Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow

This book is a little bizarre, but strangely satisfying.

Henderson is a large, well-to-do middle-aged man who feels unfulfilled with his life.  He decides to go to Africa.  In Africa he sets out on his own with only a native guide.  He tries to help local tribes, but is too bumbling in his efforts to actually help.  His actions tend to be rather comic, although he also engages in philosophical wonderings and discussions during the course of the book, which is one of the reasons I find the book bizarre.  Another is because at the end (spoiler alert!) there is no indication of whether he actually found what he was looking for or if he still has the inner voice saying, "I want, I want, I want."  The book does end hopefully, though, as he decides to return home.

This book can be a little long; I found the philosophical passages especially hard to get through and even skipped part of a particularly long one!  It is definitely worth the time, though, and is interesting and very well written.

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