Χέντερσον, ο Βασιλιάς της Βροχής
Saul Bellow, 1959
★ 3.76 from 16.4k ratings on Goodreads
A rich, enormous, furious American tells his own life at full volume: wives, a farm, a debt of love, and a hunger for something he can't name. A loud, funny, restless voice carries you through a big American life, full of appetite, argument, weather and self-questioning.
Feels like humor, joy and wonder. About identity, nature and love.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy comic, talkative narrators who turn their own confusion into argument and satire. Be warned that his ego and misogyny can wear thin, and the philosophical detours make some readers find the book tedious.
Why read it
It gives you a large, comic portrait of a man trying to understand his debts and desires, and Bellow's prose keeps the arguing alive.
A page from the book
What it sounds like when someone loves you and you can't believe it.
Ἔχει τηλέφωνο στὴν κρεβατοκάμαρά μου». Ἔτσι λοιπὸν ἀνεβήκαμε ἐπάνω. Σᾶς διαβεβαιώνω πὼς ἡ συμπεριφορὰ τῆς Λίλι δὲν εἶχε τίποτα τὸ πρόστυχο ἢ τὸ χυδαῖο. Ὅταν ξεντύθηκε, ἄρχισε νὰ μιλάει μὲ τρεμάμενη φωνή: «Σ‘ ἀγαπῶ! Σ‘ ἀγαπῶ!» Κι ἐγὼ εἶπα ἀπὸ μέσα μου καθὼς ἀγκαλιαστήκαμε: «Πῶς εἶναι δυνατὸν ν’ ἀγαπάει ἐμένα – ἐμένα, ἐμένα;» Ἀκούστηκε ἕνα κουβάρι ἀπὸ μπουμπουνητὰ κι ὕστερα ξέσπασε δυνατὴ βροχὴ μὲ ἀστραπὲς ποὺ μαστίγωνε τοὺς δρόμους, τὰ δέντρα, τὶς στέγες καὶ τὰ παντζούρια. Τὰ πάντα ἄστραφταν. What readers say
Readers often find the novel funny, beautiful, and thought-provoking, especially its self-discovery and satirical bent. Others are frustrated by the narrator’s ego, misogyny, and philosophical digressions, and some find the whole journey tedious or baffling.
Saul Bellow.Bellow's second novel won the 1960 National Book Award and was praised by readers as varied as Saul Bellow's own contemporaries and, later, Martin Amis, who called it his favourite. Its opening line is one of the most quoted in American fiction.
Books that feel like this
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- Is Χέντερσον, ο Βασιλιάς της Βροχής for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy comic, talkative narrators who turn their own confusion into argument and satire. Be warned that his ego and misogyny can wear thin, and the philosophical detours make some readers find the book tedious.
- What is Χέντερσον, ο Βασιλιάς της Βροχής like?
- A loud, funny, restless voice carries you through a big American life, full of appetite, argument, weather and self-questioning. Feels like humor, joy and wonder. About identity, nature and love.
- What should I read after Χέντερσον, ο Βασιλιάς της Βροχής?
- If you liked Χέντερσον, ο Βασιλιάς της Βροχής, try Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά (Nikos Kazantzakis), Alaska (James Michener) and Ragtime (E. L. Doctorow).
A taste of the feed
Two ways to live with death, argued over a newly planted almond tree.
Look, one day I had gone to a little village. An old grandfather of ninety was busy planting an almond tree. ‘What, grandfather!’ I exclaimed. ‘Planting an almond tree?’ And he, bent as he was, turned around and said: ‘My son, I carry on as if I should never die.’ I replied: ‘And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute.’ Which of us was right, boss?
Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά · Nikos Kazantzakis
A creature speaks in magnificent, terrible grandeur, asserting a dominion that defies all reason.
“The King under the Mountain is dead, and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons’ sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish, and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, Thief in the Shadows!” he gloated. “My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”
The Hobbit · J.R.R. Tolkien
A room where no one is impressed by a professional athlete.
Perhaps you should, the doctor thought, and not just because of your bruised brain. Three interceptions in eleven minutes should be a clear sign that football is not your calling. Two nurses appeared quietly and helped with the tests and paperwork. Neither said a word to the patient, though he was an unmarried professional athlete with notable good looks and a hard body. And at that moment, when he needed them, they could not have cared less.
Playing for Pizza · John Grisham
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed