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| Plot Summary of Ravelstein |
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"Literature professor and narrator Chick talks about the life and obsessions of his good friend Abe Ravelstein, a colleague at the Chicago university where both of them have taught. Chick's marriage to a fascinating, beautiful, but distant physics professor from Eastern Europe is unraveling, while Ravelstein, a closeted gay with a devoted Chinese companion, enjoys the pleasures of money after writing a bestselling book at Chick's urging. Many powerful men in government have been Ravelstein's students, and they keep in touch with him, sharing ideas and gossip. This 2000 novel is apparently a thinly-veiled portrait, almost a memoir, of Bellow's good friend Alan Bloom, author of _The Closing of the American Mind_. It doesn't have a lot of forward plot movement, and may seem a bit aimless and gossipy, but there's a lot of fine writing and wisdom in it."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Ravelstein |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Life of a profession:
- teacher
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- nature of existence (heavy philosophy)
Kind of sex:
- two guys doing it
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Taboo sex story?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- teacher
Age:
- 60's-90's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- eccentric
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Jewish
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- physically sick
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 (a little)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
City?
Yes
City:
- wealthy
- Chicago
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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