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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
“Maybe time was invented so that misery might have an end?”
Eugene Henderson could possibly be the most magnificent protagonist since Fitzgerald conjured up Jay Gatsby. Henderson is a hot mess. He’s rich, he’s strong, he’s bursting with testosterone, and yet he’s hopelessly well-intentioned and painfully lovable. This is every bit as good as Bellow’s Seize the Day, if not just a wee bit better!
Eugene Henderson could possibly be the most magnificent protagonist since Fitzgerald conjured up Jay Gatsby. Henderson is a hot mess. He’s rich, he’s strong, he’s bursting with testosterone, and yet he’s hopelessly well-intentioned and painfully lovable. This is every bit as good as Bellow’s Seize the Day, if not just a wee bit better!
kind of like having a malaria-induced hallucination the whole time you are reading it.
"I don't think the struggles of desire can ever be won. Ages of longing and willing, willing and longing, and how have they ended? In a draw, dust and dust."
Until the last three chapters, I was worried this would be the first so-so Bellow book I'd read. Not to worry. The long trek through the African bush with our boisterous protagonist is totally worth it. (And you're under no pressure to lift a large stone sculpture.) Bellow strikes a nice balance between humor and pathos, concluding the book with a few set pieces that are riveting, funny, ecstatic and sad. It's as if the last part of the book freed him to write the masterpieces that came soon after.
"If I don't get carried away, I don't accomplish anything." Amen, Henderson.
Until the last three chapters, I was worried this would be the first so-so Bellow book I'd read. Not to worry. The long trek through the African bush with our boisterous protagonist is totally worth it. (And you're under no pressure to lift a large stone sculpture.) Bellow strikes a nice balance between humor and pathos, concluding the book with a few set pieces that are riveting, funny, ecstatic and sad. It's as if the last part of the book freed him to write the masterpieces that came soon after.
"If I don't get carried away, I don't accomplish anything." Amen, Henderson.
Although I can't tell this is a bad book, at the same time I can't say it satisfied me completely. Maybe one point is the main character is so unpleasant that even in the best of itself, the book seemed to me lacking something. I did not expect there was some humour as well. I liked the descriptions made about Africa and anyway enjoyed some of the adventures, but to be true I wouldn't know who to recommend this book to...
Read my full thoughts on this book and hundreds more over at Read.Write.Repeat.
The book is a nice diversion from some of the more morose books on the list. This one, despite its serious content at times, still had an element of Henderson's care-free nature infused into the prose. Just as with Henderson, the depth and searching lurks beneath the surface and is there if you dig deep enough.
The book is a nice diversion from some of the more morose books on the list. This one, despite its serious content at times, still had an element of Henderson's care-free nature infused into the prose. Just as with Henderson, the depth and searching lurks beneath the surface and is there if you dig deep enough.
I understand the Counting Crows Song now.
It's about an existential and bipolar Donald Trump fucking off to Africa.
It's about an existential and bipolar Donald Trump fucking off to Africa.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In a way, this was the perfect book to read after Nelson Mandela's autobiography. It's one of the most ridiculous cases of 'othering' Africa I've come across. A rich old man goes to Africa to find himself, only to get tangled up in one huge, extended metaphor with a lion. And while I didn't care for the majority of the book, the last ten pages push it over the top, where he brings a lion cub home with him on a plane, and decides to take in a Persian orphan. What the hell, Saul Bellow? Can we posthumously stip him of his Nobel Prize?
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An imaginative, and often bizarre, story of a man's journey to tribal Africa in search of something he can't even name, a yearning that expresses itself in a relentless inner voice crying, "I want, I want!" Henderson the Rain King ends up as a crazy adventure of mishaps and unforeseen circumstances that ultimately compel Henderson to dig to the depths of his soul.