Herzog by Saul Bellow
Herzog is a series of mental letters. Herzog, the main character, writes to everyone he knows and lots of people he doesn’t know about whatever’s on his mind. I don’t think he ever mails these letters. He may not even write them down. But Herzog (the book) is the compilation of letters he’s writing in his head mixed in with some narrative. As the book goes on, there are fewer letters and more action. This probably means he’s getting better (mentally).
It’s a confused jumble of a book. I’m not sure I came to care about Herzog (the character) as much as I’d need to to really enjoy it. Some of the letters deal with Herzog’s professional life as a literature critic/professor and those got pretty technical and were boring. Others deal with his messy divorces and current relationship. Those parts were much more interesting. Overall, it was a book to slog through with brief bursts of flowing interest.