Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I fist discovered Saul Bellow over ten years ago, and have read a book of his every two or three years since. So far, he hasn't been bad enough to give up on, but also not amazing enough to obsess over. I think the reason I've stayed with him is because he's Jewish and I try to read as many Jewish writers as I can. Herzog felt different though. Bellow's books are slow and dense and have always taken me around 100 pages to get into a groove. Not Herzog though, this book had me interested from the first page.
Moses Herzog—the protagonist—is similar to main characters in every Bellow book I've read so far. He's a middle aged, intellectual man who comes from somewhat of a shady background. He's in the midst of an existential crisis, or maybe a full mental breakdown, and he blames most of his misery (and a lot of his joy) on the women he has been with. Herzog's way of dealing with his slow decline is to write letters. So many letters. Previously he had written well-received novels, but he hit a wall trying to write his magnum opus, so now he just writes letters. He writes letters to people from his past who have screwed him over; to famous thinkers he wants to argue with; even to a handful of dead people. There's no evidence that he actually mails any of these letters with the exception of a couple for his son and daughter.
Bellow's style in this book is a bit strange. Mostly the way he consistently switches between first and third person, sometimes in the middle of a paragraph. Herzog will be thinking about something related to himself and it will be from his perspective, but suddenly it will switch to a faceless narrator talking about Herzog. It wasn't confusing enough to throw me off for too long, but it was enough to confuse and annoy me at times. I assume it was done to help us grasp Herzog's fractured psyche.
We get to read many of Herzog's letters; some are boring, some are funny, some are sad; he has a lot of good ideas and doesn't hesitate to share them with whoever pops into his head. We also gain a lot of insight into his mental state and what led up to it by these letters. Still, the sheer number felt a bit excessive, and it slowed the pace of the book on a few occasions.
Herzog is overly-educated but not plugged into enough of a community to share his ideas with. This can be lonley—when you can notice things and have thoughts that most people can't—and we can see it take it's toll on Moses. He's hella ambitious, but he's also broken and therefore unable to follow through on any of his ideas. Although I can't remember the exact places where this happens, Herzog expresses some radical ideas that make me wish he was a real person in my life.
Herzog, like most of Bellow's leading men, comes from a dubious background; his dad was a bootlegger, among other criminal occupations, and one of his brothers is extremely rich because he's a bit of a gangster. This is another big way that I relate to Herzog. Although neither my family history nor my current situation are as extreme as his, we both have a big intellect without sacrificing our ability to be a bit rough and break laws.
I also love the way his Jewishness plays out in the book. He's not obsessed with it; in fact, he's not religious at all, but his tone is unmistakably Jewish—dark, self-deprecating, anxious, and constantly overthinking. Oh boy, can I relate.
I don't regret a single moment of the 371 pages I read. Even during the somewhat boring parts, I was excited to turn the pages and see what came next. I was curious and anxious to learn what happens to Moses Herzog. If you like these kinds of books, you like these kinds of books, and you should read this one. If it's not up your alley, move on. Jewish literature will always draw me in, and if you're the same, go check this book out.