Henderson, the Rain King, Saul Bellow (read October 2008)

Abandoned after halfway through. I don't commonly put books down without finishing them, but I grew weary of Henderson (Bellow?) languishing in Africa. The novel is briskly paced, insightful and reflective in the period before Henderson ventures to Africa. In Africa, it loses touch with this pacing and wallows in long periods of vague, clumsy descriptions of events and peoples surrounding the main character; it bored me. There probably is a thematic philosophical message underlying the text - Jewish/religious - that I am not familiar with and that I have not researched. Would knowledge of this have made the book more enjoyable? Maybe.