Book Review: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

I started rereading Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha at the beginning of December 2024 but finished it on New Year's Day. I went back to old reads - The Kite of Stars, a short story by Dean Francis Alfar and The Hobbit and Philosophy: For When You've Lost Your Dwarves, Your Wizard, and Your Way, that's why.

Yup. I gave myself a good session of bibliotherapy. Now, for my review of Siddhartha, a book that Kim Namjoon read or recommended (an assumption since he posted this on his IG Story last December 2025).

Religion provides us a structure to practice and make evident our faith. However, there are religious rituals that may prove rigid and superficial that it drives us away from faith that is real and life affirming. In Siddhartha, my take away is this: true authenticity and spirituality come from embracing both life’s joys and struggles. It’s not about escaping challenges but fully immersing oneself in them to find peace. And there I find a similarity to Ignatian Spirituality because, when praying through the Examen, one is able to look at the highs and lows of pivotal life events; the happy times and the sad moments of the day where grace and gratitude resides. I think this experience is synonymous to finding inner peace and striking a balance in life.

Kim Namjoon’s documentary, Right People, Wrong Place echoes this search for balance. Like Siddhartha, he reflects on finding harmony by accepting life’s imperfections and contradictions. Both explore the idea that peace comes not from avoiding hardships but from understanding and growing through them. Namjoon’s journey, much like Siddhartha’s, is about learning to embrace life in its raw, authentic form.

Like Siddhartha, like Kim Namjoon, one needs to be brave to be able to do this.