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70th out of 260 books
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279 voters
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Henderson the Rain King
by
Saul Bellow
Bellow's glorious, spirited story of an eccentric American millionaire who finds a home of sorts in deepest Africa.
Mass Market Paperbound, 352 pages
Published
June 1st 1996
by Penguin Books
(first published 1959)
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i loved, loved, loved this book.
this is the book that adam duritz from the counting crows named the song "the rain king" after...i've meant to read it for years and years and just now got around to it. i plan on buying a copy and picking it up once a year or so.
it's just really so enjoyable and really beautiful.
favorite excerpts:
"I had a voice that said I want! I want? I? It should have told me SHE wants, HE wants, THEY want. And moreov...more
this is the book that adam duritz from the counting crows named the song "the rain king" after...i've meant to read it for years and years and just now got around to it. i plan on buying a copy and picking it up once a year or so.
it's just really so enjoyable and really beautiful.
favorite excerpts:
"I had a voice that said I want! I want? I? It should have told me SHE wants, HE wants, THEY want. And moreov...more
...in an age of madness, to expect to be untouched by madness is a form of madness. But the pursuitof sanity can be a form of madness, too.
This book is filled with little gems like these. This is, by far, my favorite Bellow. He plots out the self-exploration of a millionaire with wit and humor, a look at what it is to love and be loved, and most importantly, the difference between what it means to be and become.
We are all looking for the truth, but in that search do we be...more
This book is filled with little gems like these. This is, by far, my favorite Bellow. He plots out the self-exploration of a millionaire with wit and humor, a look at what it is to love and be loved, and most importantly, the difference between what it means to be and become.
We are all looking for the truth, but in that search do we be...more
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Nathan Isherwood
added it
read more saul bellow. philip roth does. i hate the word romp. so let's say this book is all about personal exploration. henderson is opinionated, an american bull. he's in africa. he's being ugly and how you'd expect him to be. but he's the only one giving revelations and you couldn't imagine it any other way. he's like a teddy roosevelt mid life crisis tour guide. henderson's a brute with color. it's a search for the meaning of life with your dickhead uncle who owns a brand new chrysler. the w...more
This book is wonderful. If Saul Bellow only wrote one book and this was it he would still be deserving of every accolade imaginable. The story of a millionaire with an unhappy life who finds the meaning of that life and the truth of who he is in the wilds of Africa. This story always picks me up when I'm feeling overwhelmed by life.
Michael Alexander
rated it
Recommends it for:
People wondering what the hell to do with themselves in life
Just off a reread from this baby, I'm both reminded of how amazing its best parts are and made aware for the first time how lame its worst parts are. Really, this thing is a 5-star, best-of-all-time book and a dubious 3-star adventure yoked together pretty awkwardly--but sometimes transcendently.
The heart of what I love in this book is the poetry of the language, the over-the-top romanticism about Life and Meaning and Ecstatic Experience. Bellow is pouring out these incredible bits...more
The heart of what I love in this book is the poetry of the language, the over-the-top romanticism about Life and Meaning and Ecstatic Experience. Bellow is pouring out these incredible bits...more
Told from the point of view of one of the more larger than life characters in literary history, Bellow's novel portrays a search for the kernel of life, the desire for the good. Henderson explores the further reaches of Africa (at least in his mind) and comes closer to understanding his own deepest desires. Searching to find these Henderson goes on safari to the Dark Continent in search of self, or Ernest Hemingway. The novel is full of satire, extreme characterizations, and raucous jokes. It is...more
This is a picaresque, with a seemingly incoherent, but monumental protagonist, Henderson. Think a combination of Don Quixote, Candide, and Castaneda, all set in a fabulously imagined Africa. Unless you're more clever than I, you won't understand all of Henderson's rants, but you won't fail to be impressed by his earnest struggles to come to grips with his own larger than life person and persona, and his search for awareness as he deals with and tries to understand his African mentors...more
At the 2011 AWP Conference in DC, I went to a panel where very clever folks of the literati rejudged the 1960 National Book Award. They deliberated, by reading and assessing all of the novels nominated for the prize that year (and offering outsiders), and overruled the Roth novel originally picked with Henderson the Rain King (as if Bellow needed any more National Book Awards, Pulitzers, or Nobels). Now, I haven't read the Roth book, so I cannot engage in the discourse, though I think the pane...more
I can see why Bellow released a statement about not looking for symbolism in every book published right before he published this book. The combination of humor and philosophy would have worked the literary critics of his day if they tried to find symbolism in this book. Or maybe Bellow meant for them to. I guess, according to W, no one can decide if it’s his worst book or his best book. I personally, liked it. I couldn’t get into the other Bellow book I tried to read – “Herzog.” I did enjoy this...more
This novel is staggering. It is the story, which we have heard so many times, of a bellicose foreigner who goes to Africa in order to find himself. But something is amiss. This isn't just some person who has lost their way a little bit, but someone that while good intentioned at times is a drunkard and a lout, selfish and violent; while he wants to be a good person, he simply isn't. Then he decides to ditch the tourist Africa and find the true heart of it in order to understand and heal himself,...more
My rooom-mate gave this edition to me as a gift a few years ago. Just got around recently to reading it. It was much better than I anticipated. Then again, although I haven't read any of Bellows work until now I always knew he was considered a great American author. The central idea that resonated for me was the main characters battle against the eternal "I want, I want, I want..." (pg, 250) The use of an African safari of sorts is an interesting device for his self-discovery. From the...more
I read this book a long time ago but I'll never forget Saul Bellow's description of the two types of people - be-ers and becomers. Some people are content where they are and know how to appreciate each day: being. Others are always looking for what's next, focused on change, struggling every day to figure out where and who they want to be: becoming. I felt like he was speaking to ME about this. It is a wonderful and bizarre story with some truly identifiable characters and sentiments.
For those who want to get into the work of Saul Bellow, this is perhaps one of his most accessible novels. It's about a rich and eccentric man who travels to Africa and encounters a tribal chief who own lions. The tribal chief is brilliant and teaches Henderson some valuable lessons. The encounters with the lion were real and vivid and moving. Henderson is vintage Bellow and is relatively easy to read: it has less of a scholarly bent than several of Bellow's other novels like Ravelstein, Herzog ...more
When I was younger, I dreamed of going to Africa. Going on safari, staying with a Masai tribe, scaling Kilimanjaro... It just seemed at the time the best thing I could ever do. Of course, I never made it. What is it about Africa that beckons and tempts a young man? To return to the birthplace of humanity, and experience life on the most basic level? To prove something to yourself, something along the lines of "If you can survive being out in the Serengeti, with death being a lion or ts...more
Henderson the Lion King is an enjoyable journey that takes us to Africa with the book's namesake, the dapper Gene Henderson. The story flashes back to multiple indiscretions on the part of the main character.
What was odd is that Saul Bellow had apparently published a "warning" to readers in advance of publication that they should not delve too deeply for symbolism and should just enjoy the story. Hopefully, readers did not take that seriously as the book is full of symbolic refe...more
What was odd is that Saul Bellow had apparently published a "warning" to readers in advance of publication that they should not delve too deeply for symbolism and should just enjoy the story. Hopefully, readers did not take that seriously as the book is full of symbolic refe...more
The character of Henderson the Rain King reminds me of two apparently unrelated characters - one also fictional the other real. I find in Captain Henderson traces of George Babbitt and Colonel (Theodore) Roosevelt (after 1909). Babbitt and Roosevelt, of course, were contemporaries of one another in time (if not social contemporaries) and Henderson came decades later. But the suggestion that the three men were essentially the same bottled up energy and unfulfillment recommends a continuum in t...more
So far I've only read this and Dangling Man, but I'm convinced that Saul Bellow is the most overrated American author of the 20th century. I will say this for it: the main character is complete, and very real-seeming. I almost feel like I've met him.
But that is just about the only good thing I can say about this book, apart from a few bits of all-right prose. It reads like I assume Eat, Pray, Love would, were I to actually read THAT: imperfect white person goes to a third world coun...more
But that is just about the only good thing I can say about this book, apart from a few bits of all-right prose. It reads like I assume Eat, Pray, Love would, were I to actually read THAT: imperfect white person goes to a third world coun...more
For a time I enjoyed the rambling, conversational prose of Henderson The Rain King as a sort of stream-of-consciousness-lite, but it eventually became annoying as the narrator would jump to past events that may have not been previously discussed to draw analogies with his current situation. This and the philosophical tone of much of the dialogue and reflection make the non-narrative parts of the story difficult to follow. I cannot shake the feeling that Bellow has some powerful thesis about life...more
Very enjoyable story from the top 100 list.
Gene Henderson is "Nothing but an old failure, having muffed just about everythign I ever put my hand to; I seem to have the Midas touch in reverse." At age 55, he decides to drop everything and go to the middle of nowhere in Africa to figure things out. After having similar luck with one tribe, he finds another and becomes "Sungo" the rain king (Nice...sun go...)
King Dahfu describing Henderson "You are...more
Gene Henderson is "Nothing but an old failure, having muffed just about everythign I ever put my hand to; I seem to have the Midas touch in reverse." At age 55, he decides to drop everything and go to the middle of nowhere in Africa to figure things out. After having similar luck with one tribe, he finds another and becomes "Sungo" the rain king (Nice...sun go...)
King Dahfu describing Henderson "You are...more
I am very clearly in the minority here but must be honest and admit that I did not like this book. At all. And this surprised me given the acclaim that exists for both novel and author. Even so it was a major pain in the posterior to get through. It was very much like eating one of those big, round, tasteless, puffed rice snacks: Everyone else is telling you how wonderful they are - munching and smiling and handing you another one - and you can't get over the sensation that you're eating st...more
I first heard about Henderson the Rain King from the Counting Crows' song "Rain King" and a friend who mentioned that the song was inspired by this novel. It took me a few years to get to it, thanks to undergrad and then grad school, but I finally found the time.
Henderson definitely deserves its reputation as a modern American classic, with its concern for the relationship between the body and the soul, the need in humanity for a "shot of animal nature," and the d...more
Henderson definitely deserves its reputation as a modern American classic, with its concern for the relationship between the body and the soul, the need in humanity for a "shot of animal nature," and the d...more
A wonderful story of an everyday man who escapes his mundane life and ends up in a remote land in Africa where he is revered by the indigenous tribe for bringing rain in a time of drought. My cousin Noah recommended this to me a couple of months ago and it hit me at just the right time.
John Steffy
rated it
Recommends it for:
wanderers, vagabonds, and itinerant beings
Recommended to John by:
Lauren Gerfen
This book spurred my desire for adventure way back when i was a ripe young twenty year old with no moorings. It was an adult version of another book that's helped define my life- "Oh the places you'll go" by Dr. Seuss. I can't thank Lauren enough for putting the pages in front of me.
My first full-length Bellow and I really liked it. Bellow writes a great story w/ an interesting, positive outlook. This is a book of mythical Africa, the Africa of dreams, which is pretty obvious by the plot description. Henderson, w/ internal cries of "I want, I want, I want" is an American man looking for his place in the world. My favorite piece is Henderson's description of Be-ers and Becomers: the be-ers are those people who are happy w/ where and who they are - they live purely ...more
In the late 1950s, Eugene Henderson is a physically-imposing, slightly idiotic American millionaire who was born into money and, middle-aged and re-married to a younger woman, dissatisfied with his life. He is haunted by a "disturbance in his heart," a voice that said "I want, I want, I want..." He tried to remedy this by taking up the violin but ultimately absconds to Africa to travel on the African sahara with a guide/interpreter. They visit two remote tribes and Henderson ...more
It is strange what leads us to read books but this is how I stumble upon most books I read...I love the song "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell and was intrigued when I heard the song was inspired by a passage from the book. This is the first Saul Bellow book I've read and I was so happy that I "stumbled" upon this as my first read from this Nobel Prize winning author and can see why this is one of his most loved books. Henderson is a truly colorful, intriguing narrator - a ...more
No...didn't like it at all...it had some well thought out prose initially,but as I progressed it became one exceedingly painful exercise which seemed pointless to say the least.Whenever I finished reading 70-80 odd pages,my mind or heart NEVER looked forward to the next session of reading this book...which I usually do in case of most good books(it a personal opinion entirely.)
From the very start I was never able to connect with the protagonist and failed to do so till the very end.His qui...more
From the very start I was never able to connect with the protagonist and failed to do so till the very end.His qui...more
"Sometimes I feel as though I had a whole troop of pygmies jumping up and down inside me, yelling and carrying on. Isn't that odd? Other times I am very calm, calmer than I have ever been."
"It may not be correct to say that I have an ability to lose myself in practical work; rather what happens is that I become painfully intense, and this is true even when I lay out a game of solitaire."
"...some people found satisfaction in being (Walt Whitman: "...more
"It may not be correct to say that I have an ability to lose myself in practical work; rather what happens is that I become painfully intense, and this is true even when I lay out a game of solitaire."
"...some people found satisfaction in being (Walt Whitman: "...more
“I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar.” ~Winston Churchill
Henderson the Rain King is the story of Henderson, a middle-aged man, who despite his wealth is unsatisfied with his life. He feels unfulfilled and continues to hear a voice in his head that says, "I want, I want, I want." In his quest for meaning he travels to remote African villages for spiritual and emotional enlightenment.
Henderson is a pretty unlikeable character at first as...more
Henderson the Rain King is the story of Henderson, a middle-aged man, who despite his wealth is unsatisfied with his life. He feels unfulfilled and continues to hear a voice in his head that says, "I want, I want, I want." In his quest for meaning he travels to remote African villages for spiritual and emotional enlightenment.
Henderson is a pretty unlikeable character at first as...more
This might be Saul Bellow at his most accessible. We listened to it while driving to (and from) Memphis for the holidays. Being a gloss on the travel memoir, it makes for an excellent car trip audio book. There's a perfect balance between interiority and plot... Also voice! Wow, Henderson as narrator is so funny and repetitive (in the right way). I think this is one of the primo joys of reading Bellow - the way he relentlessly moves stories along without ever letting the reader get lost. I mean ...more
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Awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work."
The author's works speak to the disorienting nature of modern civilization, and the countervailing ability of humans to overcome their frailty and achieve greatness (or at least awareness). B...more
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“We are funny creatures. We don't see the stars as they are, so why do we love them? They are not small gold objects, but endless fire.”
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