Seize the Day

By Saul Bellow

Categories: Literature & Fiction

Saul Bellow's 1956 novella covers one day in the life of Tommy Wilhelm, a man in his forties living in a New York hotel, whose career, marriage and savings are all failing. Rejected by his wealthy father, he trusts his last money to Dr. Tamkin, a strange adviser who gambles it on commodities. By the end of the day he must face his life.

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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.”