Leo Alirice

Demian is a book narrating the life of Emil Sinclair from childhood to adulthood. It follows his thoughts during the stages of growing up. Through every chapter, he introduces you to a new character that had an impact on his development. The significance of these characters derives from their role in guiding Emil to new self-knowledge. This journey of knowledge, however, often gets him caught up in the practice of mysticism. While Emil speaks about enjoying the dark world, he often feels immoral living in it. The story is quite effective in describing how he feels there are two worlds or realms which are often entangled. Aside from his interest to seek hermeticism, the book also touches on his limerence for objects or people. Often this provokes him to think his isolation will prevail. Overall, this is a valuable book. It may, however, be enigmatic for some to understand due to the structure of sentences and vocabulary used. I would recommend this book to those in high school or college. One warning noted is that it may be a difficult read if you struggle to stay interested in topics. Although the story is only 200 pages, it occasionally feels drawn out. Due to this, I would rate the narrative a three out of five. While it was a good book, I think you need a certain maturity to enjoy it.