The Adventures of Augie March (Penguin Classics) (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1953; vuoden 2006 painos)

I want to read this again. It is a rambling picaresque set mostly in Chicago (and Mexico) in the years before and during WWII. The writing is complex, and notable for
1. long, dense descriptions of characters and setting
2. characters that are shrply observed
3. similes and metaphors that are arresting: wait, what, let me reread that, oh, I'd never have seen that but it is so very apt! (on almost every page
4. allusions, both direct and indirect, to legend, myth, literature and philosophy that made me want to stop every two or three pages to learn more (but not pedantic)

The picaresque form is somewhat antiquated, but the writing more than holds one's attention and admiration ( )

I wasn't going to finish it, but then I got determined to do so. I'm glad I did, but only because I accomplished that. ( )

I've only read two books by Bellow, arguably one of the great American authors of the twentieth century. (The first was Herzog, which I read 50 years ago. I have no memory of it, and I suspect that at 16 I did not have the experience to appreciate it.) Augie March, written about 15 years earlier than Herzog, is a fascinating, but often exasperating, novel. My-husband-the-English-major, who listened to it a bit earlier, opined it was a Bildungsroman, but I saw precious little Bildung happening during Augie's Adventures. I would agree with some other Goodreads reviewers that it was more a picaresque novel -- that is, one damned thing after another. Various friends and family members tell Augie that he just lets things happen to him and will follow anyone who flatters him, and I'd agree with them, too.

Although there are major segments set in Mexico and afloat in the Atlantic, the majority of the novel is set in Chicago from the 1920s to the late 1940s. There's plenty of atmosphere, and Bellow has a good memory for the slang of the period. (At least, I assume so, as Bellow came up in this time and place.)

Others have reviewed this book better than I (Steve Sckenda here on Goodreads, for one) but I would like to mention some thoughts I had while listening.

I wish I had a dollar for every adjective Bellow used -- he loved to string them together, especially when describing people's physical appearances. He also seemed a bit fixated on handicaps and imperfections. Not only the obvious major characters -- Georgie, his developmentally-disabled brother; his weak-eyed and eventually blind mother; Einhorn, the near-quadriplegic employer -- have their handicaps pointed out. He points out the physical imperfections, great and small, of many characters. Only Augie and his girlfriends seem exempt -- and even Augie gets two teeth broken in a fight in Mexico and mentions the broken teeth several times afterwards.

Some other twentieth/twenty-first century writers -- John Updike and Richard Ford come to mind -- have revisited the same character multiple times. I almost wish Bellow had written a "Further Adventures of Augie March." He is a character almost too self-aware, but it doesn't seem to get him anywhere, and when the book ends, he is barely even 30 if I read it right. What would Augie become in 10, 20 or 30 years? Sadly, we'll never know (although he may appear in other books under other names?) Although this wasn't my favorite book of all time, I would still recommend it, and if you like audiobooks, the narrator, Tom Parker, does a great job with this one.

Not an easy read with lots of digressions and no overall plot. Some great writing and good bon mots. ( )

- easy to read
- it's long, wow, it's long
- like a decompressed Cormac McCarthy. Mr McCarthy would have studied Bellow's work closely. Bellow is much closer Cormac McCarthy that is Faulkner.
- lots of great lines, great aphorisms and ideas.
- his descriptions are not over-long. He just quickly sets detailed scenes and tries to do it in one or two sentences
- doesn't really go anywhere.
- I now know more about Augie March than about 2/3 of the people I have ever met. ( )