The Moviegoer

By: Walker Percy

Narrated by: Christopher Hurt

Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A winner of the National Book Award, The Moviegoer established Walker Percy as an insightful and grimly humorous storyteller. It is the tale of Binx Bolling, a small-time stockbroker who lives quietly in suburban New Orleans, pursuing an interest in the movies, affairs with his secretaries, and living out his days. But soon he finds himself on a "search" for something more important, some spiritual truth to anchor him.

Binx's life floats casually along until one fateful Mardi Gras week, when a bizarre series of events leads him to his unlikely salvation. In his half-brother Lonnie, who is confined to a wheelchair and soon to die, and his stepcousin Kate, whose predicament is even more ominous, Binx begins to find the sort of "certified reality" that had eluded him everywhere but at the movies.

©1961 Walker Percy (P)1992 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"In a gentle Southern accent narrator Christopher Hurt delivers the story with a slow, lazy lilt which suits the text and evokes a pervading spiritual emptiness." ( AudioFile)
"Clothed in originality, intelligence, and a fierce regard for man's fate....Percy has a rare talent for making his people look and sound as though they were being seen and heard for the first time by anyone." ( Time)

Loved the writing.

Loved the writing, disliked the narrator. Wish Audible would re-record with appropriate voices, accents.

Great music for Studying windows

A book about rich people being miserable. Really funny at times and introspective at others. Gets pompous near the end.

Narrator was hard to hear at times but then again I work in a loud environment. Good stuff and it’s free!

Great performance, good book

This is one of Walker Percy's most famous books. It is very humorous at times and has some depth as well. The performance is perfect for the book.

Fun Quick Listen

A sweet little antiquated love story? You be the judge. Definitely a ‘coming of age’ story.

A very worthwhile experience.

The narrator was excellent, especially with the male voices. I also thought the writing was distinctive, intelligent, and cleverly amusing. Not at all disappointed in this selection which I have been meaning to read all of my adult life. Now going to move on to other novels by Walker Percy.

Sooooo needs updated description

I get what the purpose and attempt of this book was and is
Very Tennessee Williams in its floral description of beautifully complex personalities

However unlike a Williams story it seems to lack a climax
And characters are more or less the same in the end

A classic. Reader butchers some names.

One of the better books about NOLA. The reader (from 1992) butchers some of the street names.

So many memories of my growing up

Walker Percy recreates the New Orleans of my youth, so many memories.
Outstanding writer this walker Percy, the way he presents the story is particularly wonderfully different. Anyone will enjoy it but if you’re from New Orleans you’ll enjoy it more.

Entirely entertaining!

I loved it. Will listen to more of Walker Percy’s books. The sayings are priceless.

The Moral Project

It wasn't until I had strolled around several blocks of the French Quarter (or most of the novel) with the charming narrator Binx that I realized I had joined Binx on a journey, or a search...a Camu, Kierkegaard or Frankl search...for meaning and purpose. One of *those kinds* of books, (listed as one of the 100 most important books of the century)--I was a philosophy/psych major so I enjoy those kinds of books, and the aftereffect...those haunting days afterward when the book still has you in its tenacious mental grip. It is in the afterward that the power and brilliance of the The Moviegoer lies.

Percy's antagonist, Binx, is a genteel southern dandy, from big southern money, who walks the comfortable streets of his home town, narrating the scenery, mixed with a little free association and personal stories from his 30 years. He observes the day to day world, detached and unable to live outside his head. His relationships, both his dalliances with his secretaries and his family interactions, also have an observed quality void of connection since he returned from the Korean war . The novel revolves around Binx's day to day observations and his disconnect rather than any plot. It is in the days after that last page that this novel, and its project, crystallizes in the reader. Not every reader enjoys the thoughtful effort necessary to understand this enigmatic novel; The Moviegoer requires the readers participation in the creative process and some deep thinking--the legacy of Walker Percy's Christian existential philosophies, and truly great writing. To write a review that does this one justice, I'll have to read again and do some deep thinking (a little slow on the grasp)--looking forward to it.