As I have always been a pretty good student, this category was a bit hard to find a book for. Fortunately, taking three literature courses in one semester of college left me with some pretty heavy reading loads. The class that suffered the most was focused around two American authors, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. So, I went over to my parents' house, dug around in the garage, and came up with Saul Bellow's Seize the Day.
Seize the Day is a novella that tells the story of a middle-aged man named Wilhelm Adler. Wilhelm considers himself a failure. He lives in New York in the same building as his father -- the highly successful Dr. Adler. Wilhelm decided to give acting a shot instead of going to college. Hoping for his big break, he changes his name to Tommy Wilhelm. Many years later, after one failed venture after another, we get a glimpse of his life as a broke, struggling man.
This book takes place in the course of one day. At first Tommy is desperate to avoid seeing his father at breakfast (or anywhere really). He knows that his father is disappointed in the way he has turned out. Tommy also knows that his father is disapproving of his actions and would never do anything to help him out. Tommy decides to take a gamble with the stock market and an untrustworthy acquaintance. As we follow Tommy through this day at the stock market, we are able to see how his choices have resulted in the life he is living how.
Although this book only covers one day, we are able to see Tommy go through many different emotions. At first he is hopeful that he can turn his life around. He is humiliated and humbled when he has to ask his father for help. He is angry when his father refuses him. He is defeated when he is betrayed. He is lonely and unloved and most of all helpless.
While this definitely wasn't my favorite book, Bellow does an excellent job at portraying these human emotions. Even though the things Tommy is experiencing are not familiar to me, I can feel for him. I think that we can all understand the fear of losing something -- our family, our jobs, our homes -- nothing is guaranteed and unfortunately for Tommy, he has to experience this loss.
Overall, the story itself wasn't the best. I think I would have liked some more story development. I wouldn't read it again, but I am glad that I finally got around to reading it (even if it was 10 years later).
2 Stars