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Collected Stories

by Saul Bellow, James Wood, Janis Bellow

4.02 · rating details · 282 ratings · 21 reviews

Nobel Prize-winner Saul Bellow has deservedly been celebrated as one of America's greatest living writers. For more than sixty years he has stretched our minds, our imaginations, and our hearts with his exhilarating perceptions of life. Now collected for the first time in one volume and chosen by the author himself are favorites such as "What Kind of Day Did You Have?...more

Paperback, 464 pages

Published October 29th 2002 by Penguin (Non-Classics)

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Oct 23, 2010

Shane rated it

· review of another edition

I managed to get through ten of the thirteen stories in this collection and then I had to stop. I will however, return to the remaining three at some point in the future.

Bellow paints a stark picture of Depression-era Chicago in many of the stories which are centred within the Jewish community. During his life, he decried being labelled a Jewish writer but his immersion in that culture does not absolve him of the moniker. Personally, I think he should have worn the badge with pride, ...moreI managed to get through ten of the thirteen stories in this collection and then I had to stop. I will however, return to the remaining three at some point in the future.

Bellow paints a stark picture of Depression-era Chicago in many of the stories which are centred within the Jewish community. During his life, he decried being labelled a Jewish writer but his immersion in that culture does not absolve him of the moniker. Personally, I think he should have worn the badge with pride, for he brilliantly explores the depth in his Jewish characters, exposing their sharp edges, their ambition to make it in the new world (by hook or by crook), their tribal nature, and most of all, he draws the distinction between the European Jew who has earned his stripes by suffering the pogroms and persecutions of the past, and the American Jew who is selling his by assimilating and embracing the American Way.

Some interesting factoids of the era get tossed into the mix as we read along: how until the nineteenth century, the Pope entered the Jewish section of Rome and spat ritually on the garments of the chief Rabbi; how common it was to bribe private medical colleges with “donations” to earn a degree in the US; how the public service system was riddled with more bribery; and how the prisoner gets his hernia fixed, cataracts removed, false teeth and hearing aid installed, all at the cost of the US penal system, costs he could never afford himself while going straight.

Some lines of dialogue say a lot: “You don’t support your children,” Mrs Skoglund says, on meeting Morris Selbst for the first time, revealing much of both their characters. Bellow is pre-occupied with fat women and big men and many of his characters fall into these categories – is this a metaphor for the American Jew who has forsaken his origins and settled for life, liberty and the pursuit of Mac-happiness?

Why did I stop reading then: because of the density and waywardness of the prose. In particular, the longer stories are packed with lots of interesting but inconsequential detail. I guess, a Nobel laureate has the luxury of drifting and expecting his readers to catch up, not really caring for the contract he has with them, and ignoring their entertainment and enlightenment quotients. There are digressions into philosophy, poetry, politics, literature, and the lives of peripheral characters, in random order, which only serve to move the reader away from the central conflict in many of the stories, and these parts are tedious to get through. And his character descriptions are often overdone; I was never allowed to forget Sorella Fonstein’s “fatness” – it came up at least a couple of times on every page. I liked the shorter pieces however, like “A Silver Dish,” “Looking for Mr. Green,” and “Something to Remember Me By,” which seemed to enforce more discipline on Bellow with their conciseness.

Is Bellow a master of the short story form? Probably not. Is he a master of human observation – absolutely, for in plumbing his characters in these sketches, he has revealed much of what is hidden in the lives of his people who fled European persecution and toiled as bakers, shopkeepers, grocers, taxi drivers, mobsters, political advisors, lawyers and writers, wrestling with guilt and ambition while nursing dreams of success for themselves and their progeny in this New World of opportunity which was in turn, ironically, mired in the throes of the Great Depression. Just as his critics had labelled him, he seems to be saying, “You can run but you can’t hide – once a Jew, always one.”

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Jan 21, 2011

Praj rated it

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Shelves: sb

This is my first Bellow read. Over the years I never bothered reading any of his books and overlooked them at the bookstores. This being my first volume was not that ecstatic.

The presented anthology of 13 stories come with a mix bag of history, humor, irony, metaphysics, the Holocaust, nostalgia, sex, modernity, migrant life in America and identity ; accompanied by a witty narration. Most of the characters be it Samuel Braun, Rob Rexler, Harry Fonstein, Woody Selbst, Katrina...moreThis is my first Bellow read. Over the years I never bothered reading any of his books and overlooked them at the bookstores. This being my first volume was not that ecstatic.

The presented anthology of 13 stories come with a mix bag of history, humor, irony, metaphysics, the Holocaust, nostalgia, sex, modernity, migrant life in America and identity ; accompanied by a witty narration. Most of the characters be it Samuel Braun, Rob Rexler, Harry Fonstein, Woody Selbst, Katrina Goliger or Max Zetland are not the epitome of beauty but are unique in their own imperfections. Bellow has an exceptional artistry in metamorphosing mediocrity to splendor. His several protagonists are sort of heroic who overcome life fragilities and emerge as winners in their own way. Most of them are Jewish or other immigrants trying to find their identity on the American soil; similar to what Bellow experienced during his life. These stories have a personal Bellow touch reflecting many of his own perspectives on identity (he fought the constant labeling of being a “Jewish writer”) and modernity. In ‘The Old System’, he mentions, “Mankind was in a confusing uncomfortable, disagreeable stage in the evolution of consciousness”, which shows his disheartening acceptation of modernity. These stories bring out the essence of beauty and joy from the most unconventional settings.

That said and done, there are some disheartening shortcomings too. The narration is loose and needs trimming at certain edges, making it rather difficult to focus on the plot. The stories did have a solid start but somewhere in the middle it became a carnival of unexciting surroundings making me browse pages to find comfort. Also, Bellow’s portrayal of Sorella, Aunt Rose and even Max Zetland are filled with excessive and repetitive usage of adjectives to embellish human anatomy which tends to be a bit dragging. At times, I felt like erasing the characters from the highly subjective text.

One thing I detest while reading short stories is skipping pages and this is exactly what I did here. I do not want to be unjust and form a rapid opinion about Bellow based on this writing .I don’t deny that he is one the superior writers but this book failed to create that aura. Hence, I will read some more of his works before inferring whether Bellow is my ‘cup of tea’.
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Sep 19, 2011

Leah rated it

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"Anyway, he saw death as a magnetic field that every living thing must enter. He was ready for it. He had even thought that since he had been unconscious under the respirator for an entire month, he might just as well have died in the hospital and avoided further trouble. Yet here he was in his birthplace. Intensive-care nurses had told him that the electronic screens monitoring his heart had run out of graphs, squiggles, and symbols at last and, foundering, flashed out nothing but question...more

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Aug 27, 2011

Grp rated it

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William Gass said, 'Language is not the lowborn, gawky servant of thought and feeling; it is need, thought, feeling, and perception itself. The shape of sentences, the song in its syllables, the rhythm of its movement, is the movement of the imagination.' Saul Bellow brings this quote to life with an amazing collection of stories that are at once engrossing and soulful. 'What Kind of Day Did You Have?', the longest in the collection, is also the best. Brilliant, intense stuff! And undoubtedly, h...more

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Apr 03, 2009

Denis rated it

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Reading these stories took concentration on my part. It's to do with his style and the long, loose stories themselves. In this 447 page collection there are but 13 stories. A few are no doubt novellas, the longest (What Kind Of Day Did You Have) being 74 pages long.

And, he's certainly not from the school that teaches spare, tight narrative that doesn't beat around the bush. Bellow doesn't spare any detail in describing the physical traits of his characters, even the minor ones. We a...more

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Feb 18, 2010

Nick rated it

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I think Bellow is an absolutely beautiful writer. You can’t deny it. He can craft a sentence like no one else. I started this collection after reading Svevo, who apparently is somewhat clunky in Italian, let alone in English translation. The difference between the authors was remarkable and I was blown away by the Bellow’s lyricism.

That said, I didn’t really enjoy these stories very much. I feel as if Bellow is some kind of “intellectual” at a party who, while entertaining at the beg...moreI think Bellow is an absolutely beautiful writer. You can’t deny it. He can craft a sentence like no one else. I started this collection after reading Svevo, who apparently is somewhat clunky in Italian, let alone in English translation. The difference between the authors was remarkable and I was blown away by the Bellow’s lyricism.

That said, I didn’t really enjoy these stories very much. I feel as if Bellow is some kind of “intellectual” at a party who, while entertaining at the beginning of the night, ultimately seems to be just speaking to hear himself speak. For instance, in “The Bellarosa Connection,” one of the main characters is morbidly obese. And while the story seems to be in part about the Americanization of Jews from Eastern Europe, ultimately it becomes about how many different ways Bellow can describe the fatness of this one character. Here’s but a small sample:

“She made you look twice at a doorway. When she came to it, she filled the space like a freighter in a canal lock.”
“Exquisite singers can make you forget what hillocks of suet their backsides are.”
“She could rely on her bulk to give an impression of the fullest calm.”
“He didn’t invite Sorella to sit, but at her weight, on her small feet, she wasn’t going to be kept standing”
“The meaning was, a woman deformed by obesity.”
“’I outreached him and outweighed him,’ said Sorella.”
“My thought then and later, was that she was too much hampered by fat under the arms to make an accurate throw.”
“Sorella, so mysteriously obese.”

This goes on and on. If this was a contest, Bellow would win for his cleverness. Yet the story left me with very little by the end, like pretty much all the stories I read in this collection. It’s not that Bellow has nothing to say, it’s that what he’s saying is hopelessly banal but made to look exquisite by the language surrounding it. I don’t think I ever made a true human connection with anybody. And there’s a certain pervading indirect misogyny that I couldn’t ignore and which bothered me.

I know that it’s impossible to remove form from content, but I’d be curious what people would think of these stories if they were written by some one with inferior linguistic gifts, or at least someone who wasn’t quite as refined a stylist. I know, I know, the very definition of impossible, it wouldn’t be Bellow at all then, but I’m still curious. I will give Bellow another chance and read an earlier work considering most of this collection was written when Bellow was over 60 and had won the Nobel (i.e. he could relax a little bit), but for now, I will have to disagree with Amis’s approbation on the back cover: this is not our greatest writer’s greatest book.
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Nov 28, 2009

Will rated it

· review of another edition

Really good and surprisingly dense. I don't know what I expected, but, despite this not being it, most of these stories are incredibly good. Four stars instead of five only because it was slow for me in parts, but that's it.

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Dec 18, 2008

Jonathan rated it

· review of another edition

My favorite American author hands down. His stories are characteristic, usually refering to issues surrounding Jews. He writes incredibly well and delivers compelling stories.

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Aug 01, 2011

Josh rated it

· review of another edition

The last two stories in this collection, I loved. A couple of others were very good (A Theft is one that stands out). But overall, I enjoy Bellow much more as a novelist than a short storyteller. Classic Bellow prose throughout, but not all as satisfying as his novels.

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May 21, 2010

Seth added it · review of another edition

Shelves: alright

My copy's signed. But it's all overrated.

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Oct 09, 2007

علی rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: world-modern-literature

کمتر داستانی از "سال بلو" هست که در آن یک یا چند شخصیت "شکست خورده" و "بازنده" نباشند. اما بازندگان بلو کمتر به خط پایان و ناامیدی رسیده اند. آنها باخته اند، تا داستان خود را بگویند، برای آنها که ممکن است روزی ببازند!
Seems Bellow has gatherd a bunch of "failures" ...in this catagory bellow looks very close to James ...

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Sep 05, 2007

adam rated it

· review of another edition

Very, very difficult not to tremble in awe after reading this Bellow anthology. Occasionally, Bellow's shortcomings as a novelist-meandering plots, neverending discussions of Platonist metaphysics that I never come close to understanding-infect a couple of the stories, but, still, NOBODY writes this well. It's freakish. The best stories ("Something to Remember Me By" and "The Bellarosa Connection") are for the ages, and the rest don't miss that level by much.

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Aug 07, 2007

Chris rated it

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Shelves: favorites

I wouldn't have appreciated this if I hadn't studied it, but now that I have I think Bellow's as fine a craftsman as I've ever encountered. No word is out of place, and each story is so intricately and ingeniuosly arranged that it bears up to repeated re-readings, revealing new secrets each time you pore over it. Plus "Something to Remember Me By" feels like the template to every good Six Feet Under episode.

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Oct 18, 2010

Karen Codner rated it

· review of another edition

MMMM, cuidado con las antologías de cuentos, si bien las historias pueden ser extraordinarias, compiten demasiado una y otra. Ojo con Buscando a Mr. Green, la más breve y creo yo, la más potente.

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Mar 28, 2008

bobherzog zog rated it

· review of another edition

Bellow isn't the first person that comes to mind when I think of the best, but he was as good as anybody writing short fiction, ever. Although some of them aren't that short.

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Jun 11, 2007

Michi rated it

My first introduction to Bellow. He is a master. No author describes the physicality of its characters like him. Not all the stories are earth shattering, but I was taken.

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Jun 30, 2007

Joe Alewine rated it

· review of another edition

An exercise in extremely long-winded pretension. I managed to finish it, but I will read nothing else by Saul Bellow at anything short of gunpoint.

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May 21, 2008

Ben Weiner rated it

· review of another edition

Kept me company on the bus in Chicago every morning during the long winter commutes.

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May 23, 2008

Grant rated it

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Shelves: story-collections

great collection of short stories. each one is rich in detail and plot.

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Aug 31, 2007

Moirin rated it

· review of another edition

especially "Something to Remember me By".

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Aug 22, 2007

Jillann rated it

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Saul Bellow isn't as crusty as I expected.

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Feb 09, 2012

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About Saul Bellow

Celebrated American Jewish writer.
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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