Lancelot : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Modern Literature at its Best
Review: This novel is wonderfully written. Walker Percy has quite a unique way of expressing thought in the English language. Unfortunately, unique does not always mean well done. In the case of Walker Percy, however, this novel is a masterpiece of prose.

The first couple of pages take the reader into the mind of a man (Lancelot) at an insane asylum who is recollecting his crimes against his now dead wife. Percy uses Lancelot as a foil to pose many questions regarding our humanity and morality.

For example, what is the sexual act? Why should it mean anything other than a biological act between two humans? What is it that causes man to be so grievously injured by adultery if the act is nothing but biology? Lancelot ponders these questions throughout the novel as he talks to his childhood friend who has become a priest. Percy gives no answers except to demonstrate through Lancelot that Lancelot's answers are lacking. Lancelot's answers form no moral basis.

The story moves quickly as Lancelot recalls the events leading up to his crime. To that end, the clipped pace of the narrative suits the urgency of the action.

The reader will understand just what he/she is getting in this novel within the first 20 pages. I recommend it highly, but do issue a caution that there is some quite honest dialogue in the novel that includes a fair amount of profanity. Though probably necessary to develope the character, some may be offended.

Purchase the book and enjoy modern literature at its best.

Rating:
Summary: Modern Literature at its Best
Review: This novel is wonderfully written. Walker Percy has quite a unique way of expressing thought in the English language. Unfortunately, unique does not always mean well done. In the case of Walker Percy, however, this novel is a masterpiece of prose.

The first couple of pages take the reader into the mind of a man (Lancelot) at an insane asylum who is recollecting his crimes against his now dead wife. Percy uses Lancelot as a foil to pose many questions regarding our humanity and morality.

For example, what is the sexual act? Why should it mean anything other than a biological act between two humans? What is it that causes man to be so grievously injured by adultery if the act is nothing but biology? Lancelot ponders these questions throughout the novel as he talks to his childhood friend who has become a priest. Percy gives no answers except to demonstrate through Lancelot that Lancelot's answers are lacking. Lancelot's answers form no moral basis.

The story moves quickly as Lancelot recalls the events leading up to his crime. To that end, the clipped pace of the narrative suits the urgency of the action.

The reader will understand just what he/she is getting in this novel within the first 20 pages. I recommend it highly, but do issue a caution that there is some quite honest dialogue in the novel that includes a fair amount of profanity. Though probably necessary to develope the character, some may be offended.

Purchase the book and enjoy modern literature at its best.

Rating:
Summary: I hope no one's forgotten that Lancelot is a nutcase
Review: Well, I can't deny that this is a great book, but it kind of worries me that certain other reviewers seem to be taking Lancelot's statements at face value...I mean, come on, the guy is a pretty awful person. Percy takes considerable pains to distance himself from the narrator, giving his name to Lance's audience and double (Perceval) instead.

Not that that madness diminishes the book. Lancelot's rants (which comprise the whole novel) are brilliant, though clearly mad; and the flashback nature of the plot lets Percy drop plenty of hints that something horrible has happened without giving away what it was (always a fun technique). The format of the book is an extended monologue, with Lance speaking to a silent Perceval. Some of the reminders of Perceval's physical presence (when Lance offers him a chair, for example, or reacts to something Perceval has supposedly said) can grow irritating, but they do build up to a wonderul ending. The Perceval of the grail legend remains silent too long, but that's a mistake he's not about to make twice.

Walker Percy only has two or three subjects he ever considers important enough to write about, and some readers might be sick of them by now, but Lancelot's madness gives Percy an opportunity to exaggerate and warp his usual themes till they look new again.