Hey, guys! Here is another book I read in my AP Literature class. It was incredibly similar to Mrs. Dalloway and still largely connected to As I Lay Dying, both books I didn't particularly like. The Moviegoer was more comprehensible in terms of form and readability, but it was worse in terms of there being an evident plot.
The Cover:
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The Cover:
The Cover:
It shows a movie theater from a distance, which is underwhelming at best, much like this book! At least the cover fits the book. C+ cover
Official Description:
The Moviegoer is Binx Bolling, a young New Orleans stockbroker who surveys the world with the detached gaze of a Bourbon Street dandy even as he yearns for a spiritual redemption he cannot bring himself to believe in. On the eve of his thirtieth birthday, he occupies himself dallying with his secretaries and going to movies, which provide him with the "treasurable moments" absent from his real life. But one fateful Mardi Gras, Binx embarks on a hare-brained quest that outrages his family, endangers his fragile cousin Kate, and sends him reeling through the chaos of New Orleans' French Quarter. Wry and wrenching, rich in irony and romance, The Moviegoer is a genuine American classic.
My Review:
This book was, quite frankly, boring. Nothing really happened over the course of the book. I could sum up the entire story within two underwhelming sentences. I've always considered myself a plot-person. My favorite parts of books are generally plot related. That being said, I can, and do, enjoy books where not much happens plot-wise, but where the character development is central.
The Moviegoer doesn't fit in either of these categories. Its plot is almost nonexistent and the characters do not even experience a transformation (eg. a "coming of age" novel). I tried to give the characters the benefit of the doubt. Only upon rereading the epilogue for the third time could I see the subtle change in Binx's attitude. It is so slight of a change that I would be surprised if Walker Percy knew that it existed. That only brings me to question: Why would the author write this book where nothing changes? The beginning and ending of this novel are almost identical. Nothing changes. And if nothing changes, what was the point in reading it?
(Side note: While discussing The Moviegoer, my English teacher asked our 25 member class what the turning point of this novel was, and not one person spoke up. No one thought a turning point even existed. A thought that was confirmed even more when my teacher, a person who has read this book at least ten times, admitted that he couldn't pinpoint a turning point either.)
While The Moviegoer was well-written, the lack of any substance made me dislike it. The book didn't change the way I think about anything (a trait I find common in the "classics"), nor did it entertain me in any way.
I would not recommend reading The Moviegoer. If you want to read something like this book (which I don't recommend), read Mrs. Dalloway instead. It at least had a semblance of a plot.
Phrase:
Elysium Fields
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Happy Reading!
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