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Loading... Seize the Day (original 1956; edition 2003)by Saul Bellow, Cynthia Ozick (Introduction)
Work InformationSeize the Day by Saul Bellow (Author) (1956)
1950s (31) 20th Century Literature (243) » 15 more Favourite Books (478) Books Read in 2010 (12) Short and Sweet (159) Books Read in 2021 (4,653) Nifty Fifties (45) Well-Educated Mind (133) A Novel Cure (546) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Reason read: my TBR takedown selection for October 2023. I generally like Bellows. This was a so so book for me. A story of a man who fails at everything and gets used and abused by all; his father, his wife, and acquaintances. Phrases from my copy;“raging soul that mirrors the color, sound, and fury of Saul Bellow’s big-city fictional universe.” It is more a story of a man who fails at his dreams, wants to get rich easy, meets up with the end of all man. ( ) Seize the Day (Paperback) by Saul Bellow is a diversion from my usual reading of historical non-fiction. After two "Holocaust" books in a row (both excellent) I figured I could "lighten it up" a little with the change. Previously I read another Bellow novel, Herzog, and one of this few non-fiction works, To Jerusalem and Back. Curiously, I like his writing, even though it is very much from the period of the prime of his life, the 1950's and 1960's. If I hoped for a lighter, more relaxing read I didn't find it. The book was depressing at the beginning, and grew more so until it ended with his sobbing violently at a stranger's funeral. Nevertheless, reading this book reminded me of the value of reading non-fiction for its deep dives into people's lives. The genre does liberate the author from having to be faithful to any set of facts. You can be sure I'll be back for more. I may re-read Herzog, which I read for high-school English in the spring on 1975 and only vaguely remember. Wilhelm is the failing son of Dr Adler, who has given up on him; he has deserted his wife and two kids, and now lost all his money in a very silly way to a trickster Tamkin, who at times sounds as though he is in a hypomanic state. He once screen tested for the movies, he once looked good, but no more. Most of the writing is about his self pitying ramblings. No I didn't like it, but it was at least only 1/4 inch thick. Meh. I think this was a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. Honestly, just didn’t want to read about another poor me white man who can’t live up to his father’s expectations. A bit like Ulysses, the novel tags Place over the course of one day. It’s also a bit like Death of a Salesman, with one man feeling like he’s failed his family. It’s not bad, it just felt like the story of someone who never really grew up and is complaining about how life isn’t fair.
It is the intense world of the ordinary, the mean daily detail, the outrage of being alive, the existential sense of one's self as human creature, which is bravely at the center of Mr. Bellow's fiction. Each detail is cruel, plain, irremediable, yet one feels that it is about to burst forth into the radiance of consciousness. Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs contained inRomanzi 1: 1944-1959 (Danglng Man; The Victim; The Adventures of Augie March; Seize the Day; Henderson the Rain King) by Saul Bellow Has as a student's study guide
Classic Literature.
Fiction.
HTML: Fading charmer Tommy Wilhelm has reached his day of reckoning and is scared. In his forties, he still retains a boyish impetuousness that has brought him to the brink of chaos: he is separated from his wife and children; at odds with his vain, successful father; failed in his acting career (a Hollywood agent once placed him as "the type that loses the girl"); and in a financial mess. In the course of one climactic day he reviews his past mistakes and spiritual malaise, until a mysterious, philosophizing con man grants him a glorious, illuminating moment of truth and understanding and offers him one last hope. .No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Penguin AustraliaAn edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia. |