Doc Opp's review
Ravelstein (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by Saul Bellow
People who know me are aware of my proclivity for random tangents in the middle of conversations. But even I am able to keep on point better than Bellow, who's stream of consciousness meandering left me unsure what the plot of the book was even after finishing. If pressed, I'd say the book was a series of random anecdotes about a fictional character that don't follow any particular timeline or make any particular point. It was also quite repetitive, the same stories were told over and over, and a turn of phrase that was clever the first time I read it was less so the 5th time around.
The book merits two stars instead of one because while I found the writing style grating, it did have some interesting and thought provoking ideas. But I would say that those good ideas could easily be summarized in half a dozen pages, and doing so would greatly improve the experience of reading this book.
The book merits two stars instead of one because while I found the writing style grating, it did have some interesting and thought provoking ideas. But I would say that those good ideas could easily be summarized in half a dozen pages, and doing so would greatly improve the experience of reading this book.
