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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Книга о писателе, который постоянно вспоминает о жизни своего друга-писателя. И все эти воспоминания, конечно же, порождают у человека творческого мысли о философском-вечном. Наверное, я просто не доросла до таких умных штук, потому что уже на средине книги устала от нон-стоп вращения героя вокруг метафизики, антропософии, раздумий о жизни и смерти.
Все очень затянуто. В какой-то момент главный герой начинает дико бесить, потому что все его философские мысли подавались через призму какой-то жалости и неуверенности в себе.
Но были и неплохие моменты в книге: нотки иронии, которые прям очень хороши; приличное количество ссылок на исторических персон; понравилось, как главному герою от реального мира прилетала пощечина (суд с бывшей женой, разборки с мафиози, изменившая любовница, банкротство ), когда он сильно нырял в познание духовности человека.
В итоге в голове осталось смазанное и не сильно интересное пятно.
Все очень затянуто. В какой-то момент главный герой начинает дико бесить, потому что все его философские мысли подавались через призму какой-то жалости и неуверенности в себе.
Но были и неплохие моменты в книге: нотки иронии, которые прям очень хороши; приличное количество ссылок на исторических персон; понравилось, как главному герою от реального мира прилетала пощечина (суд с бывшей женой, разборки с мафиози, изменившая любовница, банкротство ), когда он сильно нырял в познание духовности человека.
В итоге в голове осталось смазанное и не сильно интересное пятно.
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Long awaited satisfaction. A sighing relief. After Augie March, the Saul Bellow reader must endure some slow-paced puzzlers and just plain duds. Humboldt's Gift gives that familiar feel reminding us of Bellow's best. The jaunty swing of a Chicago kid growing up. The obscure references that keep coming. It's Augie March again but an aged and matured version of it. Augie's course through life is more frolicsome and youthful. Charles Citrine's walk is soaked and littered with thoughts of death, with scars and gashes suffered from the gnarled nails of greedy hands, and with the weight of old age. Perhaps Humboldt's Gift is to be enjoyed by the more experienced reader, one who has ridden the upswings and the falls himself. The comparison between Augie and Humboldt is like one between Frank Sinatra's voice in the Columbia years and that of the Reprise years. The former is admired for its pure ring and is considered more musically aesthetic. The latter has a prominent rasp picked up from years of age and fight. It's not as clean a voice but it is appreciated by a listener who understands pain, maybe because he believes he has found an expression of the way he himself hurts.
A dominating theme in Humboldt is the materialistic American culture and its treatment of literary figures and works. For one who might be used to seeing literary culture overlooked or disdained, it is strange to see litigious predators swiftly circling promising products of writing talent. The opposition which is advanced is formidable. Citrine falls before it by resisting it and losing. Humboldt is maddened and possessed by it as if by a contagion.
One can't help wonder if Humboldt is autobiographical. I'm not talking event-wise, of course it was, as the book is a roman à clef of Bellow's friendship with Delmore Schwartz. I'm thinking more of Bellow's own reflections on aging and death. Bellow was only 60 when Humboldt was released and he would go on to live 30 more years. But in Humboldt, there was a feeling of a triumphant return to what Bellow does well to ensure his place, a place already firmly secured. A parting shot, or even better, a parting gift to us. If you ask me, he absolutely nailed it.
A dominating theme in Humboldt is the materialistic American culture and its treatment of literary figures and works. For one who might be used to seeing literary culture overlooked or disdained, it is strange to see litigious predators swiftly circling promising products of writing talent. The opposition which is advanced is formidable. Citrine falls before it by resisting it and losing. Humboldt is maddened and possessed by it as if by a contagion.
One can't help wonder if Humboldt is autobiographical. I'm not talking event-wise, of course it was, as the book is a roman à clef of Bellow's friendship with Delmore Schwartz. I'm thinking more of Bellow's own reflections on aging and death. Bellow was only 60 when Humboldt was released and he would go on to live 30 more years. But in Humboldt, there was a feeling of a triumphant return to what Bellow does well to ensure his place, a place already firmly secured. A parting shot, or even better, a parting gift to us. If you ask me, he absolutely nailed it.
Perhaps you must be of a certain age and a certain sensitivity for this book to hit with full force. For whatever reason, Humboldt was a direct haymaker to the head.
The juxtaposition of musings on (im)mortality with the scenes illustrating the absurdity and banality of life. The direct narrative from an internationally recognized author who struggles to think of himself as a success.
Humboldt hovers over it all like the ghost he is and gets the name recognition but Cantabile, ah Cantabile steals every scene he’s in. Social climber and would-be intellectual gangster, he’s going to stick with me for a long time.
Finally this book is going into my short list of those with perfect titles. Humboldt’s Gift…obviously there’s the physical package he leaves behind for the narrator, but there’s also his formidable literary talent, his mentorship, and maybe most importantly his life lived absolutely without compromise, the life the narrator seems to hate himself for not having the courage to pursue.
The juxtaposition of musings on (im)mortality with the scenes illustrating the absurdity and banality of life. The direct narrative from an internationally recognized author who struggles to think of himself as a success.
Humboldt hovers over it all like the ghost he is and gets the name recognition but Cantabile, ah Cantabile steals every scene he’s in. Social climber and would-be intellectual gangster, he’s going to stick with me for a long time.
Finally this book is going into my short list of those with perfect titles. Humboldt’s Gift…obviously there’s the physical package he leaves behind for the narrator, but there’s also his formidable literary talent, his mentorship, and maybe most importantly his life lived absolutely without compromise, the life the narrator seems to hate himself for not having the courage to pursue.
Like many of the prize winners that I have been reading over the past year, the book is good, but goes on for too long. Too much prose that for me, loaded things down for too long. Which is why, I suppose, I am not a scholar. The sections I loved, I truly loved. But then things would get bogged down in words and more words that added nothing to the story for me.
I'm a huge Bellow fan (Henderson the Rain King is one of my favorite books, and I loved reading Augie March last year), but I found this one very difficult to get through. While Bellow's intense intellectual style is always a challenge, his focus on anthroposophy (look it up) as a central theme for his main character made this an even more challenging read than usual. Interesting, but too difficult to really love.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ugh. Pretentious white men.