beautiful prose accurately captures the reality and struggles of the common man, and we're allowed to piggy-back on Camenzind's curious reflections of himself. I faced the characters of my childhood, struggled with the all-important disasters of adolescence, and gained closure as I s
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Feb 08, 2008
H. Ryan
rated it:
Similar to his other books, a first person narrated story of a man traveling to find himself. Comforting in its poetry. Deep in its spirituality: "As I learned to love nature as if it were a person, to listen to it as if to a comrade or traveling companion speaking a foreign tongue, my melancholy, though not cured, was ennobled and cleansed" (120). This book also lead me to write about the dynamics of reading a book: I've always liked the left page better than the right. The eye
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Aug 11, 2011
Enjoyable. Narrator grows up in the Alps, lives or otherwise sojourns in Germany, France and Italy. A nice, quick and at times quite lyrical read. Certainly worth a second reading.
Jul 24, 2011
Adrian
rated it:
Hesse's first novel. A story about traveling and youth and romance and loss. Rather simple, but some budding fragments of what would make Hesse great can be seen here.
Nov 16, 2010
Ettore.bilbo
rated it:
Dopo aver letto il lupo della steppa mi aspettavo fuoco e fiamme, invece non mi ha stregato, forse sarebbe da rileggere con calma ora, dopo tanti anni...
Feb 08, 2012
Shaimaa
rated it:
As an early work by Hermann Hesse, it came much simpler than his later works. However it's simple to follow and even illustrates part of his personal life , aspirations & dreams ...
Dec 01, 2008
Tommy
rated it:
I can only say that this was ok. Not spectacular or anything. It's average Hesse.
Jul 26, 2010
Hesse's first book or one of his first books but pretty polished for a young neophyte.
Jan 16, 2011
Bumbierītis
rated it:
It was ok, but probably not the best of Hesse. Lacked the poetic depths of the later novels.
