Henderson the Rain King

By Saul Bellow

Categories: Literature & Fiction

Saul Bellow's 1959 novel is narrated by Eugene Henderson, a restless American millionaire in his fifties who hears a voice inside him saying "I want, I want." He sets off for Africa, where his blunders and good intentions bring him among two tribes, make him a rain king, and lead him into friendship with King Dahfu, who teaches him through a lion.

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• Barack Obama: “Some of the great books by Jewish authors like Philip Roth or Saul Bellow, they are steeped with this sense of being an outsider, longing to get in, not sure what you're giving up — what you're willing to give up and what you're not willing to give up.”