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darwin8u's review
4.0
"It is not for me to say whether one should try to be happy -- although it always struck me as an odd pursuit, like trying to be blue-eyed--"
--Walker Percy, The Thanatos Syndrome.
Probably 3.5 stars. Not my favorite Walker Percy, and definitely not the one to start with. It starts with dark humor and absurdism and twists into a creepy weird horror show and slowly wades the reader back out.
I get what Percy was doing here. I really do. I get the metaphor, but ye gads, it wasn't exactly a joyride. There were parts I absolutely adored. So, if you have never read Percy, kick this one down your list. If, however, you have already read [b:The Moviegoer|10739|The Moviegoer|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437668043s/10739.jpg|1209450], [b:Love in the Ruins|60403|Love in the Ruins|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439924737s/60403.jpg|824072], [b:The Second Coming|77954|The Second Coming|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388354392s/77954.jpg|2409163], sure, yeah, knock your self out. Just look out. It is like eating a 7 Pot Primo pepper. Sucker is going to burn, kick, and sting.
Ultimately, Percy gives away his big point with a flashback from the crazy priest sitting in the watchtower. The mad priest and Dr. Tom More discuss modernism, psychology, and the rise of the Nazi bureaucracy in the early 20th century. The point I think Walker is trying to convey in most of his books is the Modern World, with its technologies, drugs, philosophies, etc., has kind of left us unprotected. Some of those things that seem, from a utilitarian view, to improve our lives will probably end up deadening our existence. The one institution that might be able to warn us, protect us, provide some level of comfort and security after we have been stripped bare by Modernism -- the Church -- is starved, weakened and almost unable to give us the basic rituals and nourishment we need to combat the technocrats, bureaucracies, and wicked forces that latch onto Modernism (I don't think Percy is arguing that Modernism itself is evil, simply that it efficiently plows the ground for evil seeds). Anyway, this is Percy's BIG THEME and he just hits it really hard, over and over, in this book.
"In the end one must chose--given the chance."
--Walker Percy, The Thanatos Syndrome.
Probably 3.5 stars. Not my favorite Walker Percy, and definitely not the one to start with. It starts with dark humor and absurdism and twists into a creepy weird horror show and slowly wades the reader back out.
I get what Percy was doing here. I really do. I get the metaphor, but ye gads, it wasn't exactly a joyride. There were parts I absolutely adored. So, if you have never read Percy, kick this one down your list. If, however, you have already read [b:The Moviegoer|10739|The Moviegoer|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437668043s/10739.jpg|1209450], [b:Love in the Ruins|60403|Love in the Ruins|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439924737s/60403.jpg|824072], [b:The Second Coming|77954|The Second Coming|Walker Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388354392s/77954.jpg|2409163], sure, yeah, knock your self out. Just look out. It is like eating a 7 Pot Primo pepper. Sucker is going to burn, kick, and sting.
Ultimately, Percy gives away his big point with a flashback from the crazy priest sitting in the watchtower. The mad priest and Dr. Tom More discuss modernism, psychology, and the rise of the Nazi bureaucracy in the early 20th century. The point I think Walker is trying to convey in most of his books is the Modern World, with its technologies, drugs, philosophies, etc., has kind of left us unprotected. Some of those things that seem, from a utilitarian view, to improve our lives will probably end up deadening our existence. The one institution that might be able to warn us, protect us, provide some level of comfort and security after we have been stripped bare by Modernism -- the Church -- is starved, weakened and almost unable to give us the basic rituals and nourishment we need to combat the technocrats, bureaucracies, and wicked forces that latch onto Modernism (I don't think Percy is arguing that Modernism itself is evil, simply that it efficiently plows the ground for evil seeds). Anyway, this is Percy's BIG THEME and he just hits it really hard, over and over, in this book.
"In the end one must chose--given the chance."
fredsphere's review
4.0
Almost great. This review will be slightly spoilery, but not nearly so spoilery as the blurb on the cover flap.
Walker Percy in an attentive observer of human nature and this enables him to bring detailed descriptions and wild comparisons to his prose. So far, that puts him among the great literary writers. As a bonus, he gives us here a story with a real plot, even some political thriller tropes. This is the first page-turner I've read in a while. That's quite a one-two punch; I can't think of many writers who have done both for me.
The plot wasn't perfectly handled, however. By the end, the villains seemed a little pathetic and not quite believable. The child abuse angle appeared abruptly, and felt a little like a belated attempt to ramp up the tension. The level of detail to which it was described was unneeded.
Walker Percy in an attentive observer of human nature and this enables him to bring detailed descriptions and wild comparisons to his prose. So far, that puts him among the great literary writers. As a bonus, he gives us here a story with a real plot, even some political thriller tropes. This is the first page-turner I've read in a while. That's quite a one-two punch; I can't think of many writers who have done both for me.
The plot wasn't perfectly handled, however. By the end, the villains seemed a little pathetic and not quite believable. The child abuse angle appeared abruptly, and felt a little like a belated attempt to ramp up the tension. The level of detail to which it was described was unneeded.
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