Love at First Write

Soooooo Siddhartha (I shall call him Sid) his family is brahmin and he's living the good life searching for inner peace and enlightenment. After he thinks he's pretty much learned everything, he renounces his name, possessions, and family and leaves town with his bud Govinda (I shall be calling him Godiva like the chocolates). They live a couple years as Samana's and have no possessions, beg for food, sleep in the woods etc. The 2 of them learn how to think, wait, and fast (aka totally destroying their body by not eating). After learning all he can from the Samana's Sid and Godiva leave again to hear the Holy Budda's teachings. The 'Illustrious One' has apparently reached enlightenment and Sid's gotta go check this guy out. So Budda's all like holy and serene and Sid's like "woah this guy has reached my goal!" Godiva swears to the teachings and what not and becomes a monk. Sid's like "K Bye" and decides the only way to enlightenment to to be your own teacher instead of a follower so he decides to "walk the middle path" like Budda. Sid's already tried one extreme so what does he do next? He hangs out with Kamala, a courtesan (aka a rich prostitute), and (over time) becomes a rich merchant. He thinks life is a game and doesn't really understand "foolish common peoples" emotions. After awhile he leaves the town and almost commits suicide because be thinks he's lost the path to enlightenment. He meets Govinda again, who doesn't recognize Sid and they have a little chat and Sid ends up living with V, a Ferryman. Kamala gave birth to Sid jr. and chance happening Kamala gets bit by a poisonous snake while traveling to cross a river and lo and behold, she meets Sid and Sid meets his son! and then Kamala dies... and Sid's son is a brat and leaves Sid... but then Sid understands what it means to love blindly and stuff and he hears the river laugh at him and he suddenly becomes a holy man. V and him sit by the river and listen to it talk to them while they "Omm". Godiva comes in again to talk to the sage ferryman (Sid) and, again, doesn't recognize him. They have a chat and Godiva thinks that Sid's crazy but at the same time Sid emanates a serene aura (just like Budda) and Godiva's just like "Woah he's a holy man!"Throughout the book there's metaphors and stuff but the author makes it super obvious/ comes right out and tells you. Also with lessons and 'description' they basically say the same exact thing a couple of times as if it wasn't obvious enough. The person 'learning' isn't Sid, It's the reader. The book was ok.. most of the lessons could still be applied to modern day. A big part was that you can't have one thing without its opposite. For example, If you haven't experienced unhappiness, then you can't appreciate happiness for all that it is.