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The Actual
The story behind The Actual belongs to Harry Trellman, an aging, astute businessman who has never belonged anywhere.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1997
28 people are currently reading
1079 people want to read
About the author
Saul Bellow
251 books1,953 followersNovels of Saul Bellow, Canadian-American writer, include
Dangling Man
in 1944 and
Humboldt's Gift
in 1975 and often concern an alienated individual within an indifferent society; he won the Nobel Prize of 1976 for literature.
People widely regard one most important Saul Bellow of the 20th century. Known for his rich prose, intellectual depth, and incisive character studies, Bellow explored themes of identity and the complexities of modern life with a distinct voice that fused philosophical insight and streetwise humor. Herzog , The Adventures of Augie March , and Mister Sammler’s Planet , his major works, earned critical acclaim and a lasting legacy.
Born in Lachine, Quebec, to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Saul Bellow at a young age moved with his family to Chicago, a city that shaped much worldview and a frequent backdrop in his fiction. He studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and later Northwestern, and his intellectual interests deeply informed him. Bellow briefly pursued graduate studies in anthropology, quickly turned, and first published.
Breakthrough of Saul Bellow came with The Adventures of Augie March , a sprawling, exuberance that in 1953 marked the national book award and a new direction in fiction. With energetic language and episodic structure, it introduced readers to a new kind of unapologetically intellectual yet deeply grounded hero in the realities of urban life. Over the following decades, Bellow produced a series of acclaimed that further cemented his reputation. In Herzog , considered his masterpiece in 1964, a psychological portrait of inner turmoil of a troubled academic unfolds through a series of unsent letters, while a semi-autobiographical reflection on art and fame gained the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1976, people awarded human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture of Saul Bellow. He only thrice gained the national book award for fiction and also received the medal of arts and the lifetime achievement of the library of Congress.
Beyond fiction, Saul Bellow, a passionate essayist, taught. He held academic positions at institutions, such as the University of Minnesota, Princeton, and Boston University, and people knew his sharp intellect and lively classroom presence. Despite his stature, Bellow cared about ordinary people and infused his work with humor, moral reflection, and a deep appreciation of contradictions of life.
People can see influence of Saul Bellow in the work of countless followers. His uniquely and universally resonant voice ably combined the comic, the profound, the intellectual, and the visceral. He continued into his later years to publish his final Ravelstein in 2000.
People continue to read work of Saul Bellow and to celebrate its wisdom, vitality, and fearless examination of humanity in a chaotic world.
People widely regard one most important Saul Bellow of the 20th century. Known for his rich prose, intellectual depth, and incisive character studies, Bellow explored themes of identity and the complexities of modern life with a distinct voice that fused philosophical insight and streetwise humor. Herzog , The Adventures of Augie March , and Mister Sammler’s Planet , his major works, earned critical acclaim and a lasting legacy.
Born in Lachine, Quebec, to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Saul Bellow at a young age moved with his family to Chicago, a city that shaped much worldview and a frequent backdrop in his fiction. He studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and later Northwestern, and his intellectual interests deeply informed him. Bellow briefly pursued graduate studies in anthropology, quickly turned, and first published.
Breakthrough of Saul Bellow came with The Adventures of Augie March , a sprawling, exuberance that in 1953 marked the national book award and a new direction in fiction. With energetic language and episodic structure, it introduced readers to a new kind of unapologetically intellectual yet deeply grounded hero in the realities of urban life. Over the following decades, Bellow produced a series of acclaimed that further cemented his reputation. In Herzog , considered his masterpiece in 1964, a psychological portrait of inner turmoil of a troubled academic unfolds through a series of unsent letters, while a semi-autobiographical reflection on art and fame gained the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1976, people awarded human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture of Saul Bellow. He only thrice gained the national book award for fiction and also received the medal of arts and the lifetime achievement of the library of Congress.
Beyond fiction, Saul Bellow, a passionate essayist, taught. He held academic positions at institutions, such as the University of Minnesota, Princeton, and Boston University, and people knew his sharp intellect and lively classroom presence. Despite his stature, Bellow cared about ordinary people and infused his work with humor, moral reflection, and a deep appreciation of contradictions of life.
People can see influence of Saul Bellow in the work of countless followers. His uniquely and universally resonant voice ably combined the comic, the profound, the intellectual, and the visceral. He continued into his later years to publish his final Ravelstein in 2000.
People continue to read work of Saul Bellow and to celebrate its wisdom, vitality, and fearless examination of humanity in a chaotic world.
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April 22, 2015
"I stood back from myself and looked into Amy's face. No one else on all this earth had such features. This was the most amazing thing in the life of the world." [p. 104]
I think what makes this book great is not that it is a love story or the story of two lives that come to accept each other, but rather that this acceptance is a spiritual one and therefore eminently REAL. Harry and Amy are always present to one another, always mutually actual. The other people who they meet in their lives, even husbands and wives, are not actual, even if they are real and present, because actuality is inside us. One can be with another person physically but not be with this person in actuality, i. e., spiritually connected or REALLY connected. That's where the "magic" is. And what we sometimes call the magic of love is nothing more than the reality which is right in front of us but we refuse to see. It's something simple, but then we're so complicated that we don't come to see it and accept it.
---
Escrevi mais coisas sobre o livro depois de conversar sobre ele com um amigo, então acrescento-as a esta resenha. Eis:
A vida dos personagens é um pouco diferente da minha, mas isso é interessante, porque funciona como uma "hiperbolização" da história, o que dá mais força às experiências e as torna mais "visíveis" a mim, o leitor. Eu vivi experiências semelhantes às deles, mas em grau reduzido de intensidade, digamos assim.
A prosa do Bellow é muito bonita, e isso não se transferiu para a tradução brasileira. É bonita de um jeito simples. Não há muita estetização, mas a leitura flui com suavidade, é como se estivéssemos ouvindo alguém falar, e falar perfeitamente claro, sem tropeços nem gaguejadas. Nas traduções portuguesas de que eu andei lendo trechos, isso aparece mais, porém não nas brasileiras. Alguém precisa ainda escrever um livro sobre a superioridade das traduções lusas sobre as brasileiras.
Sobre a mensagem do livro, acho que o título da tradução lusa revela bem a idéia: "A autêntica". Eu traduziria não exatamente assim. Traduziria como "Autenticidade". Seria perfeito, pois transmitiria aquilo que a Luciane fala na aula, todos aqueles significados da palavra "actual". Pois a mensagem do livro é justamente isso, ou seja, a autenticidade do amor verdadeiro, que não depende de sentimentalismos ou de um romantismo medíocre, mas simplesmente de uma empatia profunda, essencial, em cima da qual se exerce - sem limites e sem a necessidade sequer da presença física - a imaginação de quem ama. É quando o protagonista reconhece isso, ou seja, quando ele aceita aquilo em si mesmo, que ele consegue transformar a potência de seu amor em ato.
I think what makes this book great is not that it is a love story or the story of two lives that come to accept each other, but rather that this acceptance is a spiritual one and therefore eminently REAL. Harry and Amy are always present to one another, always mutually actual. The other people who they meet in their lives, even husbands and wives, are not actual, even if they are real and present, because actuality is inside us. One can be with another person physically but not be with this person in actuality, i. e., spiritually connected or REALLY connected. That's where the "magic" is. And what we sometimes call the magic of love is nothing more than the reality which is right in front of us but we refuse to see. It's something simple, but then we're so complicated that we don't come to see it and accept it.
---
Escrevi mais coisas sobre o livro depois de conversar sobre ele com um amigo, então acrescento-as a esta resenha. Eis:
A vida dos personagens é um pouco diferente da minha, mas isso é interessante, porque funciona como uma "hiperbolização" da história, o que dá mais força às experiências e as torna mais "visíveis" a mim, o leitor. Eu vivi experiências semelhantes às deles, mas em grau reduzido de intensidade, digamos assim.
A prosa do Bellow é muito bonita, e isso não se transferiu para a tradução brasileira. É bonita de um jeito simples. Não há muita estetização, mas a leitura flui com suavidade, é como se estivéssemos ouvindo alguém falar, e falar perfeitamente claro, sem tropeços nem gaguejadas. Nas traduções portuguesas de que eu andei lendo trechos, isso aparece mais, porém não nas brasileiras. Alguém precisa ainda escrever um livro sobre a superioridade das traduções lusas sobre as brasileiras.
Sobre a mensagem do livro, acho que o título da tradução lusa revela bem a idéia: "A autêntica". Eu traduziria não exatamente assim. Traduziria como "Autenticidade". Seria perfeito, pois transmitiria aquilo que a Luciane fala na aula, todos aqueles significados da palavra "actual". Pois a mensagem do livro é justamente isso, ou seja, a autenticidade do amor verdadeiro, que não depende de sentimentalismos ou de um romantismo medíocre, mas simplesmente de uma empatia profunda, essencial, em cima da qual se exerce - sem limites e sem a necessidade sequer da presença física - a imaginação de quem ama. É quando o protagonista reconhece isso, ou seja, quando ele aceita aquilo em si mesmo, que ele consegue transformar a potência de seu amor em ato.
April 9, 2023
"A man's road back to himself is a return from his spiritual exile, for that is what a personal history amounts to- exile."
This was beautiful. Language not quite flowery but more so intimately tied to 'life.' Simple clear-cut intelligent sharp sentences. Yet again, Hemingway-esque, which is ironic considering the opening lines of Dangling Man. Witty dialogue, and a narrator that reminded me of A Separate Peace and The Great Gatsby(and also Proust considering both narrators' infatuation -possibly also obsession- with early love, and the prevalent philosophical/theoretical ramblings). Essentially this is a story of first love but the critical intention would be to capture what is most 'actual(perhaps that which is absurd... life defies singularity)' borrowing the narrator's terms. My first Bellow, and it will not be the last.
This was beautiful. Language not quite flowery but more so intimately tied to 'life.' Simple clear-cut intelligent sharp sentences. Yet again, Hemingway-esque, which is ironic considering the opening lines of Dangling Man. Witty dialogue, and a narrator that reminded me of A Separate Peace and The Great Gatsby(and also Proust considering both narrators' infatuation -possibly also obsession- with early love, and the prevalent philosophical/theoretical ramblings). Essentially this is a story of first love but the critical intention would be to capture what is most 'actual(perhaps that which is absurd... life defies singularity)' borrowing the narrator's terms. My first Bellow, and it will not be the last.
"That the nature of love is something like the divine simplicity proposed by theologians: God is without parts. For Harry, Amy is without parts. She is without a like. Since there is only one Amy, there can be only one love. She is love.-Introduction, Joseph O'Neill"
December 19, 2021
This story centers around Harry Trellman and Amy Wustrin. Amy is the love of Harry’s life. She always has been and always will be. It is she that is the eponymous “Actual” of the title. Now, having lived most of their lives apart, will they end up together?
The plot is extremely simple. There Is not enough in it to make it truly believable; it describes more something that could happen rather then something you come to believe would happen.
Now, let’s look at Harry Trellman. He is the narrator of the story. He is in his mid-sixties and lives in a Jewish middle-class neighborhood of Chicago. I am guessing it’s the 1980s or 1990s. Harry is an outsider, that guy who does not fit in. He tells us he does not reveal much about himself.
Yet,with Bellow penning the lines, I feel Harry’s humanity and accept him for who he is--a man with shortcomings, a person like one of all the rest of us, a man wo could be you or could be me. Bellow draws forth Harry’s humanity, so you accept him as he is. By revealing faults, perhaps one can transcends them. Harry’s failings and his inner contradictions make him real. He is the only character in the book I felt this way about. It is the humanity so visible in Harry that saved the book for me. It is because of him I can give the book two stars.
The other characters need more meat on their bones; they are not properly developed. They are cutouts; they are paper thin.
It is interesting to note that despite Bellow’s male characters’ apparent disregard for women, women are of prime importance in their lives! I like this mix of contradictory elements in both Bellow’s characters and writing.
The conclusion is .
A.C. Fellner reads the audiobook. I have nothing special to say except that it is simple to follow. I have given the narration three stars. It’s fine, it’s good.
**************************
The Victim 4 stars
Herzog 4 stars
Dangling Man 3 stars
Seize the Day 3 stars
More Die of Heartbreak 2 stars
The Actual 2 stars
The Adventures of Augie March 2 stars
Ravelstein TBR
The plot is extremely simple. There Is not enough in it to make it truly believable; it describes more something that could happen rather then something you come to believe would happen.
Now, let’s look at Harry Trellman. He is the narrator of the story. He is in his mid-sixties and lives in a Jewish middle-class neighborhood of Chicago. I am guessing it’s the 1980s or 1990s. Harry is an outsider, that guy who does not fit in. He tells us he does not reveal much about himself.
Yet,with Bellow penning the lines, I feel Harry’s humanity and accept him for who he is--a man with shortcomings, a person like one of all the rest of us, a man wo could be you or could be me. Bellow draws forth Harry’s humanity, so you accept him as he is. By revealing faults, perhaps one can transcends them. Harry’s failings and his inner contradictions make him real. He is the only character in the book I felt this way about. It is the humanity so visible in Harry that saved the book for me. It is because of him I can give the book two stars.
The other characters need more meat on their bones; they are not properly developed. They are cutouts; they are paper thin.
It is interesting to note that despite Bellow’s male characters’ apparent disregard for women, women are of prime importance in their lives! I like this mix of contradictory elements in both Bellow’s characters and writing.
The conclusion is .
A.C. Fellner reads the audiobook. I have nothing special to say except that it is simple to follow. I have given the narration three stars. It’s fine, it’s good.
**************************
The Victim 4 stars
Herzog 4 stars
Dangling Man 3 stars
Seize the Day 3 stars
More Die of Heartbreak 2 stars
The Actual 2 stars
The Adventures of Augie March 2 stars
Ravelstein TBR
May 12, 2022
Creo que he tardado demasiado tiempo en descubrir a Saul Bellow. El tono con el que narra su historia es, probablemente, uno de los más logrados que he leído nunca. La trama, en sí, no tiene importancia, aunque pueda parecer pintoresca en un principio: el narrador se reencuentra con el amor de su adolescencia (y de su vida) más de cuarenta años después, y esta relación acaba en una catarsis el día en que se exhuma el cuerpo del exmarido de ésta para trasladarlo de cementerio. No, no tiene importancia: lo fabuloso es el tono, el ritmo, el fluir de los párrafos. Tengo muchas ganas de seguir leyendo a Bellow.
January 24, 2021
Not the greatest introduction to Bellow, but at least I find it encouraging that he had the talent to make me finish it in one go (not saying much, it was only 116 pages). I guess it was vaguely sad? Why not.
April 21, 2018
Πέρυσι διάβασα για πρώτη φορά βιβλίο του Σολ Μπέλοου, την ενδιαφέρουσα και πολύ καλογραμμένη νουβέλα "Άδραξε τη μέρα", μένοντας ικανοποιημένος τόσο από την ιστορία όσο κυρίως από τη γραφή και την ψυχογραφική ικανότητα του συγγραφέα. Τώρα, όμως, δεν μπορώ να πω ότι δηλώνω εξίσου ικανοποιημένος, μιας και η νουβέλα αυτή με άφησε ολίγον τι αδιάφορο. Η γραφή δεν μου έκανε κάποια εντύπωση -μου φάνηκε κάπως επίπεδη-, ενώ σε καμία στιγμή δεν ένιωσα κάτι το ιδιαίτερο για την ιστορία ή τους χαρακτήρες. Το "Άδραξε τη μέρα" είχε κάποια ενδιαφέροντα και ουσιώδη πράγματα να πει, τα οποία με άγγιξαν έως ένα βαθμό, τώρα όμως δεν μπορώ να πω ότι μου έμεινε κάτι. Βέβαια, υπήρχαν κάποια ωραία κομμάτια, ίσως και κάποιες ενδιαφέρουσες παρατηρήσεις, αλλά μέχρι εκεί. Πάντως, μια ανάγνωση την αξίζει, μπορεί κάποιος άλλος αναγνώστης να βρει κάτι παραπάνω από αυτά που βρήκα εγώ...
December 31, 2022
At some point the Actual is desired more than the Fantasy. This pretty odd short novel feels adventurous like a Claire Lispector book in that Saul Bellows’ telling and the characters themselves refuse to conform. The protagonists are all border line criminals, but somehow in a nice enough way they that they are not permanently shunned by society.
The story lurches forward as our hero continues on his decades long Gatsby-like quest. Harry finally tries to be the man he almost was forty years earlier. The lurching felt distracting and annoying as I read it but on reflection it accomplished a visceral feeling Harry himself experienced. He was buffeted by life but held onto a lodestone, the Actual.
The story lurches forward as our hero continues on his decades long Gatsby-like quest. Harry finally tries to be the man he almost was forty years earlier. The lurching felt distracting and annoying as I read it but on reflection it accomplished a visceral feeling Harry himself experienced. He was buffeted by life but held onto a lodestone, the Actual.
May 30, 2024
Anekdotenreich, schwarzer Humor, bissig und ironisch. So steht es auf dem Buchrücken. Wahrscheinlich erst am Ende der Novelle. Bis zum Abbruch war es einfach nur langweiliges Geschwafel eines selbstgerechten Protagonisten.
July 24, 2021
شيئًا ما ينقصها، لا أعلم ما هي المشكلة بالضبط؟ رواية جميلة ولكن!
September 3, 2020
Bellow manages in a short space to make the characters quite vivid. There is a strong contrast shown between the coldness of various things: business, weather, the grave, against the warmth of human bonds. It's not action packed but it is masterfully written.
February 18, 2012
A marvelously sparse, unsentimental love story about two childhood sweethearts who have missed the opportunity to love each other and somehow discover it at a funeral, courtesy of the intervention of an observant millionaire friend.
The characters did not resonate with me fully as they were too reserved, but the author nevertheless communicates the latent passion between this aging set of lovers quite well.
As the preface by Joseph O'Neil suggests, this "hardboiled" work resembles the writing of Steinbeck or Hemingway more closely than it does Bellow's usual work.
The title comes from the notion that, for Harry Trellman, Amy Wustrin is his actual affinity.
The characters did not resonate with me fully as they were too reserved, but the author nevertheless communicates the latent passion between this aging set of lovers quite well.
As the preface by Joseph O'Neil suggests, this "hardboiled" work resembles the writing of Steinbeck or Hemingway more closely than it does Bellow's usual work.
The title comes from the notion that, for Harry Trellman, Amy Wustrin is his actual affinity.
October 3, 2014
What is that cliche about "a marvel of economy"? Well, this is that. He manages to tell a strange and funny tale about life-long love and crotchety billionaires and philandering ex-husbands who need their coffins moved (just to be a dick, really), and how it's never really too late in about 77 pages. I'd been meaning to check out more Saul Bellow, and this was a low-commitment option for doing that. Time for The Adventures of Augie March, clearly.
"Very sexy men frequently were stupid, and shared stupidity is an important force when it is presented in the language of such independence or emancipation. The appeal of such men is aimed straight at those strata in women's feelings that lie beneath cleverness."
"These were all commonplace persons. I would never have let them think so, but it's time to admit that I looked down on them. They were lacking in higher motives. They were run-of-the-mill products of our mass democracy, with no distinctive contribution to make to the history of the species, satisfied to pile up money or seduce women, to copulate, to thrive in the sack as the degenerate children of Eros, male but not manly, and living, the men and women alike, on threadbare ideas, without beauty, without virtue, without the slightest independence of spirit--privileged in the way of money and goods, the beneficiaries of man's conquest of nature as the Enlightenment foresaw it and of the high-tech achievements that have transformed the material world. Individually and personally, we are unequal to the scope of these collective achievements."
"I was prepared by now to make my peace with my species. For most of them, I am aware in hindsight, I generally had a knife within reach."
"Paris is just New York in French."
"Very sexy men frequently were stupid, and shared stupidity is an important force when it is presented in the language of such independence or emancipation. The appeal of such men is aimed straight at those strata in women's feelings that lie beneath cleverness."
"These were all commonplace persons. I would never have let them think so, but it's time to admit that I looked down on them. They were lacking in higher motives. They were run-of-the-mill products of our mass democracy, with no distinctive contribution to make to the history of the species, satisfied to pile up money or seduce women, to copulate, to thrive in the sack as the degenerate children of Eros, male but not manly, and living, the men and women alike, on threadbare ideas, without beauty, without virtue, without the slightest independence of spirit--privileged in the way of money and goods, the beneficiaries of man's conquest of nature as the Enlightenment foresaw it and of the high-tech achievements that have transformed the material world. Individually and personally, we are unequal to the scope of these collective achievements."
"I was prepared by now to make my peace with my species. For most of them, I am aware in hindsight, I generally had a knife within reach."
"Paris is just New York in French."
July 6, 2009
Ok, I tried. This novella is only about 100 pages long, but I got 10 pages in and I'm just not in any way interested. He's not Chinese, but he sort of looks like he's Chinese, so he goes to China for five years, but returns to Chicago to be near a woman he hasn't seen in 15 years because he's never been able to stop thinking about her, but then he's told he looks like he's Japanese, and gosh that's true! so he cuts his hair to look more Japanese, and he goes to a dinner party with rich people, then runs into the woman he's been pining over for 15 years and doesn't recognize her, and I just couldn't go any further. Another one off my shelf!
June 27, 2021
رواية محيرة
اقتبس منها كلمات للمؤلف حيث يقول "مزيج غريب، وكأنها إحدى النكات الهوجاء..."
لا يشدني كثيراً الأدب الحداثي سيما إن كانت الحبكة فيه أمراً ثانوياً وهو ما يغلب على أكثرها
الأحداث تروى بلسان بطل الرواية "هاري تريلمان" رجل كهل مارس الاستيراد بطرق "قانونية بما يكفي" على حد وصفه، ثم ترك عمله لعود للبحث عن حب قديم في أعماق شيكاغو..تتابع الأحداث لتنتهي نهاية تجعلك مشدوهاً لدقائق لغرابة الموقف
يالدوافع النفس الغريبة والغامضة حين يكون صاحبها جاهلاً بمسالك العاطفة وواثقاً كل الثقة
ربما تصف هذه الرواية شيئاً من بعض مظاهر الحب الغريبة في الأزمنة الحديثة، مظاهر ربما لم يتحدث عنها الكثير، وهو ما تميز به سولو عن غيره بحسب الخطاب الذي ألقي في حفل تسليمه لجائزة نوبل
اقتبس منها كلمات للمؤلف حيث يقول "مزيج غريب، وكأنها إحدى النكات الهوجاء..."
لا يشدني كثيراً الأدب الحداثي سيما إن كانت الحبكة فيه أمراً ثانوياً وهو ما يغلب على أكثرها
الأحداث تروى بلسان بطل الرواية "هاري تريلمان" رجل كهل مارس الاستيراد بطرق "قانونية بما يكفي" على حد وصفه، ثم ترك عمله لعود للبحث عن حب قديم في أعماق شيكاغو..تتابع الأحداث لتنتهي نهاية تجعلك مشدوهاً لدقائق لغرابة الموقف
يالدوافع النفس الغريبة والغامضة حين يكون صاحبها جاهلاً بمسالك العاطفة وواثقاً كل الثقة
ربما تصف هذه الرواية شيئاً من بعض مظاهر الحب الغريبة في الأزمنة الحديثة، مظاهر ربما لم يتحدث عنها الكثير، وهو ما تميز به سولو عن غيره بحسب الخطاب الذي ألقي في حفل تسليمه لجائزة نوبل
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February 4, 2019Checked out a few Saul Bellow books and discovered I have not changed as I have aged. I just don't enjoy his writing, Nobel Prize winner or not. I can still hear his voice in my head from many interviews he gave here in Chicago and did see him years ago in debates at The Newberry Library Book Fair.
Oh well. Gave it a fair shot.
Oh well. Gave it a fair shot.
September 1, 2024
Quite beautifully written.
November 6, 2016
In many ways, the novella The Actual seems uncharacteristic of Bellow's work. The narrator Harry Trellman seems too hinged, much less neurotic and unbalanced than Eugene Henderson or Von Humboldt Fleisher, too decidedly sane. Yet it's a tribute to Bellow's genius that, even so late in his career, he resisted imitating himself. The colloquialism and extremity typical of his narration is missing here. Though Trellman's muted voice may cause some readers to wonder whether there's a story at all, Bellow creates a poignant and nearly sentimental scenario in his central character's aching obsession with Amy Wustrin, his high school (and ever) love.
The dialogue sometimes feels stilted, and the story is thin. Still, Bellow's prose expresses, as no one else could, human dissatisfaction beginning in knowing what might be and what is. "I couldn't rid myself of the habit of watching for glimpses of higher capacities and incipient powerful forces," Trellman says, "I myself seem to be doing an idiotic thing in looking for signs of of highest ability in human types evidently devoted to being barren."
It's the abject hope of this narrator that makes Bellow's novella speak so vividly to modern readers. We cannot, Bellow knows, help hoping.
The dialogue sometimes feels stilted, and the story is thin. Still, Bellow's prose expresses, as no one else could, human dissatisfaction beginning in knowing what might be and what is. "I couldn't rid myself of the habit of watching for glimpses of higher capacities and incipient powerful forces," Trellman says, "I myself seem to be doing an idiotic thing in looking for signs of of highest ability in human types evidently devoted to being barren."
It's the abject hope of this narrator that makes Bellow's novella speak so vividly to modern readers. We cannot, Bellow knows, help hoping.
January 25, 2016
Harry Trellman is a man who just doesn’t belong. Raised in an orphanage (despite having two living parents), and possessed with an impassive face, he lives on the edge of society. Yes, he’s successful in business and has many acquaintances, but he doesn’t really connect with anyone, maintaining an observer’s distance. And he IS a keen observer. It is this skill that leads multibillionaire Sigmund Adletsky to hire Harry; and it is through Sig that he is thrown together with his first love, Amy Wustrin, whom he still loves and has loved silently for forty years.
Through his omniscient narrator, Bellow allows the reader insight into the thoughts, feelings, flaws and strengths of the characters.
Bellow is a wonderful writer but this slim little volume just didn’t do it for me. I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it. In fairness, I have to admit that I was reading it when I was sick and having trouble concentrating for more than a page or two at a time. As a result, a book that should have taken me just a couple of days, took me nearly a week to complete. I’m sure my enjoyment of this work suffered as a result, but there you have it.
Through his omniscient narrator, Bellow allows the reader insight into the thoughts, feelings, flaws and strengths of the characters.
Bellow is a wonderful writer but this slim little volume just didn’t do it for me. I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it. In fairness, I have to admit that I was reading it when I was sick and having trouble concentrating for more than a page or two at a time. As a result, a book that should have taken me just a couple of days, took me nearly a week to complete. I’m sure my enjoyment of this work suffered as a result, but there you have it.
June 3, 2015
What was this book even about??? The "narrator" kept jumping around with what he was talking about, quite a few times I had no idea who was speaking, and what was the point of all the billionaires? They had absolutely nothing to do with the story! It took 104 pages of confusing and pointless narrative for the guy to tell the girl (after 40 years of knowing her, no less) that he wanted to be with her. This might have been one of the most anti-climactic love stories I have ever read. The secondary characters seemed completely irrelevant to the plotline and it appeared that their only function was to take up printable space. The story was unimaginative, lacking in depth, and devoid of anything memorable. The only reason I bothered to finish it was to get one step closer to finishing my goodreads reading challenge, else I would have ditched it at page 20.
September 26, 2020
Bom dia.
Tahle knížka byla svižná, ale dost o ničem. Jako by se Saul Bellow chtěl vykecat z nějakýho příběhu, ale vlastně se mu vůbec nechtělo. To je jako když jdete na záchod zkusit to, jestli něco nevyleze, třeba před návštěvou u strejce a tetky. Kdyby šel na záchod po kýblu jahod se šlehačkou, bylo by to daleko lepší.
Takže tu máme krimi drama o nepovedený vraždě, love story jako z nějaký červený lucerny a týpka, co valí celoživotní zpytovačku jako od Rotha. Za mě všechno dobrý, ale příště se víc soustředit na jednu z těch věcí.
Snad si to Saul Bellow vezme k srdci, ale vzhledem k tomu, že je 15 let mrtvej, tak tomu nedávám víc než 22% šanci.
Tahle knížka byla svižná, ale dost o ničem. Jako by se Saul Bellow chtěl vykecat z nějakýho příběhu, ale vlastně se mu vůbec nechtělo. To je jako když jdete na záchod zkusit to, jestli něco nevyleze, třeba před návštěvou u strejce a tetky. Kdyby šel na záchod po kýblu jahod se šlehačkou, bylo by to daleko lepší.
Takže tu máme krimi drama o nepovedený vraždě, love story jako z nějaký červený lucerny a týpka, co valí celoživotní zpytovačku jako od Rotha. Za mě všechno dobrý, ale příště se víc soustředit na jednu z těch věcí.
Snad si to Saul Bellow vezme k srdci, ale vzhledem k tomu, že je 15 let mrtvej, tak tomu nedávám víc než 22% šanci.
July 13, 2019
مسیر رجعت هر کس به خودش، راه بازگشت او از تبعید روحی اش می باشد. چون این به منزله ی تاریخچه ی شخصی وی است.
این اثر بلو به ما میگوید که ما اینجا هستیم تا بفهمیم که برای چه اینجاییم .این حقیقت ماست....
این اثر بلو به ما میگوید که ما اینجا هستیم تا بفهمیم که برای چه اینجاییم .این حقیقت ماست....
June 29, 2020
If you deserve this novel, it's because you always have.
August 19, 2022
Bellow returns to the difficulty of acting (actualizing oneself). There’s more comedy and less ennui than in Dangling Man.
June 26, 2021
It’s been far too long since I’ve read anything by Saul Bellow, and this bittersweet, melancholic, yet delightful little novella reminded me just how deeply perceptive of the human condition he is. Harry Trellman is not, at first blush, a character for whom one expects to have much sympathy, but I found myself identifying with him in myriad and surprising ways. Bellow makes a number of elegant observations about the human desire for intimacy and emotional connection hidden behind sparse, tight prose. This was a surprisingly enthralling read.
January 2, 2019
I’m between three and four stars, but this is Bellow and even in a novella, he can pack in more Chicago intimacies than any writer living or dead. Also, is there a stranger book about a lifelong crush?
February 27, 2023
Var litt mange vanskelige ord og digresjoner. Jeg hang ikke helt med på alt. Er det du får når du ber kjæresten din plukke ut en tilfeldig bok i bokhandlere. Anbefaler derimot alle å ta en tur på Söderbokhandelen om man er i Stockholm🤓
March 6, 2024
Meh. Solid writing; disappointing story.
April 27, 2025
densely packed, complex yet simple story of first love.
November 18, 2025
A mi no m'ha agradat. Se m'ha fe llarga, (i això que és curta). Massa descriptiva i l'argument m'ha semblat avorrit. Això sí, ben escrita està.
May 16, 2017
I picked this up to get a quick taste of what one of the more famous Saul Bellow novels might be like after his work came up briefly in Purity by Jonathan Franzen. As a Nobel Prize winner its hardly necessary for me to point out he sure knows how to string a sentence together. There is a not lot going on in this short novella which touches on the life of a middle aged 'oriental' (you will read this word a lot - quite jarring considering it is redundant today) antique dealer, his high school sweetheart, a billionaire couple and various other partners and aspirational acquaintances but the characters are vividly realised and their occupations interesting enough to make the read worthwhile.
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