REVIEW: THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH BY SAUL BELLOW (1949)

Augie March is a typical boy becoming a man in Depression-era Chicago: so typical, in fact, that he is destined to fill most of the possible types that could be found in America. A “born recruit,” he finds himself launched from career to improbable career across all of his society’s nuanced social castes. But his quest, though one of self-discovery, is not intentionally so; it is merely his easy acceptance of fantastic opportunities and the malaise that closely follows commitment that lead him under the wings of rich socialites, to crime, to fights for social justice, across deserts full of wild animals, into the arms of glamorous and particular lovers, and always away again from the same pursuits.

This novel is a fine example of classic fiction that can be just as imaginative as fantasy itself. Although all of Augie’s jobs are possible, their combination and the personalities behind them stretch the definition of possibility. Those personalities are what shape the heart of the novel as they burgeon into a Dickensian cast which is colorful enough not to lose any of its members to repetition or the reader’s boredom. Though the novel is about Augie, many major characters experience dynamic journeys as well, which weave in and out of the main narrative. The other, more static characters, who serve as mileposts on Augie’s journey, are no less memorable.

Taken together, the varied characters and experiences combine to weave a unified tapestry of Chicago in the 1930’s. From the fantastically rich to the unemployed poor, everyone was inventing ways to get a little more for themselves, whether that “more” was money or meaning. Augie stands out in that he isn’t seeking anything, which counters the traditionally American symbolism his climb out of poverty implies. Every time he finds himself in dire need, he can be sure to have his problems soon solved, and every time he finds his dreams have come true, events conspire to knock him off his pedestal again. Chance, not hard work, wins his fights for him. If Augie is America, he is a new America that has been thrust into a complicated, cosmopolitan world before he has had a chance to mature.

I read this book at exactly the right time in my life, as random and interesting jobs have changed my direction enough times to awaken me to the vast scope of life’s possibilities. If it were merely that kind of inspiration, it would have my recommendation. But it is more: a rollicking adventure whose every stop is a story worth reading for its improbability rooted in realism and heartwarming laugh at bleakness.