The article titled "Livros: As aventuras de Augie March, de Saul Bellow, em Chicago" seems to be about the adventures of a character named Augie March in Chicago as depicted in a book by Saul Bellow.

It likely explores the various experiences and events that Augie March encounters in the vibrant and diverse city of Chicago.

The story might delve into the social, cultural, and economic aspects of Chicago during the time period in which the book is set.

Readers can expect to be taken on a journey through the eyes of Augie March, experiencing the city's hustle and bustle, its unique neighborhoods, and the people he meets along the way.

Whether it's his relationships, his struggles, or his moments of triumph, the adventures of Augie March in Chicago are sure to captivate and engage readers.

https://expresso.pt/revista/culturas/...

Chicago is a city that holds a special place in the hearts of many Americans, whether they were born there or not. It is a city of great history, culture, and diversity.

From its iconic architecture to its world-renowned museums and art galleries, Chicago has something for everyone. The city is also home to some of the best restaurants in the country, offering a wide variety of cuisines to satisfy any palate.

In addition to its cultural attractions, Chicago is also a great place to live and work. The city has a vibrant economy and is home to many major corporations and startups. It also has a strong sense of community, with neighborhoods that are filled with friendly people and a rich local culture.

Whether you are a Chicago native or just visiting, this city is a must-see. It offers a unique and unforgettable experience that will leave you with memories that will last a lifetime. So, if you haven't already, make sure to add Chicago to your travel bucket list. You won't be disappointed!

The story unfolds over a period of approximately 25 years (from 1925 to around 1950), and the hero, Augie March, is a child of an unknown father who grows up in Chicago.

Augie's optimism and his longing for life are unique! He does everything to survive in the harsh era that begins with the Great Depression, traveling everywhere and getting to know all kinds of people... rich, successful, poor, communities, gangsters, the underworld. However, he strongly resists and clashes with all those who live by leaving the world as they found it, simply inheriting the fate that was bequeathed to their children. Augie doesn't want this closed and fearful world and follows his own path in life with the axes of Truth, Love, Simplicity, Usefulness, and Harmony (p. 733). He is like the eagle that, in the 15th chapter, tries to train with the great love of his life, Thea, and the proud eagle does not obey their commands.

Augie's world is presented as open, larger, and wealthier, with the backdrop of the multi-faceted American identity, different nationalities, and different cultures. In this world, he describes his incredible Odyssey with hardships, adventures, wars, loves, pleasures, charming everyone, men and women, in a way that they cannot deny him anything. Because Augie is not an ordinary young man. Although he failed to study, he reads, reads continuously, reads many difficult books by authors such as Marx, Hegel, Tocqueville, Nietzsche, or Max Weber.

I found the author's tone very special, with a style that initially surprised me and required careful reading. Many times I had to go back and read pages over and over again to understand them and remember the names of the numerous heroes. I estimate that the (excellent) translation of this epic novel (860 pages) also faced significant challenges... long sentences, a complex language full of metaphors, with references to the Bible, ancient philosophers, Shakespeare, Dickens, Dante, but also with historical references to Herodotus, Thucydides, Alcibiades, Croesus, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, with allusions from the Renaissance to Modernism... I don't think there is any important writer, painter, poet, hero who is omitted from the pages of this wonderful novel.

**The Adventures of Augie March**

Augie March is a young man with a thirst for adventure. He sets out on a journey that takes him to many different places and introduces him to a diverse cast of characters. Along the way, he experiences love, loss, and everything in between.

The story of Augie March is one of self-discovery and growth. He learns about himself and the world around him as he navigates the challenges and opportunities that come his way. His adventures are filled with excitement, danger, and humor, making for a truly engaging read.

Whether you're a fan of adventure stories or simply looking for a good book to read, The Adventures of Augie March is sure to delight. So why not pick up a copy today and join Augie on his thrilling journey?

An adventurous all-american masterpiece of epic proportions? Well, at least that's what I had hoped for with five stars flashing before my eyes even before reading the first page!

However, where did it all go wrong? Predominantly because it tries too hard to be many different things at once. Even the smallest interactions between characters are broken up or halted to reflect on the human predicament, relationships, or moments from the past. While I don't have a problem with this from time to time, at over five hundred pages, it continues throughout and becomes tedious. It's about 100 pages too long, affecting any story development and leading to an overall frustrating novel that doesn't flow and is hard work to complete.

Of course, there is a flip side. The level of ambition, depth, and quality of writing has to be admired. And it was. The historical aspect of the depression in a major city was heartfelt and believable during the early stages. This, I think, was Bellow's great skill in setting the scene for what was to follow.

So then there's Augie March, a rather unfortunate young fellow growing up in Chicago during the great depression. Like many others at this time, he struggled. This resulted in him having to borrow, steal, cheat, and charm his way in life while still in education. He took on a number of rather obscure and lousy jobs to support his poor family, some of whom were of ill health, including his simple brother George and Grandma. He got to meet a vast number of characters from all different backgrounds, and many became fond of him.

But this kid has a determination and resilience that slowly starts to show as his reputation grows, the occupations improve, and along with his other brother Simon, the money flows more frequently. Then the attraction to the opposite sex starts to take hold, with the odd fling here and there. But it's when spending time away with an employer that he truly falls in love with one of two sisters. The problem is, it's the other sister Thea who falls for Augie, and they would meet up some time later and become a couple. Then a trip to Mexico to hunt lizard with a trained Eagle called Caligula would slowly signal the end of another chapter in his life and move on to pastures new in this grand odyssey of soul searching to find his place in the world.

In terms of scope, it's huge. And like I said, this is both good and troublesome. With a great outline for a story but executed in the wrong way, this could have been up there with the likes of 'Lonesome dove' or 'East of Eden' but just doesn't have the lasting power to keep you interested. A book of this scale simply needs that. Although it had some great moments and was very well written, my disappointment is difficult to hide. Still, I am glad to have got through it and may have appreciated this more if read later in life.

Almost abandoned early on, it was only compulsive completionism that pulled me through. I understand that Bellow can write movingly and incisively, and I have a guarded yet sincere affinity with his biblio-mantic Trotsky-lite "worldview." However, this particular work is either overly bloated (to be uncharitable) or superabundantly filled with the detail! the detail! of everyday life (to fawn). After spending three or four words on how a character looks, my eyes roll back, my jaw slacks, and Bellow spares no effort in itemizing every feature of every character. At best, the garrulous descriptions touch on something imperceptible, which may be interesting to readers who prefer the cerebral over the visual. For example, on the very first page, Grandma's slippers are described as "the grey despotic to souls." Would that such evocative concision weren't drowned in the flood of words.

While this work is certainly a literary monument to the mythic idol of the individualist Man against dehumanization, it is equally certain that the world of open horizons that Bellow lyricizes at length has long since been privatized, parceled, and pixelated. In short, for the worse, it has become history. Midcentury realism has become ridiculous, and it's not Bellow's fault, but it makes many of the rhetorical high notes ring hollow. The anti-Alger figure, the common man who'd rather be his own failure than someone else's success but always gets attached to someone willing his success, who survives on the fringes through sheer pluck and scrape, quietly subversive vagabondage not so much taking on THE MACHINE as letting it run untended... In the era of the universally scattered Precariat, who can't but see this as a veneer of rosy nostalgia polishing the turd of immiseration? Well, Augie is "lucky," which at least means he's Judeo-White, and he's good with women, well-mannered, flawed but hard and brilliant like a diamond, so he's okay. How are you, people of 2020? Are good manners and a can-do attitude keeping the lights on, aw-shucks-ing your way through the slow apocalypse, pondering whether character is fate on your 15-minute break, if you're "lucky" enough to be working?

Potshotting aside, I think this novel provokes such an ambivalent response (and still deserves a fairer shake than the half-assery you're getting here) precisely because by now it is an aesthetic - read: Historical - conundrum: what was true, or possible, that we've lost? Could we even still see it if it was spelled out across 500+ tiny-fonted pages? What does the "campaign for a worthwhile fate" or "a fate worth suffering for rather than suffering from" entail today? What is the form of "inevitable disappointment" right now? Those are Bellow's scare quotes, not mine, and the best moments of this taxing work are given over to just those perennial questions. It's been lauded and lambasted as "Dickensian," so pick a side.

“Then I had a few rough days and got stretched out in melancholy. I thought, where did I get that way, putting in for the best there was in the departments of beauty and joy as if I were a count of happy youth, and like born to elegance and sweet love, with bones made candy? And had to remember what very seldom mattered with me, namely, where I came from, parentage, and other history, things I had never much thought of as difficulties, being democratic in temperament, available to everybody and assuming about others what I assumed about myself.”

This is definitely not an easy bedtime read.

It was an extremely challenging book, yet it was also highly rewarding.

Every sentence within this book seemed to hold great significance, and there were some sentences that I had to read multiple times, and still, I did not fully grasp their meaning. However, other sentences simply stopped me in my tracks and truly made me think deeply.

The characters in this book are truly brilliant, and I will remember many of them for a long time to come.

The descriptions of the characters are so rich and detailed that they make you really empathize with them. In particular, George and Mama stand out.

I absolutely adored this book and will most certainly read it again. I believe that the second time around, it will be even better.

Now, I must go and purchase some more works by Saul Bellow.

His writing has truly captivated me, and I cannot wait to explore more of his literary masterpieces.

Each book seems to offer a unique and thought-provoking experience, and I am eager to see what else he has in store for me.

Thought I should read the book my son was named after

Nabokov and Bellow divide the world between them; there is no third. Ok maybe Updike is third. And maybe not the world, just the postwar American novel.

Vladimir Nabokov and Saul Bellow are two literary giants who have had a profound impact on the world of literature. Their works are widely regarded as some of the most important and influential in the postwar American novel. Nabokov's unique writing style, with its vivid descriptions and complex characters, has earned him a reputation as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Bellow, on the other hand, is known for his exploration of the human condition and his use of humor and satire to comment on society.

John Updike is also a highly regarded American novelist, but some may argue that he does not quite reach the same level as Nabokov and Bellow. While his works are well-written and engaging, they may not have the same depth and breadth as those of his two contemporaries. However, others may believe that Updike's contributions to the postwar American novel are just as significant, and that he should be considered on par with Nabokov and Bellow.

Rome is from the series of the Great American Novel. What Steinbeck does in the Southwest and Faulkner in the South, Saul Bellow accomplishes in the urban North of America. A story of great magnitude, a bildungsroman, a picaresque novel, socially and individually descriptive through a multitude of individualized and viable characters, it is categorically the best book read from the author's series.

Bellow's work stands out for its complexity and depth. He delves into the human condition, exploring themes such as identity, morality, and the search for meaning in a modern and often chaotic world. His characters are richly drawn, with their own flaws, dreams, and struggles, making them relatable and engaging.

The novel's setting in the urban North adds another layer of authenticity and vividness. Bellow描绘了 the bustling streets, the diverse neighborhoods, and the social hierarchies that exist within the city. Through his descriptive prose, readers are able to immerse themselves in this world and experience it along with the characters.

Overall, this novel is a masterpiece of American literature. It showcases Bellow's talent as a writer and his ability to create a compelling and thought-provoking story. It is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the human experience and the complexities of modern society.

Some people experience chills or shortness of breath when reading Stephen King. I must admit, I do too. However, when reading Saul Bellow's sentences, I found myself tensing up in a similar way, biting my bottom lip, and forcing myself not to rush.

Taking the time to truly savor the language was well worth it. Some people have said in their reviews that "Augie March" is about the journey rather than the goal, meaning that the plot doesn't drive it. And indeed, this is not a three-act drama with a climax like that described by John Truby. But each sentence had both a journey and a goal. Each page had some sort of climactic arc. It is just so beautifully written.

George Saunders was recently on "Bookworm" (kcrw.org), and he said something perfect about the effect a book can have on a person. He said that while reading a book recently, he noticed "there were certain dormant humane things in me that—almost like a peacock tail—just went up and stayed up for a few hours... that dormant humane thing gets reenergized for a while." His words were so well put. He also said that language doesn't have to be fancy, and I don't think Bellow's is necessarily fancy. I had to look up some words simply because of the change in usage over the years. It is actually very accessible. As Saunders said, after reading some books, you feel like you've had your "clock cleaned," and somehow the world seems more beautiful or luminous, and you are more "in" the world for a few hours after reading it. So I'm glad this book took me a long time to read because it allowed me to be in that state for more than just a few hours.

The downside? I feel so humbled as a writer and I'm filled with envy. I want his skills.

I dragged myself, painfully, through the first four hundred pages and flipped through the last three hundred dizzily.

But the book is good.

Martin Amis says it is the great American novel.

It is even part of some required reading lists and all that.

The problem is really mine that I don't get Saul Bellow.

Perhaps it's because his writing style is so different from what I'm used to.

His language is complex and rich, full of deep thoughts and insights.

It requires a lot of concentration and effort to understand.

But I'm determined to keep trying, because I know that there is something valuable hidden within these pages.

I just need to find a way to unlock its secrets and let the story unfold before my eyes.

Maybe with each new page, I'll get a little closer to understanding the genius of Saul Bellow.