Here is the review of Saul Bellow's book " Seize the day", which I recently read-
The day of reckoning has arrived for Tommy Wilhelm. Living in the same hotel as his successful 80 year old doctor father, Tommy is on the brink of disaster. He is separated from his wife and kids, his wife demands ever increasing amounts of money, he is at odds with his father, he's quit his salesman's job because an in-law of the firm got promoted above him, he is failed in his acting career and has just given his last 0 to a philosophising con man to speculate on lard on margin. Tommy reviews his past mistakes and spiritual malaise and at the end of the day is left weeping alone in a church at a stranger's funeral.
John Marcel, Resident Scholar


Tommy Wilhelm once wanted to be an actor. He had a pleasing face, and went to California to audition. He was not succesful. He had the wrong angles in front of a camera--he looked like a lumbering bear. Now he pops phenobarbitals, fetching them from his crumbly pocket where they are packed in tinfoil, suppressing the resentment towards his father, who won't help him with money or love--the eminent father so admired for his distinguished medical career. Wilhelm is exasperated by the canny way his father fends off requests for cash. Tommy tries to make it on his own--a psychologist friend seems to make money in the stock market.
Damon LaBarbera, Resident Scholar