Saul Bellow
1959
Around 340 pages
Now we are back to the white man's perspective of Africa and the people who live there. Man, I can't wait until we are done with the Bellow novels on the List.
Eugene Henderson is having a mid life crisis, and feels unfulfilled, even though women want to sleep with him all the time. He's basically Holden Caulfield, all grown up. He goes on a spiritual journey to Africa and hires a native guide Romilayu. He has a series of adventures, and unwittingly becomes a Rain King, because white guys are always being crowned in these stories.
I've never clicked with Bellow's writing style, but I definitely didn't click with the story this time either. I found Eugene insufferable, and just didn't need another depiction of primitive tribes who end up worshipping a white visitor. I did enjoy the discussions between Henderson and King Dahfu, but that's about it.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Ranked number 21 on Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels in the English language.
Bellow biographer James Atlas and others have shown that quite a few passages and ideas were lifted from a book titled The Cattle Complex in East Africa written by Bellow's anthropology professor Melville Herskovits who supervised his senior thesis at Northwestern University in 1937.
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