Seize the Day

Darkly comedic, a tale of a man with a head full of dreams and a life full of failures, desperate to turn his luck around past 40. The main problem with the novella is that the central trouble of the thing is made plain by the protagonist. There are no surprises here, he spells it all out for you, even as it happens. Despite the same God's eye view of the author the protagonist is seemingly unable to predict what befalls him.

Saul Bellow's short novel is sort of an anti-Ulysses. We follow a day in the life of Tommy Wilhelm, a failed actor, failed husband, failed father and failed son. As in Ulysses, we follow the middle-aged man as he wanders the city (New York this time). He eats, he talks, he considers things to say and things he wishes he'd said. Through all these interactions we see Tommy's flaws: his shortsightedness, his willingness to be led by people he trusts, whether family or con-men, his impulsiveness. Unlike Leopold Bloom (who planned to attend Dingam's funeral), Tommy is swept up by a passing crowd of mourners, but the experience provides a catharsis for the many failures that he has brought upon himself.

The short, declarative, plucky, title of this novella, Seize the Day, is suggestive of the muscular writing style within. There's a punchiness there along with the intelligence, keen observations of time and place, and psychological and emotional truthfulness. It's as if the protagonist, Tommy Wilhelm, is fighting for his life on what is perhaps the worst day of his life. Tommy is a bit soft but his dad, Doctor Adler, is emotionally distant and tough. Fellow resident of the Hotel Gloriana "doctor" Tamkin is shady. New York City itself, with its enormity, complexity, diversity, concrete, ugliness, overwhelming humanity, heat, light, noise, and anonymity, is a character in and of itself, and not a particularly likeable one. Seize the Day show more takes place in a single day, and traces Tommy's gradual unwinding. But though the actions are limited to a single day, we see that what leads up to the climactic ending, is the overwhelming weight of a lifetime of decisions and choices. Most readers can probably identify with Tommy and sympathize with him. Like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, with which this has a striking similarity, Tommy is a stand in for us all. An Everyman in a country that can be very unforgiving to those who are not "winners." show less

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 is a difficult book to read, and at first hard to grasp. The main character of the novel, Tommy Wilhelm is an anti-hero. Perhaps this is why the novel is so hard to tackle, as it offers the reader very little to sympathize with its main character. In fact, by the end of the novel, which plays out over the course of a day, the reader thoroughly despises T和main character, unable to feel any compassion or pity for him.

Tommy Wilhelm, whose real name is Wilhem Adler, is a failure. A career in the theatre exists only in him own mind, as he keeps telling himself his career to stardom is just waiting to take off. It is obvious, that his father, Dr. Adler, who appears as a towering and solid rock beside whimpish Tommy, believes show more his son is beyond help, pitying him in his judgement and inability to take his good council. Although they broke up four years earlier, Tommy's wife must be regarded as truly loyal and devoted in her relentless belief that Tommy can still be and should be the breadwinner of their family. She more or less treats him as a spoilt child, who does not want to take responsibility. As his childish name, Tommy, suggests, Wilhelm's faulty judgement is not only in ignoring his well-wishers, but also following wrong advise. Not only his judgement is impaired, he is not even sure to recognize people for who they are, least of all himself.

I had to read Seize the day three times to make any sense of it, and reading it backwards was the most helpful, as obviously, the culmination and the most telling scenes, for instance, the long telephone call with his wife, occur towards the end of the novel.

Seize the day was written in in the 1950s, but makes more sense being set in the late 1930s or early 1940s. Besides his inability to see himself in the right light, he also hangs on to a lifestyle which clearly isn't his. He lives in the same hotel as his father, in an area where many retired and old people live. Wilhelm fails to capture the spirit of the new epoch. As the American Dream started to take shape, the work ethos of Americans changed to exult "hard work" as the key to success for everyone. Tommy spent seven years in Hollywood to be ready for his career in the theatre. He still hold on to hope, speculation and expectation, much to the irritation of the people around him. However, deep inside he does seem to know what is expected of him, as he looks into the distorting and shadowy mirror and wonders: "He had put forth plent of effort, but that was not the same as working hard, was it?" (p.5). show less

Tamkin was a charlatan, and furthermore he was desperate. And furthermore, Wilhelm had always known it about him. But he appeared to have worked it out at the back of his mind that Tamkin for thirty or forty years had gotten though many a tight place, that he would get through this crisis too and bring him, Wilhelm, to safety also. And Wilhelm realized that he was on Tamkin's back. It made him feel that he had virtually left the ground and was riding upon the other man. He was in the air. It was for Tamkin to take the steps.

The story of a day in the life of a man who sees himself as having failed at life, on the day his precarious financial situation comes to a head. Having left his wife and children and given up his job, he is living show more in the same residential hotel as his widowed father, who is entirely unsympathetic to his plight.

Tommy Wilhelm's life has been one long series of bad decisions, starting with leaving university for Hollywood even though the agent who gave him a screen test was discouraging about his chances. He never seizes the day, but passively waits and hopes for someone, whether his father or Dr. Tamkin, to save him from himself. show less

This novella, which took me longer to read than Pride and Prejudice, was not a quick and easy read. The picture depicted on the front cover of a man looking up at the very tall RCA Building (ominous/overbearing) and my memories of the phrase "seize the day" from the movie "The Dead Poet's Society" (suicide) set a tone to this novella - maybe unjustly. I felt the despair and desperation of Tommy Wilhelm from the start. His life was miserable and he could not seem to do anything right. The "answer" was not to be found easily. His strained relationship with his father felt oddly familar. He wanted his approval desperately. Their conversations which revolved around finances were reminescent of conversations I have had with my own parents. I show more even felt embarassment for Tommy when he was driven to write a note to his father asking him to pay his hotel expenses. I felt like he should have had "his life together" by now. Tommy is a man in his early to mid forties with a wife and two children. As the novella progresses, Tommy appears to be in a downward spiral. It seems to be heading towards a tragic end - I fear Tommy will commit suicide. Tommy's last $700 has been invested in lard at the advice of a new friend. The current price of lard doesn't look good. The final chapters really captured me - Tommy is at the stock exchange watching the prices and is tangled up in the consequences of his own decisions and character flaws, the value of relationships, his own coping skills and ability to express thoughts, emotions, concern. I look forward to reading this novella again. show less