Beneath the Wheel, (Paperback)

from BooksForDinner

Hesse takes on parents' expectations and education without personal growth in this early novel of his. There is a little of Hesse's life in every one of his novels. Great as all of his works are.

from RajivC

I had not heard of this book by Hesse, and I stumbled on this by accident. It is quite a brilliant book. You go along with the short life of the young hero, from the point where he is selected to go to the university, his friendship, his falling out with the "establishment"; his nervous breakdown...

from lauriebrown54

Young Hans Giebenrath is a gifted child. When the state tests show him to have the second highest score in the country, he earns entrance to a monastery school and becomes the pride of his small farm town. It also earns him a short vacation, which he plans to spend fishing and walking in the beau...

from nandadevi

It is worth reading this alongside Hesse's collection of short stories gathered under the title 'Autobiographical Writings'. Hesse's real academic career was quite a train-wreck, and his recollection of the very short conversation he had with his rather severe Grandfather about it is priceless. O...

from katie.ann

Hesse's lyrical yet uncomplicated language (even in translation) provides a sensitive and beautiful examination of nature's triumphant reclamation of a failed academic. A heartbreaking and humane study of archetypes set against a brilliantly rendered landscape, this is a dark and gentle story inv...