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A review by nicole_reads_everything
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
3.0
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER: 1976
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Way too fucking long.
The writing was brilliant, and there were definitely aspects I enjoyed, but the pacing here was dead slow--we don't even get to "Humboldt's Gift" until nearly 3/4 into the book. Lots of random tangents, and I found Charlie, the main character, to be incredibly aggravating. He's surrounded by a bunch of wild characters who seem mostly out to fleece him of his money and take advantage of him, and he constantly lets himself be bullied into doing things he doesn't want, all while making continuous excuses for the behavior of everybody around him. I wanted to fucking shake him and tell him to stand up for himself! He's quite self-involved and almost *too* self-aware, and while there are some great lines and moments of prose, and I was more engaged than I expected, a lot of it is either tedious or frustrating.
===
Way too fucking long.
The writing was brilliant, and there were definitely aspects I enjoyed, but the pacing here was dead slow--we don't even get to "Humboldt's Gift" until nearly 3/4 into the book. Lots of random tangents, and I found Charlie, the main character, to be incredibly aggravating. He's surrounded by a bunch of wild characters who seem mostly out to fleece him of his money and take advantage of him, and he constantly lets himself be bullied into doing things he doesn't want, all while making continuous excuses for the behavior of everybody around him. I wanted to fucking shake him and tell him to stand up for himself! He's quite self-involved and almost *too* self-aware, and while there are some great lines and moments of prose, and I was more engaged than I expected, a lot of it is either tedious or frustrating.