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Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
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Seize the Day (original 1956; edition 2003)

by Saul Bellow, Cynthia Ozick (Introduction)

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2,577415,668 (3.54)134
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.

.… (more)
Member:thelotusqueen
Title:Seize the Day
Authors:Saul Bellow
Other authors:Cynthia Ozick (Introduction)
Info:Penguin Classics (2003), Paperback, 144 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:unread

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Seize the Day by Saul Bellow (Author) (1956)

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» See also 134 mentions

English (38)  Spanish (2)  Dutch (1)  All languages (41)
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
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. ( )
  Kristelh | Oct 5, 2023 |
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. ( )
  JBGUSA | Jan 2, 2023 |
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. ( )
  oataker | Dec 24, 2020 |
More mid-life male angst. ( )
  Chica3000 | Dec 11, 2020 |
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. ( )
  bookworm12 | Dec 6, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
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.
 

» Add other authors (15 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Bellow, SaulAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kaloyanova-Vasileva, IrinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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When it came to concealing his troubles, Tommy Wilhelm was not less capable than the next fellow.
Quotations
“Oh, God,” Wilhelm prayed, “Let me out of my trouble. Let me out of my thoughts, and let me do something better with myself. For all the time I have wasted I am very sorry. Let me out of this clutch and into a different life. For I am all balled up. Have mercy."
Bringing people into the here-and-now. The real universe. That's the present moment. The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real--the here-and-now. Seize the day.
...in Los Angeles all the loose objects in the country were collected, as if America had been tilted and everything that wasn’t tightly screwed down had slid into Southern California.
Everyone was like the faces on a playing card, upside down either way.
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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.

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Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

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