“The pursuit of sanity can be a form of madness, too.”

Henderson the Rain King is a picaresque novel about a man looking for life’s meaning. Essentially it’s a comic misadventure in which an aging man visits Africa and meets a king who offers him a remedy: become a lion. Bellow’s prose balances erudition and humor better than probably any other writer I’ve read. He writes some very funny characters. Overall, I didn’t love this novel, but I enjoyed some aspects of it. Henderson’s internal struggle (I want, I want, I want) is the guiding force of the novel. I felt that Bellow chose an interesting plot to represent a major transformative experience that results in a meaningful change in a person’s soul. This theme is not of major interest to me personally, but I basically liked the story and characters. I can acknowledge that Bellow and I share an interest in the hovering cloud of mortality, but I’m more fascinated by the psychological effects of morbidity and the inner turmoil of reconciling limited time and the certainty of death. Bellow touches upon this idea, and sets up a framework for this to be possibly discussed, but ultimately gives attention to Henderson’s spiritual transformation. 

Bellow uses a lot of space in the novel to discuss Henderson’s background and key events in his life. Henderson never interacts with characters from these memories, but they’re often referenced again at the perfect moment. I enjoyed Henderson’s bromance with King Dahfu and, as an ESL teacher, had fun reading their interactions. Henderson comically speaks to some of the African characters without any consideration of their knowledge of English, so they often confusedly receive rambling, convoluted monologues with hyperspecific references to American or Jewish culture as his interlocutors. I’m weirdly interested in reading more Bellow soon even though this one didn’t completely do it for me.