Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow ISBN: 0-14-018941-6 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91 (34 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A treatise of personal freedom
Comment: Saul Bellow writing is very poetic and beautifully scripted - it's not straightforward to read, but then again since Bellow is examining the purposes of our lives, I wouldn't expect the novel and writing style to oversimplify our predicament. Augie is a poor Jewish boy growing up in Chicago - "that somber city" - in a broken home with his dictatorial Grandmother, abandoned mother, and two diametrically opposed brothers (Simon and George.) He finds his brother Simon obsessed with material facts and riches that he cannot possess. Whereas Augie maintains a carefree life experimenting and dabbling with various encounters with different people and places in Chicago, Mexico, and Europe - never quite satisfied or convinced of the importance of each situation. Augie resists the Machiavellian pursuits of his older brother Simon, and is willing to live as a pauper, and as a result, not be controlled by money, wives, children, and especially responsibilities.
Augie's plight is like any other introspective journey. What is my purpose? Why am I here? Bellow, I believe tries to not necessarily answer this question, but rather appreciates the quandary that many of us find ourselves in. At one point Augie's epiphany - the essential and natural course and purpose of life is each person's axial lines. Freedom of thought and emotions - and love our what keeps Augie in line with his purpose.
This is not an easy book to read, but a fascinating and poetic journey that requires time and patience from the reader. I am considering reading it again to soak in all of the details I missed. I wholeheartedly recommend this book; despite the ruminations of other reviewers that took offense to the existential tract of Saul Bellow, I believe that whether you believe in a chaotic or an ordered loving universe - either way you'll find the book interesting and the dilemma facing humans an interesting mess. The book took me 5 weeks to read - I have a voracious appetite for books and usually read them in much less time - so those of you considering reading this book - make sure you are in it for the long haul!
Rating: 4
Summary: A unique coming-of-age story
Comment: "The Adventures of Augie March" is a coming-of-age story about a young man who grows up in a working-class Jewish neighborhood of Chicago in the first half of the 20th century. Augie is intelligent and articulate, but he seems to wander through life passively with no definite goals and not many interests. As the Depression hits, he is forced to postpone his academic pursuits in order to make a living, taking a wide variety of odd jobs, including stealing books, organizing labor unions, and working as a research assistant to an eccentric wealthy man writing a book about wealthy people. Eventually he decides to become a schoolteacher, but even this profession is relatively short-lived. The novel culminates in Augie's discovery that he must align himself with the "axial lines" of his life.
Augie's "adventures" consist mainly of his getting entangled in various affairs of his relatives, friends, girlfriends, and employers. These episodes range dramatically from his nearly getting caught by the police in a stolen car, to his accompaniment of his friend Mimi to an abortionist and her subsequent grave illness (probably a bold thing to write about at the time), to helping his girlfriend Thea train an eagle to hunt lizards in Mexico. (Thea finds, to her frustration, that she can train neither the eagle nor Augie.) This is a bizarre assortment of events, but the depiction of each is strangely realistic and unique.
The narration is masterfully constructed with Bellow's erudite prose and penchant for rich description. Reading this novel is challenging but ultimately rewarding.
Rating: 4
Summary: He Tries!
Comment: He is a good-hearted young man who tries to make a go of it, but, as Stella says, falls into the whims and desires of so many people he meets. He is taken along on a trip to smuggle people form Canada, goes along with his brother's whims and practically marries a woman chosen for him, goes to the shore with an employer, who wants to adopt him, runs off to Mexico with a strange woman and her eagle, ends up in Europe with yet another woman he doesn't say no to, and finds that marriage is less than he would have wanted. He doesn't seem to be able to take control of his own life. Undoubtedly there are many people like this, good hearted with a streak of innocence, but winding up with something less than success. And throughout the book one can see Bellow's disenchantment with rampant Capitalism, which is evident with the successful men in Augies experiences. I like Augie, and I sympathize with him. It's a good read . . get to know him, and learn about yourself.
 |
Title: Herzog by Saul Bellow, Philip Roth ISBN: 0142437298 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Humboldt's Gift (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Saul Bellow ISBN: 0140189440 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Henderson the Rain King (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Saul Bellow ISBN: 0140189424 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: Collected Stories by Saul Bellow, James Wood, Janis Bellow ISBN: 0142001643 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Mr. Sammler's Planet (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by Saul Bellow, Stanley Crouch ISBN: 014018936X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
