The Movie Goer

Walker Percy: The Moviegoer 1961

This is a second-read for me. I don't recall anything about the first reading except that I was enamored with the book. That was 25 years ago. Today I'm not quite sure what I saw in it. But since it is a kind-of coming-of-age book for a 30 year old, it makes sense that it would no longer appeal to me. There are definite parallels to Catcher in the Rye - but with somewhat older characters.

The story takes place during mardi gras in New Orleans.The main character, Binx Bolling, is good at making money but is often clueless about how to act with people. In fact, he hasn't figured himself out yet. He deplores leading a typical upper-middle class life because it feels dead and so decides to live apart from friends and family and go on a search to understand Meaning (with a capital M) and perhaps God -- but God without religion. Unfortunately, his hormones keep kicking in and he doesn't get very far with the search. Instead, he chases skirts (this is 1961), goes to the beach and plays the role of obedient nephew to his very successful, very wealthy, and very social aunt and uncle. We're talking Kings and Queens of important mardi gras krewes, here.

Binx's cousin, Kate, is having big, big psychological problems, and Binx tries to help her stay grounded. From our modern eyes she appears to have social phobia along with a poor sense of self. She is seeing a therapist, but is so fragile that one wishes that she had access to our modern pharmacopeia. Kate is complex: at times fragile, even psychotic; other times she seems strong and insightful. Binx has his work cut out keeping her from flipping out, but he doesn't seem to mind. The book moves along without much plot activity other than these things until Binx and Kate take a trip to Chicago where it all begins to both fall apart and come together.

Percy has a way of pacing events so that the story never bogs down. Binx's first person narrative - like that of Holden Caufield's in Catcher in the Rye - gives a delightfully cock-eyed view of his world and of the other characters. Binx has more skill with reading people than he or his family give him credit for and the reader benefits from this. The story's resolution is surprising, producing a situation for each Binx and Kate that, to me, seems shaky even though Percy seems content with it.

As I said, I wasn't crazy about the book this time around, but it brings up issues of meaning, religion, family and neuroticism that a younger reader will probably find illuminating.