Herzog does nothing

Saul Bellow's Herzog is about 350 pages. For the first 250 pages nothing happens. For the last 50 pages nothing happens. And the action in the intervening 50 pages is not really worth the effort.

The title character's main neurosis is a tendency to sit down at odd hours and write letters to people, people from his past, politicians, scholars, dead people, his ex-wives. Much of the text of the book is made up of these letters, which are never sent. I am sure they reveal deep insights into the psyche of the modern man. I am sure they are profound. I found them boring.