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Herzog Audiobook
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(3.00) - 7,420 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Herzog is a man seeking balance, trying to regain a foothold on his life. Thrown out of his ex-wife’s house, Herzog retreats to his abandoned home in a remote village in the Berkshire Mountains. Amid the dust of the disused house, he begins scribbling letters to family, friends, lovers, colleagues, enemies, dead philosophers, ex-presidents—anyone with whom he feels compelled to set the record straight. The letters—which are never sent—are a means to cure himself of the psychic strain of the failures of his life: that of being a bad husband, a loving but poor father, an ungrateful child, a distant brother, an egoist to friends, and an apathetic citizen.
Herzog is primarily a novel of redemption. For all of its innovative techniques and brilliant comedy, it tells one of the oldest of stories. Like The Divine Comedy, it progresses from darkness to light, from ignorance to enlightenment. Today it is still considered one of the greatest literary expressions of postwar America.
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"Saul Bellow..Chicago writer, a real mensch...this book is sad, but has a glimmer of hope. A man on the brink of madness. A failed writer and teacher and husband. A lone wolf. Keep the motor running. Head out on the highway."
— Michael (4 out of 5 stars)
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“A masterpiece.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“The book is a feast of language, situations, characters, ironies, and a controlled moral intelligence that transcends the fact that we are spectators at a hard luck story. Bellow’s rapport with his central character seems to me novel writing in the grand style of a Tolstoi—subjective, complete, heroic…Eventually Moses Herzog becomes as natural an American phenomenon as the faces carved on Mount Rushmore.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“Herzog has the range, depth, intensity, verbal brilliance, and imaginative fullness…of a novel that is unmistakably destined to last.”
— Newsweek -
“Herzog is Saul Bellow’s most famous, and perhaps best, novel—and one that translates wonderfully to audio…At first, narrator Malcolm Hillgartner’s voice seems a bit smooth for the character of Herzog, yet his presentation is highly effective. His polished tone complements the manic Herzog’s life and never distracts the listener from the focus—the inner life of an intellectual who is trying to come to grips with his own foibles.”
— AudioFile -
“Bellow’s National Book Award-winning 1964 novel would not seem a good candidate for audio. It is largely an interior monologue in which Moses Herzog, reeling from a divorce, rants about the nature of the universe and composes letters (never to be mailed) to all variety of persons, living and dead (‘My Dear Mr. Nietzsche’). And, yet, thanks to Hillgartner’s nuanced reading, it makes great listening. Extended monologues, after all, are best experienced like music rather than text, the words rolling along in waves of sound, with the meaning following behind. Hillgartner gives us Bellows word waves in sonorous cadences, capturing the different voices of the various individuals Herzog encounters and remembers, as well as bringing flair to the various languages that pop up from time to time (Yiddish and French, mainly). Best of all, though, is his ability to capture Herzog’s emotional intensity as he reviews his life, fires off letters, and, ultimately, finds a kind of peace where he is finally free from sending messages to anyone.”
— Booklist
Awards
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Winner of the 1965 National Book Award for Fiction
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One of Time Magazine's Best 100 English-Language Novels from 1923–2005
Herzog Listener Reviews
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" Certain novels opened doors of wonder. This is one of them. "
— Tony, 2/19/2014 -
" Abandoned. I hate to admit defeat. I'll give Bellow another try with a different book, but this one got me. Just coulnd't get past about 150 pages. "
— Teresa, 2/10/2014 -
" A strange, but compelling book. I'm not familiar with Saul Bellow's work, other than this book, but would like to read some more. "
— Roberta, 2/7/2014 -
" Bellow is really into imposing the phallus. I put up with the flaccid intellectualizing until I got to the part where the Japanese lover declares herself aroused by the sight of a flasher's penis. Dammit, Bellow, "Adventures of Augie March" was such a promising start! "
— Lilas, 1/17/2014 -
" For future-reference's sake, I found this comment of mine in another thread: (I couldn't even bring myself to write a review of Herzog, for which I wavered between 4 and 5 stars!) "
— Adam, 1/15/2014 -
" Wonderful opening line. All the way downhill from there. "
— Eoing, 1/9/2014 -
" Book about man who learns to let go of words. "
— John, 1/3/2014 -
" This is the only Saul Bellow book I have ever read. But I can say that I felt the characters were all so very unlikeable. So much so that I just couldn't care about their problems. If anything seemed like it would get interesting, Herzog just starting whining again. "
— Nichole, 12/29/2013 -
" I liked Bellow's quirky humor, interesting settings and fun characters. On the other hand, I will never forgive him for (as I see it) dooming american literature to decades of crushing boredom from the litfic crowd. "
— Brian, 12/9/2013 -
" Sometimes people say "women don't really like Saul Bellow" but I didn't think that was true until I read Herzog. It was good, and Bellow is a good writer, but I did not like reading Herzog. "
— Catherine, 11/22/2013 -
" Herzog (Penguin Classics) by Saul Bellow (2003) "
— Keith, 11/1/2013 -
" Philosophically complex ... emotionally gratifying ... a labyrinth of letters written by a lonely man. "
— Yeti, 9/30/2013 -
" Obviously astoudingly brilliant, but in that way that makes me glad I'm done and don't have to read it (or the author) again. "
— Evan, 9/17/2013 -
" A depressing and implausible tale about divorce. There are a few witty lines and ideas but not enough to make it worth slogging through. Apparently this was not the best first Saul Bellow book to start with. "
— Ben, 9/2/2013 -
" Not an easy read, but well worth it. "
— Joseph, 1/9/2013 -
" Well-written and engaging, but too solipsistic, masturbatory, and macho for me. "
— Adamn!, 12/28/2012 -
" Letters inside of letters inside of backstory inside of letters. Time is a total mind fuck in this book. Also, one of the best first lines ever: "If I am out of my mind, that's alright with me, thought Moses Herzog." "
— Stephen, 9/12/2011 -
" I had trouble building much sympathy for Herzog and all his whining. Granted, his ex wife and friends were not much help, but for pete's sake, get a grip! "
— lynn, 6/29/2011 -
" Herzog o la vida y obra de un típico judío norteamericano de clase media. "
— Ulises, 5/6/2011 -
" The man can write a sentence. I bogged down in the middle, found myself thinking "who cares?" after spending too much time in the protagonist's interior monologue and began to lose faith, but soldiered on, and the last third was very good. "
— Jim, 4/6/2011 -
" Extremely raw, very depressing at times, and neurotically beautiful. I read it because Jeffrey Eugenides recommended it on NPR. I didn't regret it. "
— Randy, 3/22/2011 -
" I had trouble building much sympathy for Herzog and all his whining. Granted, his ex wife and friends were not much help, but for pete's sake, get a grip! "
— lynn, 3/2/2011 -
" Herzoga ne velja brati, ce niste pri volji za psihoanaliticno lamentiranje v vrtincu srednjih let izgubljenega moškega. Ce pa ste, je Herzog cisto zanimiva in dobro napisana knjiga. "
— Bimbo, 2/12/2011 -
" Best thing about this book was the cover. Over hyped. Appreciate it was well written. But really, I like a stronger narrative and the self-invovled introspection was too much to make the story enjoyable. <br/> <br/> "
— Georgie, 1/30/2011 -
" Hell of a funny book. "
— Etienne, 1/3/2011
About Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow (1915–2005), author of numerous novels, novellas, and stories, was the only novelist to receive three National Book Awards. He also received the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize in Literature, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, Bellow served as a war correspondent for Newsday. He taught at New York University, Princeton, and the University of Minnesota and was chairman of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
About Malcolm Hillgartner
Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 250 audiobooks.