by Walker Percy
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Product Description
Winner of the 1961 National Book Award
The dazzling novel that established Walker Percy as one of the major voices in Southern
literature is now available for the first time in Vintage paperback.
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.
Amazon.com
This elegantly written account of a young man's search for signs of purpose in the universe is one of the great existential texts of the postwar era and is really funny besides. Binx Bolling, inveterate cinemaphile, contemplative rake and man of the periphery, tries hedonism and tries doing the right thing, but ultimately finds redemption (or at least the prospect of it) by taking a leap of faith and quite literally embracing what only seems irrational.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Slicing into the core of mundacity, 2008-06-29
The Moviegoer is a worthwhile read for anyone who questions the tediousness and resultant boredom of life. It is certainly not outdated for being published in 1960; if anything, it is more relevant today than then. Life as we know it now is even more formulaic than then. It is now even more difficult (if not impossible)to escape the "everydayness" we experience. Binx questions, attempts to search for an escape, but ultimately succumbs by falling in line, by marrying, by becoming no longer the Moviegoer, but the director in creating not art, but the same everydayness that he at first tries to avoid. Fascinating read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Graceful, easy writing, 2008-05-24
Nothing much happens as Binx Bolling searches for meaning in his life of malaise, albeit a comfortable malaise with plenty of money, a job, a home, and an extended family. He is rootless more in spirit than in reality, and his despair is existential, not in facing danger or struggling to survive. Therefore, his search is leisurely, through observation of the normal details of life around him, without ever engaging enough to escape what he perceives as a tedious existence.
There is more spark in most of the other characters, yet they fail to energize Binx as he hits 30. Kate serves as the most direct counter, with her own search running in parallel. Whereas Binx wants relief from malaise while drifting along, the near-suicidal Kate longs for stability amidst the occasional chaos she triggers.
Mr. Percy's writing showed exceptional grace and a light touch. Various scenes from a few paragraphs to a few pages long were the mark of a true craftsman, capturing a thought or a moment so beautifully. A favorite example was early on, when Binx observes a couple before and after a chance encounter with actor William Holden. Wonderful.
Mr. Percy's sketch of bygone New Orleans society and environs surely means more to one with personal memories of the south, especially New Orleans itself. Even so, the imagery was to me actually more interesting than Binx's search.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 uninspiring, 2008-05-22
if you've never sat down and considered the meaning of your own life, this book may open a new door for you. but if you're even minutely familiar with existentialism, percy will offer no original insight, novelty, or anything remotely inspiring. it read to me like a weak attempt to emulate camus's the stranger, yet with a serious lack of plot, replaced instead by painful doses of supposedly acute observation of random everyday people which are spliced in between already dreadfully boring dialogue or binx's daydreaming. the book starts off with an explanation of his search with some keen quotes, yet falls off miserably as you begin to realize that binx is no unique individual.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Of the Very Best in Novels?, 2007-12-29
I have been wanting to read this book for some time as it is on many of the top 100 lists for novels. While I was able to finish the work, I found myself questioning what it shares with greats such as The Great Gatsby, Brave New World, Huckleberry Finn, Crime and Punishment etc.
The narrating character, Binx Bolling, is like the boy next door, the rather dull and boring boy next door. While I can certainly appreciate the movie references etc., I just cannot make heads or tails of the point. The book did not leave me with a change in perspective, or even a recommendation to make to fellow readers. I would almost rather have hated the book, because hatred involves passion. In this case, I am left rather indifferent.
I am glad to have read it because it does offer a little piece of American history. As an avid reader, however, I am left feeling slightly cheated. If you want to read truly great southern literature, start with Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Save Percy's book for a rainy day (when you are broke and without a friend or a ride to someplace even remotely interesting).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Only recommended for the genre, 2007-11-12
If you wish to get a better handle of the general premise, your best bet is to read the reviews noted on this page. The book's description on the back cover does not provide an accurate account of the content. I did enjoy this book, and do understand its significance. However, the genre really isn't up my alley. Percy's prose is amazing, to say the least. His description of the environment (emotionally, socially, physically - and/or metaphysically) is almost Shakespearean. A technically brilliant writer.
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