Tommy Wilhelm is drowning. As a failed husband, failed son, failed actor and fading - charmer, he has reached his mid forties and is scared. He has all the "why me?" rhetoric of the desperate. His estranged wife refuses to divorce him and his vain, retired doctor father scorns all requests for help. Published in 1956, Bellow's tough, humane fourth book is a remarkable performance. The dialogue is superb: sharp, astute, it brilliantly captures a father's disgust and his son's angry despair. Once assessed by a sleazy Hollywood agent "as the type that loses the girl to the George Raft type or the William Powell type", Tommy is uncomfortably aware that most of the conversations he engages in revolve upon his own failures. Saul Bellow is one of the giants of the 20th century novel. Read Seize the Day and see why.
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Eileen Battersby
The late Eileen Battersby was the former literary correspondent of The Irish Times