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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful piece of writing,
By Mitch Roper (Richmond, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Theft (Hardcover)
This novella is so beautifully written, I stopped after about twenty pages and re-read from the start to savor the writing. Bellow is so good at describing everyday people and things while subtly showing the bigger picture simultaneously...
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A slow-paced novella that comes through in the end,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Theft (Paperback)
"A Theft" is kind of a throwaway in Bellow's mighty cannon. Just over one hundred pages long, the book drops you into the High Society world of Clara, who has married four times and is still fond of her first love, who gave her an emerald ring. She gets her strength from this ring, which she loses once, but then recovers, only to have it stolen. Unfortunately, it takes 60 pages to get to the theft, and that first section is little more than monotonous pining over how bad life is for Clara, whom you never feel much for, anyway. But the theft introduces you further to the nanny, Gina, who is a brilliant character. Whenever Bellow concentrates on her deep and interesting problems, the book picks up pace. The final confrontation between Gina and Clara, (Clara believes that Gina's boyfriend, Frederic stole the ring) is so good it makes you wonder just what Bellow could have done if he'd applied this kind of passion to the rest of the book. Not bad, but really for Bellow-collectors only
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I Never Thought I Would Give Bellow Three Stars !,
This review is from: A Theft (Paperback)
Born near Montreal in 1915, Bellow is thought of as a Chicago writer who wrote about life in urban America. His novels feature smooth flowing prose and he won a Nobel Prize in 1976. He hit his peak as a writer between "Augie March" in 1953 and the Pulitzer novel "Humbolt's Gift" in 1973. He wrote from the early 1940s through to 2000. I read 12 of his 13 novels, plus short stories plus this 109 page novella.
When he taught in 1938, he used a reading list which included: Lawrence, Dostoevsky, Dreiser, Joyce, and Flaubert. They were pioneers in realism. Realism became a feature of his novels, and that includes the way in which he treats subjects such as sex, life, death, and the search for self. All of that is missing here and if anyone thinks this weak 109 page novella from 1989 is a good introduction to the master and Nobel Prize winner they are dead wrong. This is a slow starting novel. Overall it is a weak effort with not much of a finish after 109 pages. At best one is left scratching their head: what is it about? What was the point here? Did I miss something? I went back and read the last 10 pages twice. No you missed nothing. There is not much there. As a point of reference compare it to The Actual, a similar novella by Bellow. The Actual, which itself is a weaker effort by Bellow, is at least twice as good as A Theft, i.e: it has a good story, interesting characters, some human emotion, etc. No, this is not Bellow's best nor is it a good introduction to Bellow. It is weak, very, very weak. This book is not to be confused with the best of Saul Bellow or even his average works that he did decades earlier. For example, read Bellow's Herzog written 30 years before and be blown away by excellent writing, the time shifting, the overlays of plots, the multi-layered plot, the stunning prose, and innovation in literature, etc. There is no comparison. The readers have given an average review rating here of only three stars, somewhat shocking for Bellow, and that pretty well is on the mark compared to his body of work. Neutral to negative recommendation: 3 stars. For those new to Bellow try these: Humboldt's Gift (Penguin Classics) 1975 Pulitzer Prize, or Herzog (complicated), 1964 National Book Prize, or Ravelstein,for something written when he was older, or the novella The Actual, or his Collected Stories.
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