The Beatles sung about it and some of the best stories are based on it, it is the novel of a day in the life. 'Ulysses' by James Joyce, 'The Outsider' by Albert Camus are of this variety of story and so is Saul Bellow's 'Seize the Day', where a working man goes to his rich father for help and gets involved with a mysterious doctor who tries to help him overcome his difficulties.
Set in a hotel in New York, where the father is staying the main character, Tommy Wilhelm, tries to convince his father to help him out. His father is unwilling with the attitude that Tommy just needs to stand on his own two feet.
Having read this novella a while ago I remember it's shortness, it's bitter-sweetness as it is a hymn to failure and short-comings. Tommy tries to get a quick buck with the last of his savings and with the help of Dr. Tamkin, a questionable father figure, on the stock market.
The last scene of this book is powerfully moving with a character who has invested everything in other people and gets nothing back at a desperate point. In his 'day of reckoning' Tommy seems to have exhausted all possibilities of reconciling with his father, his ex-wife, even his children, and he mourns himself and his burdens.
Things aren't tied up yet the ending seems like a satisfying conclusion, poetically at least, and all we need to know of Tommy's life.
Interestingly Robin Williams has played Tommy in the film version of 'Seize the Day' and I didn't think it was too bad as it had the right tone.
These types of stories are great because they are like long poems written in breaking points for the characters undergoing their worst day. What it brings up is a depth of feeling, a brief exploration of extreme emotion and a short journey feeling like you've gone to the ends of the world.
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