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The Victim Audiobook
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(3.00) - 753 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In this unique noir masterpiece by the incomparable Saul Bellow, a young man is sucked into the mysterious, heat-filled vortex of New York City.
Asa Leventhal, a temporary bachelor with his wife away on a visit to her mother, attempts to find relief from a Gotham heat wave only to be accosted in the park by a down-at-the-heels stranger who accuses Leventhal of ruining his life. Unable to shake the stranger, Leventhal is led by his own self-doubts and suspicions into a nightmare of paranoia and fear.
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"What a crazy, weird book. I absolutely flew through this, because I'd been meaning to read it forever, and had started a while back and put it down, so I basically just caught the main plotlines and characters and missed a lot of the intricacies, though it seems a fairly simple book. But what an intriguing setup! Has that kind of Kafkaesque inevitability to it. But yeah, the protag/antag setup was just so interesting, nothing I've really read before. Totally a unique book, while also being just a straightforward narrative. Mostly just a great story, I guess. Will have to read it again some day."
— Paul (4 out of 5 stars)
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“A kind of Dostoyevskian nightmare…written with unusual power and insight.”
— New York Times -
“Anything by Bellow is worth a dozen other novels.”
— Spectator (London) -
“The Victim confirmed the emergence of a new protagonist in American literature: modern, Jewish, as alienated from his surroundings as Kafka’s Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis.”
— Boston Globe -
“The best novel to come out of America—or England—for a generation.”
— New York Review of Books -
“A story of New York today—in general introspective, thought provoking, but with the focus on the idea rather than the people, who are little more than lay figures.”
— Kirkus Reviews
The Victim Listener Reviews
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" Having read Humboldt's Gift and proudly declaring myself a lifelong fan of Saul Bellow I feel like I am crashing back to earth with this novel. Kafkaesque is normally used in positive way but in this novel I feel could be applied negatively (as in you are not sure what is the problem and who is supposed to be the victim) Bellow's writing is very good and descriptive, he captures the inferno hot New York brilliantly. The issue however is the story. Asa Leventhal meets somebody (Albee) who blames him for his current situation in life. Albee continues to harass him. At this point one would assume Asa would simply punch him in the mouth and end it there. This is also in congress with Asa's character who seems able to be short and rude to other people. If the Asa character was a timid it would be more plausible or if the tit for tat violence escalated, this would pose the question to what point? What point would a man declare sufficient or enough, this would be an interesting question. However it never posed these questions and ended quite flatly. All in all a disappointment. "
— Fatleg, 2/16/2014 -
" SIX WORLD REVIEW: Albee angrily approaches. Leventhal languidly lets. "
— Sidik, 1/21/2014 -
" Seriously stressed out Jewish guy in NY mulling over difficult ethical problems. I think I read that Bellow is popular with many English critics because of a Dickensian moral bent. Boy that Allbee sure is a jerk. "
— Adam, 1/18/2014 -
" Again, read years ago. "
— Shaun, 12/31/2013 -
" I don't remember a thing about this book, but I would blame the author. "
— Jorge, 12/30/2013 -
" While the book was not a bad read, it didnt succeed in holding my attention too well. I had to continuously make myself read it, which is not really a positive judgement to make on a book. "
— Lin, 12/17/2013 -
" A bit of a slow read. Didn;t knock me over. Some dense description which can be rather good. Very jewish characters and settings- 1947- the founding of Israel. Have I missed some allegorical insight? Surprised to see it was published in 1947, set in New York but no World War 2....strange. "
— iain, 12/15/2013 -
" One of Saul Bellow's best. Paranoia at its finest. Also, a fabulous example of how men will fall apart while their wives are away on vacation! tee hee! :) "
— Lala, 11/1/2013 -
" This is the first Bellow book I have read and I was not disappointed. As it says on the back cover..."Anything by Bellow is worth a dozen other novels". So true. What a magnificent writer! "
— Steven, 4/22/2013 -
" Liked it well enough, but Bellow's no Jerry Butler. Harhar. "
— Eric, 3/30/2013 -
" This book was pretty depressing. Not exactly beach reading. Pretty monochrome, but insightful and creepy. "
— sally, 2/24/2013 -
" Good book, but not meant for light reading "
— Usha, 11/19/2012 -
" Enjoyable short teaching novel. Very NY Jewish set in the 30s. Once you get used to that writing style, it's a great story with rapid, strong character development. "
— Kent, 10/12/2012 -
" This is pre-good Bellow. Avoid "
— Chris, 8/26/2012 -
" I liked this better than Seize the Day, which tends to get high marks. I'm looking forward to reading Ravelstein plus Herzog or Augie March sometime this year; from there I ought to be able to figure out my opinion of Bellow. With what I've read so far, I'm not impressed yet but still intrigued. "
— David, 6/17/2012 -
" guilt triiiiiiip "
— Bendow, 6/3/2012
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 Joe Barrett
Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.