The Adventures of Augie March (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) | Saul Bellow

The Adventures of Augie March (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) | Saul Bellow | More perspiration than inspiration...

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	The Adventures of Augie March (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) Saul Bellow Penguin Classics, 1996 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 65 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

How does one find oneself?

In the course of his search for the meaning of life Augie March takes us through some pretty amazing chapters of experience, moving randomly from one rather unconventional situation onto another as it develops, taking things in, reflecting on his motives and decisions. Most of the book is set in and around Chicago in the 30s, but he also travels to other interesting places. The book is dense to read, like a thickly woven textile with many layers; I sometimes had to read a paragraph over as the denseness plays tricks with syntax in a way you have to get used to. Was Bellow loquacious? (Must find out.) He certainly writes as if, the words just come boiling out like a volcano, and always spot-on to convey the exact precise point. And his characters! So many are there, extraordinary, idiosyncratic, self-contained (Bateshaw, the maniac ship's carpenter; Mintouchian, the worldly-wise Armenian lawyer.) A chance description makes your hair stand on end, e.g., when Caligula the eagle lands on Thea's outstretched arm. Or when he first meets Renee, his brother's disastrous mistress. No one writes like this, no one.

After a bit the sheer range, breadth, and stature of this work start to sink in. Bellow certainly sets the standard.

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More perspiration than inspiration...

There seems to be a lot of hyperbolic praise for this book...and I can't figure out why. I gave it five stars, true, but, in terms of all-time, world-class literature...it barely breaks the surface. A better bildungsroman--by far--is Of Human Bondage. I recommend the book, but it won't be a transformative experience, or a tour-de-force that will leave you open-mouthed. In fact, it kinda goes astray when the action shifts to Mexico...but you won't regret reading the book. You may wonder what all the fuss was about, though.

The Best Novel EVER to come out of 20th Cent. America

Forgive me for gushing, but this is a work unequaled among modern American novels. Bellow's novels are invariably thoughtful, playful, funny and profound, and this is his greatest.

No, (as the reviews below attest) its not a novel to dip into between servings of the latest pablum masking as literature. It takes a little work on the reader's part, as do all of Bellow's works, but the pay-off is enormous.

It's instructive that reviewers below who've panned the book haven't read other Bellow before coming to Augie March. Bellow's writing style - long, elegant sentences full of digressions and asides - can be difficult until you find their rythmn, which typically takes 50-100 pages, but once you do the poetry of the book carries you along with little effort. And Augie March is the densest of Bellow's books, so the learning curve can be longer than usual, certainly when you havent read other Bellow.

Stick with the book. like all great literature, it rewards concentrated reading.

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