Mr. Sammlers Planet

Mr. Sammler's Planet is one of the most powerful and prophetic novels by Saul Bellow. Now so many highbrows have discovered that madness is higher knowledge… Power and money of course do drive people crazy. So why shouldn't people also gain power and wealth through being crazy? They should go togethe......more

Third or fourth reading. Published in 1970, when New York was on the precipice of bankruptcy, I felt the pessimism of the early sections—and Sammler has every right to his pessimism, being a Holocaust survivor—so readily echoed the present that I was thrown. New York, of course, was in shambles at t......more

In another amazing and moving tour de force, Bellow explores themes of mortality and morality through a 48h period with his Shaoh survivor Mr Sammler. All the characters are carefully drawn from Sammler's perspective and the action of the novel forms a perfect circle. The philosophical ruminations a......more

"In those days I learned that nothing is more frightening than a hero who has lived to tell his story, to tell what all those who fell at his side will never be able to tell." Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind When I think of Mr. Sammler, do I see a hero or a villain or a victim or all at once......more