Customer Reviews

Henderson the Rain King

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Gene Henderson, Ivy Leaguer,war hero,millionaire has everything an aspiring American can want,but he feels soul-less in this world.It drives him nuts, he explodes at the least provocation, He yearns for the real,to live and goes in search of it in deepest Africa....
I've often read that Gene Henderson appears in many guises in many Bellow novels;the anti hero who has achieved the middle American dream only to be disallusioned by the phoneyness and emptyness of it all; a seeker of the reality that must exist under it all, ever with a streetwise crack. And being a great fan of Bellow's and having read a dozen or so of his works, indeed, Henderson is the Saul Bellow man that I've met a few times before!
In one sense it meant that Henderson' lacked a bit of freshness that I would have savoured more fully had I read this first, but on another level it serves to wonderfully underscore Bellow's take on 20th century life, something that never tires or fails to both entertain and provoke thought. A truly great nobel winner.

"The Adventures of Augie March," "Herzog," and "Humboldt's Gift" are better books. However, this is a thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking work about what it means to lose yourself and grower older (and hopefully wiser).

A great book and one of Bellow's best and lesser known works. Interesting characters with a compelling plot. It is not a long novel, having a quick tempo keeps the reader involved in the quirky dynamic between the characters. There are also a few quintessential Bellowisms that stick out and put a small smile on your face. I recommend the book completely if you have enjoyed other books of Bellow.

Henderson the Rain King is an effort by Saul Bellow to identify the meaning of life. In that effort he fails. The story centers around Gene Henderson, a 55 year old American millionaire who is married (for the second time) and has five children. Still he is not satisfied and keeps saying, "I need, I need" To find the answer he leaves his wife and family and goes to Africa where he has a lot of adventures that are improbable and show Bellow's bigotry toward Africa. In the end he does not find what he apparently needs and goes home. The novel ends with Henderson running around a plane in Greenland with a small boy and lion cub, a strange and unsatisfying ending that is fitting for a strange and unsatisfying book. It is an interesting and exotic adventure story and if you are into such books then by all means read it. But don't look for any answer to the meaning of life because there is none here.