false 1 1 false false Tue Feb 03 09:29:13 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 20:41:06 -0800 2009
The setup is interesting and has great potential. A man is on a quest to make sense of his life in a world that's lost its way. The theme: Culture, the arts, advanced learning and thinking, (the only raisons-d'être for man's existence don't you know) are being quashed by modern society and its trappings. From the get-go, there are quotes or mention of zillions of philosphers, musicians, artists and other smarty pants of their ilk. So far so good.

But nothing comes of it all. The philosophical meanderings turn into banal, empty rants and we spend our time following the boring life of a pompous rebel without a clue. (Darn, I'm getting nasty, and I can't help it.)

The characters are painted in vivid colours, but that's part of the problem. There are no shades to the characters and they all come across as two-dimensional mainstream props.

I was disappointed by this, my first Bellow novel, but I will try another, seeing he's such a prodigious writer, and part Canadian, too.]]>