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gadicohen93's review
1.0
Giving up page 240. One of the most frustrating reading experiences. You drown in the character’s neurotic drivel. But in all honesty, people just don’t live or think or relate to other people in the same ways as the characters here. I could feel the artifice of Bellow’s fingers writing nonsensical word after word without any attempt to narrow down the protagonist’s anxious, tedious, obsessive soliloquies. Madeleine and Daisy and Ramona and all other romantic partners here are as flat as a matzah. Scant humor, rare flashbacks to an intriguing backstory. No thank you.
savaging's review
4.0
I can't entirely separate myself from the crew that complains this book is tedious. Only for me, it's the plot and the action that I find strained: when I can sit awhile in Herzog's thoughts as he writes his unhinged letters, I am fascinated. A flawed scholar scrabbling toward the Nature of the Universe through his own lonely ache. Moving all the way through the slime of the Real to maltheism:
And then, a movement beyond maltheism?:
I was irritated by the casual misogyny of this book, the kind that ruins early Vonnegut novels. At least in Herzog there are intelligent, interesting women, but they are largely described by how veiny their legs and thick their thighs. And oh the sad panic once they are in their 30s and going to seed. Of course this is all in the brain of a flawed narrator and I shouldn't hold it against the book itself -- but this narrator can self-analyze and question everything else he screws up, why not at least a twinge of self-loathing over his objectification of women?
But what is the philosophy of this generation? Not God is dead, that point was passed long ago. Perhaps it should be stated Death is God. This generation thinks -- and this is its thought of thoughts -- that nothing faithful, vulnerable, fragile can be durable or have any true power. Death waits for these things as a cement floor waits for a dropping light bulb. The brittle shell of glass loses its tiny vacuum with a burst, and that is that. And this is how we teach metaphysics on each other. “You think history is the history of loving hearts? You fool! Look at these millions of dead. Can you pity them, feel for them? You can nothing! There were too many. We burned them to ashes, we buried them with bulldozers. History is the history of cruelty, not love, as soft men think. We have experimented with every human capacity to see which is strong and admirable and have shown that none is. There is only practicality. If the old God exists he must be a murderer. But the one true god is Death.
And then, a movement beyond maltheism?:
Proudhon says, “God is the evil.” But after we search in the entrails of world revolution for la foi nouvelle, what happens? The victory of death, not of rationality, not of rational faith. Our own murdering imagination turns out to be the great power, our human imagination which starts by accusing God of murder. At the bottom of the whole disaster lies the human being’s sense of a grievance, and with this I want nothing more to do. It’s easier not to exist altogether than accuse God. Far more simple. Cleaner.
I was irritated by the casual misogyny of this book, the kind that ruins early Vonnegut novels. At least in Herzog there are intelligent, interesting women, but they are largely described by how veiny their legs and thick their thighs. And oh the sad panic once they are in their 30s and going to seed. Of course this is all in the brain of a flawed narrator and I shouldn't hold it against the book itself -- but this narrator can self-analyze and question everything else he screws up, why not at least a twinge of self-loathing over his objectification of women?
alexandre_rl's review against another edition
4.0
Une drôle d'expérience de lecture que cet "Herzog". Une appréciation en dents de scie également. J'ai eu beaucoup de difficulté à m'attacher à cet intellectuel prétentieux qui paraît être son propre ennemi juré. Les lettres fictives qu'il écrit à des auteurs, sociologues, philosophes et autres sommités m'ont ennuyé au plus haut point par leur hermétisme et leur pédanterie. Saul Bellow semble parfois étaler son savoir encyclopédique au détriment de son récit.
Il est cultivé, on peut lui accorder, puis quand il arrête un peu de frimer il est capable d'écrire de sublimes passages. J'ai passé les deux tiers de ma lecture à alterner entre le roulement oculaire découragé et l'admiration. Puis heureusement, le dernier tiers change un peu la trajectoire, le personnage devient plus supportable, les péripéties (si l'on peut utiliser ce terme) sont accrocheuses, l'humour fait mouche et la finale est toute en beauté. Je dirais que j'accorde un 7/10 au premier tiers, un 6/10 au second et un 8.5/10 à la dernière partie. Ça vaut tout de même la peine d'être lu, mais ça ne plaira vraiment pas à tous les publics.
Il est cultivé, on peut lui accorder, puis quand il arrête un peu de frimer il est capable d'écrire de sublimes passages. J'ai passé les deux tiers de ma lecture à alterner entre le roulement oculaire découragé et l'admiration. Puis heureusement, le dernier tiers change un peu la trajectoire, le personnage devient plus supportable, les péripéties (si l'on peut utiliser ce terme) sont accrocheuses, l'humour fait mouche et la finale est toute en beauté. Je dirais que j'accorde un 7/10 au premier tiers, un 6/10 au second et un 8.5/10 à la dernière partie. Ça vaut tout de même la peine d'être lu, mais ça ne plaira vraiment pas à tous les publics.
jzelman's review
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
okapipo's review against another edition
Second time around and I got about as far as I did 7 years ago. Sadly still a bore up until to where I've got (about half way through).
It's still quite funny and witty and I enjoyed reading it - but I just can't get myself to care about these people for 200 more pages.
It's still quite funny and witty and I enjoyed reading it - but I just can't get myself to care about these people for 200 more pages.
jess_mango's review
3.0
Hmmmm.
This was the first novel that I've read by Saul Bellow. We will catalog this one as "I can appreciate the writing but this book didn't quite do it for me".
I see from the sidebar on the goodreads page for this that "people who liked this book also liked" books by John Updike and Phillip Roth. I can totally see that. As I was reading this it very much reminded me of something by Roth.
So, this book was about a man of a certain age: Moses Herzog. He is/was a professor. He's been married a couple of times and had some other relationships with women. His life falls apart around him. He spends a lot of time pontificating, blathering, reminiscing about his childhood and about being Jewish. He's a 1960's intellectuals' intellectual. The book is told in a series of long, rambling, letters that go unsent. Nothing much happens. Just a lot of reflection and diving deep into the mind of Herzog.
So I am balancing out my rating at 3 stars. 4 for the writing, dragged down by the lack of appeal I found in the character and the general feeling of the book. For me, it as just a bit too much of Bellow trying to be overly clever and erudite.
This was the first novel that I've read by Saul Bellow. We will catalog this one as "I can appreciate the writing but this book didn't quite do it for me".
I see from the sidebar on the goodreads page for this that "people who liked this book also liked" books by John Updike and Phillip Roth. I can totally see that. As I was reading this it very much reminded me of something by Roth.
So, this book was about a man of a certain age: Moses Herzog. He is/was a professor. He's been married a couple of times and had some other relationships with women. His life falls apart around him. He spends a lot of time pontificating, blathering, reminiscing about his childhood and about being Jewish. He's a 1960's intellectuals' intellectual. The book is told in a series of long, rambling, letters that go unsent. Nothing much happens. Just a lot of reflection and diving deep into the mind of Herzog.
So I am balancing out my rating at 3 stars. 4 for the writing, dragged down by the lack of appeal I found in the character and the general feeling of the book. For me, it as just a bit too much of Bellow trying to be overly clever and erudite.
avidreadr's review
5.0
will forever be a reminder of my Chicago days <3 reading this outside in chicago parks during the amazing summers ...priceless
hmmmhamburgers's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
violetturtledove's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This is such a strange, rambling and neurotic book, it's difficult to know what to say about it. It's much more about thought than action. Some of the thoughts are heavily philosophical and to be honest, more highbrow than I am able to follow. Or maybe they are intentionally muddled, after all Herzog may be losing his mind.
But other parts are very evocative, I able to appreciate the feelings even if I didn't quite understand the theory! It's a slow one to reflect on, and I'm sure if you have the patience for re-reading you would understand it a little more each time.
Ultimately, I'm reluctant to rate this one especially high or low as it didn't fully click with me but I appreciate that it has many layers to it and they just weren't all for me. But sometimes the only way to judge a book is by the feeling you get at the end, and in this case I felt pretty satisfied and content.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia