"Man loses everything, finds himself." In 487 boring pages. Or it could be a modern Pilgrim's Progress, since every character seems to be a prop, foil, or soundboard for the narrator, who uses them to expound on his theories of life. The characters should have been named Greed, Avarice, Sloth, etc.
So I guess you can tell I'm not very impressed. Characters I don't care about or identify with (including the narrator), minor characters that are just cardboard, and the narrative is overloaded with phony intellectual arguments.
But it's better than the Updike novels, although that is not saying much. In the spirit of Faulkner's advice, I read everything, and learn from the good as well as the bad.
Of course this is a pulitzer winner, and Bellow also won a Nobel prize. What does that say about my opinions?
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