Herzog-Saul Bellow (371 pages)

Saul Bellow is a Nobel Prizing winning author, so it's hard to criticize his book. However, I didn't really like it. This is definitely one of those novels where, although the craftsmanship of the writer is widely recognized, I as a reader did not enjoy the work. Herzog describes the mental state of Moshe Elkanah Herzog (a man with most Biblical name ever), a crazy, emotionally wired Jewish guy who thinks really deep thoughts all the time and works himself into a veritable tizzy while writing mental letters to everyone he knows--the living, the dead, his friends and his enemies. But the letters are actually just Bellow's own intellectual musings, prose that reflects late night conversations he must have had, complete with the snobbish air that accompanies such lofty gibber gabber. Well, I guess it's not gibber gabber--Bellow's thoughts are incredibly complex and of great depth. It's just that he's sort of boasting about his own mental capacity rather than enlightening the reader. He's a hipster from decades past. Also, referencing literal street addresses in New York City and Chicago every five seconds does not make you cool. Neither does including a shocking repertoire of Biblical Hebrew that even a former Orthodox Jew is impressed with. All in all, Herzog is a book of ideas. But unlike writers like Milan Kundera who make me ache from the beauty of the concepts they present, Herzog just kind of kvetches until I say, "Alright, already. I finished the book."