Books

When The Moviegoer was first published in 1961, it won the National Book Award and established Walker Percy as one of the supplest and most deftly modulated new voices in Southern literature. In his portrait of a boyish New Orleans stockbroker wavering between ennui and the longing for redemption, Percy managed to combine Bourbon Street elegance with the spiritual urgency of a Russian novel.

On the eve of his thirtieth birthday, Binx Bolling is adrift. 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 quest -- a harebrained search for authenticity that outrages his family, endangers his fragile cousin, Kate, and send him reeling through the gaudy chaos of the French Quarter. Wry and wrenching, rich in irony and romance, The Moviegoer is a genuine American classic.

It is always nice when you happen upon a good book for reasons different from usual. I was playing around on the internet, as I have been known to do, and followed a trail of "if you like this, try this....if you like that one, try this one" and that lead me to Mr. Walker Percy. The man has written a plethora of books, why did I choose this one? Why did I choose a book called The Moviegoer? I am not even going to dignify that with a response.

I liked it, but not as much as I feel I could have. I need to apologize to Mr. Percy for not giving his book the attention I feel it deserved. Weighing in at fewer than 250 pages, the book is not a long one. I think this book is best served up to someone who has the time to read this in no more than just a few days. I have been quite busy of late and have not had the time to allocate to reading. My schedule did not do the book justice. Some readers will be able to finish it in just a few short hours, I am slower; a few days is more realistic.

I found myself picking up the book and having no idea what had just happened before the last time I put it down. That is to no fault of the author. In reality the book flowed very well. I have had too much on my mind. Save this one until you have the appropriate time to read, but it was very good and I think you should read it.

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