My book review of Herzog.

So, the post I will get to tonight regards the fact that on my trip I finished the book Herzog by Saul Bellow. This beautifully written and poignant novel follows the painful and chaotic journey to forgiveness and redemption of the highly intelligent, yet often overly sentimental and perpetually distracted, Professor Moses Herzog in recovering from his rather brutally unsuccessful second marriage. He has found himself in a state of constant agitation, low on money and at a great distance from both his children who he actually wants nothing more than to care for properly. Most of his days are spent wildly oscillating between anguish, rage, self-pity, insightfulness and reflection. As I said, at times this character seemed to be in my thoughts in ways that were all too difficult to bear. Despite the beauty of his depictions of the people, cities and memories he drifted in and out of contact with throughout the novel, I found myself praying for relief both for him and myself. As a result, it took longer to get through this book than I had anticipated. Although the ending is not exaclty what I would call happy, I would like to think Moses had come through his journey of self-awareness and was truly rounding the corner to recovery and forgiveness. Hopefully, a painful car accident is not required to do the same for me, but there was something rather sweet and simple in accepting what you have, where you are and starting to take small steps towards becoming what you would like to be. And for those of you who have read the book, I close with the following:

Dear Moses,

Thank you for the brutally honest and emotional look into your psyche, which all too often reminded of my own.

Sincerely,

Jeremy L. Marzuola