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The Victim - by Saul Bellow

Surprise, I finally finished reading one complete book. After a very long time. Sad. What is happening to me!


Leventhal gets a phone call from Elena, his brother's wife.  Elena says that Mickey, her son is seriously ill. Max, the brother works in another city. Leventhal takes permission from his office and goes to their house. But he does not know that his problems are just beginning.

Mickey's fever is serious. But Elena does not want to hospitalize the child. But that is not the main problem. Leventhal meets a person from his past called Albee. Albee was a friend of friends.  A heavy drinker, who keeps making fun of Jewish people. During those days, Leventhal was looking for a job, any job. He gets a recommendation from Albee, he goes to Albee's office with his recommendation and when the interviewer talks rudely, he fights with interviewer and storms off. Now Albee reminds all these stories and blames Leventhal for his job loss. Albee was fired from his job. Subsequently his wife also left him and then she died in an accident. Albee holds Leventhal responsible for all these. Leventhal tries to convince him that he did not have any grudges against him. But Albee is not in a stage to listen. He has no job, no wife, no house and is always inebriated.

But the Levnthal's problems do not end there. Albee keeps on spying on him and following him around. And one fine night, he appears at Leventhal's door and says he has no money for his room rent , and begs Leventhal to let him spend the night in his house? Leventhal reluctantly agrees. But Albees starts misusing this goodwill. The house will start getting dirtier each day. Albee even reads  through Leventhal's personal letters from his wife.

In the mean while Mickey is admitted to hospital, but his health does not improve at all. He dies and Leventhal suspects that Elena  holds him responsible for the death as he forced her to hospitalize the child.

Finally how Leventhal got rid of Albee and what happened to Albee in the end ?

A good book by Saul Bellow - a Canadian born American writer who has won Pulitzer prize and Nobel prize for literature. .

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