'Seize the Day'

A pretty poignant book.

Wilhelm is a man in his 40s. He's lost his wife and kids. Lives with his father. Lost his dead-end job. Doesn't have any money and what money he did have, he lost it in a speculation scheme steered by some guy he plays cards with.

You kind of get the feeling that he doesn't like himself so the fact that no one else really likes him (even his father) doesn't really make him altogether sad nor does it necessarily ever surprise him.

At this moment, when all is terribly wrong with the world, Wilhelm finds himself. Kinda.

What's eye opening about "Seize the Day" is the fact that this isn't from the 1960s or 1970s. But from the 1950s, a decade of rebuilding, decadence, provincial living and safety. When the world quit fighting. When the United States had a former general as president. The war to end all wars was done. Jobs could be had. Marriage, kids, white-picket fences.

It was all there for the taking or the mirage of it was there. Chances are, and Saul Bellow indicates as much, it wasn't there for many. The war of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s was still be waged by many not able to put the pieces together.