Rating: 
Summary: The utter pain of reading this book. Oh the humanity!
Review: Wow, I've never tried to read a book that was so unreadable. Lowry must have taken great pains to make this book as annoying as possible. There is no fluidity, the action and drama is convoluted, and there is no cohesiveness to the entire story.I'll be honest. I could not finish the book. This is the only review I've written where I did not read the entire novel. I, however, felt that 100 pages were 90 pages too much. This is the type of book that turns off casual readers to classic literature. Only the most fanatical English majors could enjoy reading this book. It's a shame that this particular book is highly regarded, because it takes away from real works of literature that everyone should enjoy. I would only recommend this book to English professors, and only a few of my worst enemies.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a pretty good book.
Review: I think this novel is good but I certainly don't agree with a five star rating or placing it on the level of "one of the greatest books ever written". In fact the editing job on this particular edition is pretty bad. I found at least 10 mistakes and the first few that I encountered I catagorized as a writing style that was over my head. But after finding the next handful of editing blunders my confidence in my reading comprehension was restored. The story was enjoyable and some of the writing was really superb and funny. I would recommend this book, but I would not jump up and down while doing so.
Rating: 
Summary: A question of discourse.
Review: The richness and complexity of Under the Volcano allows me to try a less than conventional approach - to examine Yvonne as her own discourse. So much has been written about the exploits of ex-Consul Geoffrey Firmin leaving all the other characters with no complexity, no examination. Yvonne is examined predominantly by her relationship to Jacque and Hugh. Moreover, the conventional examination leads critics and readers to focus on how the relationships affect Geoffrey. This call for re-examination is an attempt to reverse all that. Yvonne is a complex character whose examination in her own discourse can bring a new point of view or understanding to Under the Volcano. Reading Under the Volcano for the first time, it is easy to get caught up with the Geoffrey and focus on the very exhausting work of keeping up with an alcoholic. A more careful reading reveals a powerful supporting cast with stories of their own. Alcoholism has profound effects on both the alcoholic and his network. Alcoholism is the center of my focus here as the creation of self by Yvonne. Try to examine Yvonne through three rather interrelated and predictable dimensions: as savior, adult child of an alcoholic and tragic figure. First, as an archetype, she is portrayed as a "Savior." Second, this need to save calls for a more complex examination of Yvonne's psychological persona as co-dependent "Adult Child of an Alcoholic". Third, Yvonne is a classic "Tragic Figure" whose need to help the Consul results in her own death. The dimensions are concurrently independent and interrelated. The resulting representation as savior has its roots in complex psychological development and results is her tragic end. The only way to really find out is to read it and judge for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: deeply ambivalent
Review: I first read this one in college, at the urging of Joe Doggett and Guy Bolton, and I still can't decide, some twenty years later, whether I like it or not. I do still maintain that it is not the equal of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in the "great American novel of Mexico" category. The Consul, Geoffrey Firmin, is an alcoholic living in Mexico. He has divorced his wife, Yvonne, who had an affair with his half-brother Hugh, a journalist & supporter of the Communists in the Spanish Civil War. Now Hugh & Yvonne have returned, separately, to visit him on the Day of the Dead. By the end of the day, the Consul has been murdered by Mexican security forces who think he's a spy. I'm still not sure I understand what Lowry's trying to say, but I'll take a stab at it. It seems that the Consul represents the West, paralyzed by neuroses and unable or unwilling to come to the aid of those in need. The volcano of the title would seem to represent the specter of Fascism that looms on the horizon. This image of impending doom recurs in the movie at the local theater, Los Manos De Orlac or The Hands of Orlac--the classic film about a pianist who receives a murderers hands in a transplant. Orlac would be Germany, a great culture turned murderous. Lowry does a great job of rendering this sense of doom and, in the Consul, gives us one of the great fictional portraits of a drunk in all of literature. However, the book ultimately adds up to less than the sum of it's parts. GRADE: C- (or B+)
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Surface, mysterious depths
Review: Under the Volcano chronicles the last day in the life of the British Consul to Quauhnahuac, Mexico. The surface story recounts how his ex-wife, Yvonne, and his half-brother, Hugh, try to pull him from the alcoholic funk he's fallen into, and in the course of the day, they visit several locations in and around Quauhnahuac. The descriptive prose makes the setting come alive, and you're left with the feeling of actually seen some of these places. The mini parks, the ruins of Maximilian's Palace, the cinema, the backyard of the Consul's house, and the great volcano, Popocatepetel, which keeps appearing and disappearing, growing and shrinking, as they wander around the landscape - all these things become very real under Lowry's brilliant examination. Inspired by Joyce, Lowry's book has several parallels with Ulysses. Except for the first chapter, it all takes place in a single day -- November 1, 1938 (the Mexican holiday called "The Day of the Dead.") There are three principal characters, two male, one female, who wander around the landscape, etc. However, Ulysses is an extremely difficult read, and all the interesting parts are below the surface; Under the Volcano is an easy read, and quite satisfactory without looking deeper. A lot has been written about the deeper meanings of the book, of course, but the most obvious seems to be the allegory to Europe on the edge of war. In this view, the Consul represents the old Europe heading to its destruction despite the efforts of idealists to save it. Or perhaps more accurately, the senseless decline of the Consul to his death parallels the senseless descent of Europe into the destruction of World War II. Likewise as the day proceeds the bright hope of the morning darkens as the sun declines into the hopeless dark and storms that come with the night. And the very first chapter - the one set exactly one year later - is darkened by a tremendous storm -- a storm which seems to represent the European war then already in full career. A powerful book, thoroughly enjoyable, and meriting repeated reading.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Greatest Novels
Review: Malcolm Lowry, although not an American by birth, wrote one of the great American novels in "Under the Volcano." The book brims with Americana and Americanisms and suggests, with its Mexican setting, that the heart of the "New World" lies south of the border and can best be understood there. (Oddly, much of the action in the great American novel, "Moby-Dick," also occurs well south of the continental U.S.) John Huston's movie of "Under the Volcano" does full justice to the novel and is a classic in its own right.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book (but horrible edition)
Review: Lowry's book is amazing! Its stunning setting and complex characters are fascinating and the story mesmerizes the reader. Unofortunately, the editing of the book is of very low quality. There are innumerable errors in spelling and in the typeface, which is a shame because it breaks up the lyrical lilt of the words. As an illustration of the flaws in the book, look no further than the front cover, where the name of the author is spelled two different ways! Still, it is worth the time and effort to read, and since no other version of the book is available, this one should be recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Leo Bloom Stumbles South of the Border
Review: Lowry's narrative technique is bold: here we have the tale of one half of the last day in the life of a man who is drunk. He is a British Consul living in Mexico beneath a volcano. The narrative captures the vision of the drunk experiencing his life, which has become a Kubla Kahn. This can't be easy to render: yet Lowry ambitiously does so in a true 20th century masterpiece. The protagonist literally stumbles through his incoherent existence like Leopold Bloom in the red light district of Dublin in James Joyce's Ulysses. Great literature has been built upon the construction of envisioning life through the eyes of a disoriented person for a brief period of time. Love is hopelessly beyond his practical competence to fulfill. "While you're enjoying all this, do you realise the extraordinary allowances being made for you by the world, which has to cope with you?" M. Laurelle asks him. The Consul chalks it up to his battle against death or his "battle for the survival of the human consciousness." He views himself as a "little soul holding up a corpse." The Consul tries to make some sense of his life beneath the volcano and its storm clouds amid a fiesta and a grotesque theft by a pelado of bus fare from a dying man. Amid frequent flashbacks, there are many moments in the vast self-imposed delusion of the Consul: "In spite of God's mercy I am still alone. Though my suffering seems senseless I am still in agony. There is no explanation of my life." The story is tragic: the writing is utterly exquisite. If you love great writing simply for the sake of the writing itself and are prepared to journey into the interior of a lost soul, you'll be rewarded for your persistence. We do live under the volcano, after all, which could erupt at any time and sweep us away in the course of its flow. Ah, we are free to make sense of life, despite our bewilderment, as we will. Therein, lies our best hope and redemption. I strongly encourage you to read this great novel: it's truly memorable in the genius of its craft.
Rating: 
Summary: Self destruction in T-minus 12 hours....
Review: Under the Volcano is a complex and beautifully written novel about one man's pitiful course towards destruction. Rich with dark portents, immense detail, and symbolism; its tragedy will draw forth uneasy laughter and unrestrained sympathy from the reader. ...
Rating:
Summary: Going, going, gone - drinking yourself to death in Mexico
Review: Under the Volcano, the second and finer of Malcolm Lowry's novels, focusses on the story of an ex-British consul in Mexico at the end of his rope. The entire action of the novel takes place during a single day - the last day of the consul's life, though the narrative is filled out through flashbacks from several characters. The consul, an unrepentant (or barely so) alcoholic, stumbles through life in the grip of Mescal, Tequila, and whatever else he can get his hands on. He has come to the point where he no longer wears socks - not, as a Mexican barman assumes, because he can't afford them, but rather his drinking has made wearing socks unbearable. The intercession of the consul's ex-wife, returned from the States to save him, and his half-brother Hugh are powerless in the face of the consul's will to drink. The novel provides a frank portrayal of the suffering not only of he who is afflicted with alcoholism, but also of those that he loves. The setting, pre-war Mexico, provides a relatively peaceful backdrop against which to measure the tribulations of Europe, specifically the Spanish civil war and the politics of Franco's fascists and the International Brigade. Under the Volcano offers a depressive portrait of the desctrution wrought by addiction and the senselessness of life wasted. Well worth a read.
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