But Binx maintains a certain detachment. He is a moviegoer. He observes, he perceives, he reacts, but he does not wholeheartedly participate. He feels, somewhat arrogantly, that the people of the world live lives of a passionless despair whereas he yearns to find a zeal for the world around him.
Over the course of the book, primarily through interactions with troubled family members for whom he has a special fondness, Binx discovers that he can't draw the line between himself and the world that cleanly; that the zeal he seeks can only come through embracing what he perceives as the mundane and that emotional richness and fervent ardor are not one in the same. (Many readers of The Moviegoer have interpreted this as a spiritual awakening to a faith in God, if not specifically Christianity. It didn't strike me as such.)
Binx is a fine character. Certainly an excellent portrayal of the combination of thoughtfulness and fecklessness that is common in unattached, mildly cynical, 30-year-old males. In that sense, it is possible to see The Moviegoer as a literary version of the male confessional, as exemplified by the Nick Hornby in About a Boy, but without the contemporary penchant for hyper-irony. It is remarkable to see how little that archetype has changed since The Moviegoer was released around 1960.
The Moviegoer is not difficult to read, but it is difficult to get a grip on. Percy can be a bit obtuse and provides few crutches for a reader who isn’t ready to devote some thought to deeper meanings. The book is laced with detailed accounts and evaluations of what may or may not be trivial observations by Binx. These can be interesting or humorous, but it is not a plain and simple matter to link them to the larger theme. As a result, you can be left with the feeling they are superfluous.
Because of that, I can't really recommend it for a casual read. It needs to be considered if it is to have an effect, and anytime you need to put work into reading a novel, you run the risk that it will not have been worth it. The Moviegoer works best for the avid reader who can bear that risk. There are rewards, but they are not out in the open, nor will they be of value to everyone.
Article comments
1 - Bryce Eddings
listed at Advance
2 - Teresa
I did not enjoy this book at all, not because it was too deep or whatever, but because I found the writing to be down right boring. I like the story of the novel, and especially how it sounds in this review. But it is so hard to get through! I had to put it down because I would get tired and bored and disinterested in what I was reading.
3 - james
wow... i hate to say it man, but damn you can't write. or maybe you can, but please stop reviewing books. from the book's premise it sounds somewhat interesting, but you really should have an editor look over your stuff before you post it. i mean i guess that's one of the inherrent "features" of the blog format--not having an editor--but with stuff like book reviews you're writing for a literary audience dammit! you should at least make your review not suck. i want my 3 minutes back.
4 - Bill
What you left out is that the key to understanding Percy novels is not Zen or anything like that. It's existentialism, specifically Kierkegard. Percy is the American Camus. If you understand one, you can understand the other. And if you can understand Kierkegard, you can understand Camus, Percy, Sartre, and every other existentialist. Do some simple Internet research before you write up a review, please.
5 - luis
I would just like to say that this review is dead on.
6 - sally
You have got to be kidding me. How stupid, how uninsightful, how plainly illiterate have we Americans become? If you can't comprehend a flawless existential novel, if you can't at the very least delight in prose so exquisite in its rendering of man and environment, please stop reading altogether lest you feel compelled to fling another ridiculously uninformed opinion at the universe. I have long argued that if we only read more, we'd be smarter as a population. Shit like this makes me hang my head in shame.
7 - Dom
What Sally said. This was a poor review of a tremendously well-written book. Percy has since been recognized many times over for his great contributions to the blogging world.