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Summary: A Book That Should Be Read . . . And Then Read Again
Review: Walker Percy was forty-six years old when his first published novel, "The Moviegoer", was awarded the National Book Award in 1962. It was, in some sense, the public beginning of the second half of Percy's life for, as Percy himself wrote in 1972: "Life is much stranger than art-and often more geometrical. My life breaks exactly in half: 1st half=growing up Southern and medical; 2nd half=imposing art on 1st half." But what, exactly, did Percy mean when he said this? In some sense, "The Moviegoer" is the beginning of an answer.Percy was born in 1915 and lived his early life in Birmingham, Alabama. His grandfather committed suicide when Walker was an infant and his father, too, committed suicide in 1929. Following his father's suicide, his mother moved Walker and his two brothers to Mississippi. Percy's family was one of the oldest families in the South and he and his brothers soon found a father figure in the form of his cousin, William Alexander Percy, known affectionately as Uncle Will. Three years after his father's suicide, Percy's life was again marked by tragedy when his mother's car went off a bridge, killing her and leaving Walker and his brothers in the charge of his Uncle Will. Percy went to medical school at Columbia University, where he contracted tuberculosis during his internship. In and out of sanitariums for several years, he finally returned to the South in his early 30s, getting married in 1946 and settling in the New Orleans area, where he lived the remainder of his life. It was at this time that Percy received an inheritance from his Uncle Will that allowed him to devote himself completely to his long-standing interest in literature and philosophy. I relate the biographical details because, as you read "The Moviegoer", it seems (not surprisingly) heavily marked by Percy's life experience, the author's biography being one point of reference for the novel. "The Moviegoer" is a peculiarly American and belated expression of the existential novel that had been so brilliantly articulated in France by Albert Camus. Like "The Stranger", Percy's novel focuses on meaning-in this case, the obsession of Binx Bolling, the novel's narrator, on what he calls the "search". As Bolling says at one point, "the search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life." And exactly what does this mean? "To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair." An enigmatic definition, but one which makes the reader who spends time with "The Moviegoer", who reads the book carefully and reflectively, to think more deeply about his or her own life. "The Moviegoer" is not a novel dominated by plot. At a superficial level, the novel relates, in a wry and matter-of-fact way, a few days in the seemingly unremarkable life of Bolling, a New Orleans stockbroker whose main activities are going to the movies and carrying on with each of his successive secretaries. "Once I thought of going into law or medicine or even pure science. I even dreamed of doing something great. But there is much to be said for giving up such grand ambitions and living the most ordinary life imaginable, a life without the old longings; selling stocks and bonds and mutual funds; quitting work at five o'clock like everyone else; having a girl and perhaps one day settling down and raising a flock of Marcias and Sandras and Lindas of my own." What "The Moviegoer" suggests is resonant of Thoreau's contention that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. But it is a desperation that arises not from the ordinariness of everyday lives, but, rather, from the failure to transform that ordinariness through contemplation and self-reflection, through an appreciation for the mundane. Thus, in the book's epigraph, Percy quotes Kierkegaard: "the specific character of despair is precisely this: it is unaware of being despair." As Percy has suggested in another of his books, "Lost in the Cosmos" (a work of non-fiction subtitled "The Last Self-Help Book"), we inhabit a society of alienated and despairing "non-suicides" who Percy wanted to transform, through his writing, into "ex-suicides". In Binx Bolling's words: "For some time now the impression has been growing upon me that everyone is dead. It happens when I speak to people. In the middle of the sentence it will come over me: yes, beyond a doubt this is death . . . At times it seems that the conversation is spoken by automatons who have no choice in what they say." "The Moviegoer" is a thoughtful and a thought-provoking book that should be read and then re-read, slowly and carefully, for every paragraph is laden with insight into the character of its narrator, the character of its author and, ultimately, the character of ourselves.
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Summary: Perhaps the Novel That's Influenced Me Most
Review: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy is possibly the finest novel that I have ever read. It is easily the most profound existential text that I have ever come, across and it is without doubt one of the masterworks of its century. The novel doesn't focus on the plot much; it is mainly concerned with the development of the narrator, Binx Bolling. Binx is a businessman living in New Orleans. One week before his thirtieth birthday, he becomes aware of the Search. The Search is his existential quest to find meaning in life. Binx is also involved in a complex relationship with Kate, who is in a similar state as Binx. Together, they set out on a quest to find authenticity. The Moviegoer, though not a difficult read, is definitely too complex to describe in a short review. It has such amazing strengths. The narrative is leisurely paced and always humorous. The relationships are complex and satisfying. Binx's Search is insightful, and its conclusion, Binx's leap to love, his embrace of the "mundane" world and of humanity (and God), is subtle and profound. I really cannot say enough good things about this novel, and I cannot express how much it means to me. I urge everyone to read this masterful, beautiful novel.
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Summary: It really is "Catcher in the Rye" for adults!
Review: The moviegoer is the story of a man who manages to put off questioning his life decisions until his 30th birthday, when they all come into question. After a life time of attempting to distinguish himself through mediocrity in a family of over acheivers, he embarks on an internal search for spirituality, while simultaneously denying this spirituality exists. While searching for some meaning in his life, he categorically dismisses any meaning others have found in their own lives. Some readers have noted that the references to popular movies in the book date it, but I think the themes are relevant in any snapshot of time, and this overwhelms any pop culture dating. This book will capture your attention quickly, and leave you sad at having come to it's end.
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Summary: What's It All About?
Review: 'The Moviegoer' is a tremendous journey in a man's life during Carnival Week in New Orleans. Binx Bolling is a man nearing 30 years old who thinks things are going pretty well...he has a good job, prospects for female companionship, and a passion for movies. But Binx really wants to know "What's it all about?" Percy, who himself is from the Deep South, understands the ways and traditions of Southerners and knows how to communicate it to the reader. Having spent 34 years of my life in the Deep South, I found my self nodding in agreement with just about every description of people and places Southern. The entire story is concerned with tradition (especially Southern tradition) vs. change. Binx is torn between the two, externally and internally. He is a character hopelessly in despair, yet he doesn't really know it. He drifts from movie to movie and woman to woman until he finds that caring for someone can change your whole life and your worldview. What a first novel! Easily read, but enough for you to think about for a long time.
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Summary: Percy is a master of the language he obviously loves.
Review: Anyone interested in the south will be delighted with the rich detail of the landmarks that populate this novel. However, those readers addicted to philosphically literary journeys will insist on making this book a permanent member of their bookshelves. Percy has a clear and healthy respect for Albert Camus; however, whereas Camus' Meursault seems to discover that he lives in a godless universe, Percy's Binx Bickerson Bolling finally finds the God of love in investigating the lack of meaning that appears to have shaped his first thirty years. Don't be alarmed: this is no didactic work, and there's a great deal of wry, ironic humor as Binx pursues women, makes money and goes to the movies. As an aside for readers who love movies as well, the movies cited -- if one knows them as well as Percy does -- add an extra dimension to the depth of Binx's search and its consequences. This is a "must" read for fans of American existentialism, good old-fashioned southern storytelling and the kinds of dilemmas most of us "moderns" are constantly trying to avoid.
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Summary: Still here
Review: This book came out quite a while back and it's still around. The reason for this probably has more to do with the wonderful character of Binx Bolling that it does with the over-all effect of the book itself. Binx is a sort of "Babbitt" although in an entirely different setting and with a different job. He's a wonderful character study of what happens to men (whether or not they want to admit it) and I doubt some of the younger generation will be able to relate to him or sympathize. Still, the book as a whole is great and you should enjoy it even if you're not lusting after your secretary in hot and sultry New Orleans. This book should be read, along with CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES and McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
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Summary: Couldn't relate
Review: This novel is good but I never got into it. It has too many references to movies and pop culture from that time that went over my head since I haven't seen any of them. I can see why this novel is probably great for a certain age group - whereas Nick Hornby's novels are great for my age group.
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Summary: My Favorite Novel
Review: Last June (under a year ago), I read this novel for the first time. I just finished reading it for the fifth time. I have never read a novel with which I related more. It is truly brilliant and truly beautiful. I've always been a big reader, and so, I have always had trouble choosing my favorite novel. That is, until I read The Moviegoer. The novel is about the character of Binx Bolling, a businessman living in New Orleans. A week before his thirtieth birthday, Binx becomes aware of the Search, his existential quest for meaning and happiness amidst the chaos and peculiar unreality of the world. Binx is joined on his Search by Kate, with whom he shares a complex and somewhat sweet relationship. Percy's invocation of postmodern humanity's despair is so striking and powerful. I know that it is a feeling which everyone has felt as some point, but The Moviegoer isn't just about the alienation and sadness of man; Percy offers hope as Binx achieves redemption. His leap to love, his embrace of the "mundane" world and of humanity (and God), is subtle and profound. It is impossible to express the greatness of this powerful, beautiful novel, and I don't know how to convey how much this novel means to me. I can only recommend Walker Percy's wonderful novel.
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Summary: slow, dull and directionless
Review: Maybe that's what Percy wanted it to be, like Binx himself, but as such, it's pretty dang dull. And that's hard to do when you set the story in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. But he manages to pull if off. You wonder how tongue in cheek it might be, what with the old in-love-with-your-cousin Southern bit and all...
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Summary: Flashes of greatness, but uneven, and a little odd.
Review: This novel is number 60 on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century, and it is the only Walker Percy novel on that list. So, obviously the literati consider this novel great, and this fact alone should motivate those interested in great literature to read this book. However, in my case, the novel did not meet my expectations for one so honored. I did find it entertaining and substantive in its observations and perspectives on life. And the seeker who has not yet found his or her path will probably enjoy its philosophical aspects. But, to me, the quality of the prose was uneven. Sometimes the language and description was brilliant, and the observations on life profound; and at other times the language was unclear, perhaps even awkward, and the observations were trite. The story line also was uneven; it sputtered and started and stopped and changed direction, making it somewhat disjointed; but that's a lot like life itself and I suppose it was by design. Further, the novel often struck me as a little odd both in word choice and in the perspectives and opinions expressed through the characters. This oddness was sometimes funny, sometimes piqued my reading interest, and other times was just plain odd. Judge for yourself from this excerpt, <<< "That's very good," I say somewhat uneasily and shift about on the library steps. I can talk to Nell as long as I don't look at her. Looking at her is an embarrassment. "-- we gave the television to the kids and last night we turned on the hi-fi and sat by the fire and read The Prophet aloud. I don't find life gloomy!" she cries. "To me, books and people and things are endlessly fascinating. Don't you think so?" "Yes." A rumble has commenced in my descending bowel, heralding a tremendous defecation. Nell goes on talking and there is nothing to do but shift around as best one can, take care not to fart, and watch her in a general sort of way: a forty-year-old woman with a good open American face and another forty years left in her; and eager, above all, eager, with that plaintive lost eagerness American college women get at a certain age. I get to thinking about her and old Eddie re-examining their values. Yes, true. Values. Very good. And then I can't help wondering to myself: why does she talk as if she were dead? Another forty years to go and dead, dead, dead. >>> Keep a good dictionary handy while reading. It sometimes seemed Percy chose words for their ability to impress rather than just to convey the required meaning. And his sometimes "creative" sentence structure also smacked of contrivance for a unique literary style. While that is no sin, it gave me a sense that Percy was reaching for a greatness that did not flow naturally from him. The moviegoer aspect was often annoying in its triviality and has already made the novel dated as many of the thespians named are unfamiliar and irrelevant to most readers under 50 years of age. I'm sure there is much symbolism and meaning to be divined from this novel (as is true of most good literature); but that meaning is not unique. After all, existentialism is not something that needs to be studied at length. Instead of parsing words and analyzing sentences looking for deeper meaning, just go out and create some for yourself. And enjoy the Search.
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