Dangling Man

This month's book club selection, courtesy in part of Michael's suggestion to honor the late Saul Bellow. I was a little nervous as I really didn't much like Henderson the Rain King (in fact, it made me like the Counting Crows song a little less for quite some time). And after last month's meeting which was largely (and sadly) a bashing session of Barbara Kingsolver, I was wanting something I could really get behind. The first twenty pages of the book confirmed a lot of my fears. It was meandering and boring, and I couldn't really tell what was going on. I put Michael to sleep twice reading it. Luckily, he acknowledged first that this was not a book for reading aloud and took matters into his own hands. Leaving me to catch up. Which I am now doing. Actually, I should be finishing it right now, but am blogging it instead. At any rate, it's gotten much better, although I don't at all see how it's going to wrap up in 50 pages.

The "dangling man," by the way, is our hero and journal-writer, a Chicago resident in the midst of WWII who is essentially sitting around waiting to be drafted. This has been going on for some time now, due to Army confusion and bureaucracy (and a Canadian birth certificate) and in the meantime he has left his job and become alienated from those around him. He dangles, waiting...