Charles Webb (1) (1939–2020)

The best thing this novella has going for it is the brevity with which it is written. It's almost like a play--with the large majority of it being dialogue with occasional prose for setting the scene.

As a satire, it's kind of odd and clunky, but that's okay. The first third is an excellent take on a quarter life crisis and the 1960's. The middle section is just sex stuff. And the final half descends into a screwball sitcom.

And for a book written in the early 1960's, it mostly holds up--outside of the lead being a stalker. And it has laughs, an interesting pacing, and some intriguing quotes. It is also almost entirely faithful to the Mike Nichols adaptation.

Recommended.… (more)

Benjamin Braddock returns home from a prestige college on the East Coast with many opportunities, including a work scholarship, in hand. However, he finds himself wondering about the point of anything and simply lazes about his parents' home. Things go from bad to worse when he starts a sexual affair with Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner. And it gets even worse when he meets the Robinson's daughter Elaine and decides she's the woman he wants to marry!

In the past, I had often heard of (but not seen) the popular movie of the same title without realizing it was a book. When I saw this title was also on the list of the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, I decided I had to read it. It is a quick enough read -- not terribly long and filled mostly with dialogue. However, I really not sure why this story (in either book or film form) is so popular.

Benjamin is easily one of the most annoying characters ever written. His indecision about what to do with his life after graduating college is in fact relatable for many folks. But his inability to truly say that coupled with his lack of basic etiquette, decency, and gratitude are just not acceptable. Some authors can write a story about an unlikable character and make it work, but that's not really the case here.

The latter part of the book where Benjamin basically stalks Elaine after having had one date with her is even less appealing than when he doesn't know what he wants. He claims to be in love with her and want to marry her, but he makes no solid plans beyond that and struggles to face her, let alone have a conversation with her. Elaine is no better with her constant indecision and quite frankly the idea that she would ever consider him after he slept with her mother is laughable. She has other options than this guy with zero personality.

In terms of writing style, the sentences are short and quick with little time given to descriptions of anything beyond the bare bones. As mentioned earlier, its mostly dialogue but there's nothing especially witty or interesting there either. Probably the most common line spoken by all the characters is "What?" followed by a lot of "I don't know."

Again, I really don't know why this book is considered a must-read. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't exactly good either. I would not recommend it to others.… (more)