Literary Fiction · WarmA boy from a poor Chicago family drifts through jobs, loves, homes and schooling toward a settled life
The Adventures of Augie March
by Saul Bellow
Augie March grows up poor in Chicago and drifts through many jobs, loves and places
Augie March is raised in poverty by his mother and a domineering boarder in the rough parts of Chicago during the Great Depression. The novel follows him from childhood to a fairly stable maturity as he drifts through many jobs, relationships, homes and forms of education. The story later moves to Mexico, New York and France.
More about this book
Who
Augie March, who grows up poor in Chicago.
World
Chicago during the Great Depression, later Mexico, New York and France.
What makes it different
It is a picaresque novel and a coming-of-age story in one, covering many jobs, relationships and homes.
Feel
Lively and long, at 586 pages. It won the 1954 National Book Award for Fiction.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Adventures of Augie MarchWikipedia