Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow
Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow
1 Rating(s)
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Henderson the Rain King

Author: Saul Bellow

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Unabridged: 14 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/28/2019

Synopsis

Saul Bellow evokes all the rich colors and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this acclaimed comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson’s awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life win him the admiration of the tribe—but it is his gift for making rain that turns him from mere hero into messiah. A hilarious, often ribald story, Henderson the Rain King is also a profound look at the forces that drive a man through life.

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vit on July 25, 2024

Do the modern achievements of civilization bring good? Or do they bring evil? Isn’t it better to return to the primordial roots and become a part of nature? Protagonist – a future rainmaker – is a picturesque persona… Here comes Henderson of the U.S.A. – Captain Henderson, Purple Heart, veteran of Nor......more

Goodreads review by Manny on August 14, 2015

Although I enjoyed the book, I have trouble improving on this brief summary from onestarbookreviews:A rich old man goes to Africa to find himself, only to get tangled up in one huge, extended metaphor with a lion.......more

Goodreads review by Barry on July 18, 2015

Holden Caulfield goes to Africa.......more

Goodreads review by Richard on May 22, 2013

If you can endure the narcissistic, misogynistic narrator-protagonist, if you can pretend to believe that every woman he meets wants to jump his bones, every guy wants to become his pal and no one anywhere wants to slap him silly, if you can abide the phony African setting, if you can shrug off the......more

Goodreads review by William2 on October 28, 2023

Astonishing. Subtly madcap. An endearing, charming book. My 2nd or 3rd reading. His name is Eugene Henderson. He's a mountain of a man, and all existential angst. He is from a storied family, owns an extensive estate in New Jersey, where he has raised pigs, and has been left $3 million (1958 US) by......more

Quotes

“It blazes as fiercely and scintillatingly as a forest fire. There is life here; a great rage to live more fully. In this it is a giant among novels.” San Francisco Examiner

“A kind of wildly delirious dream made real by the force of Bellow’s rollicking prose and the offbeat inventiveness of his language.” Chicago Tribune

“It made me dance.” Henry Miller

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