I'm not confident I can give a full review of Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, the 1962 winner of the National Book Award, so this may look and sound more like a "pondering."The best word to describe this book may be "meandering." The setting, the language, the characters...they all just seem to kind of wander. Percy tells the story of Binx Bolling, a 29-year-old New Orleans stockbroker who is semi-bored and searching for...something (religion? redemption? meaning?). The story focuses on the week prior to Binx's thirtieth birthday, which proves to be the week that shakes things up in his life. He's fallen into a habitual lifestyle that includes work, frequent romps with his secretaries, and going to the movies. During this week leading up to his birthday and Mardi Gras, Binx is on a quest for fulfillment that ends up angering his family and jeopardizing the safety of his manic-depressive step-cousin, Kate.
On the one hand, this book was boring. On the other hand, I know it requires (at the very least) a second reading [the first time I read The Great Gatbsy, I hated it. The second time, I loved it].
This is a theme-driven, not plot-driven, story. Percy uses a rambling prose (which I quite liked) to explore Southern religion, family, civilization, society, humanity (etc, etc, etc) from a completely existential perspective. I'm sure there are hundreds of analytical essays written on The Moviegoer, but to me, it seems as though Binx summed it up in one line:
"We're human after all!'
I look forward to reading again in the future.
