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)

Touching - immense depth but not esoteric

I would not have picked this book up on my own; I had to read it for a Christian literature class. But, just having finished it, Percy and The Moviegoer are in my top five.

Relatable characters who are symbolic but human

Spiritual themes without heavy-handed religious overtones

A meaningful story for a person searching for truth and guidance on how to live in the world

I book I will listen several times

I love the book, the style, everything of this book is good. The voice of Christopher Hurt is perfect. This is my first book from Walker Percy but I will look for other of his books.

In the spirit of Confedaracy of Dunces

I would recommend reading the book rather than listening to Audio version. The narrator on the Audible version didn't do their research and mispronounced so many New Orleans phrases that it made the listening of the book unenjoyable for me. I do plan to pick this up and read it instead.

A Unique and Creative Way to Write About People

“The Moviegoer” Good writing and a good story about a southern young man, his work, and social life stumbling around looking for the meaning and purpose of life. The author recommended by Jessica Hooten Wilson in her latest book, “The Scandal of Holiness”. The author defiantly has an ability to capture the ordinary of people and their lives in a unique and creative perspective. Experienced as an Audio book

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.

Percy's Prose Dances with Grace, Charm and Style

Before I read 'the Moviegoer' my only real exposure to Walker Percy was reading A Confederacy of Dunces (a novel not written by Percy, but one which he discovered, published and wrote the forward to) and through his friendship with Shelby Foote. Anyway, fifty pages into 'the Moviegoer', I was ready to declare my undying love for Walker Percy. 'The Moviegoer' reminded me of a southern Catholic Graham Greene + F. Scott Fitzgerald + William Gaddis. With Greene's Catholic ambiguity and Fitzgerald's sad, romantic tone and Gaddis' playful allusiveness Percy dances with grace, charm and style through the minefield of the modern/postmodern world.

Good Manners as Placebo

Don't go to this novel for movies. The narrator goes occasionally to ameliorate the condition of being landed, white and bored in New Orleans. Even his visit to Chicago during Marti Gras is a bust. In gothic tradition, mental illness comes with an unseemly adherence for manners. SPOILER: When his aunt talks to him about the Chicago trip, she puts the cord in cordiality. How could he take a mentally ill woman to Chicago? This scene alone is worth the read, provided you read for subtext. The aunt says some things about class in The South that explain her assumptions and have far-reaching implications about the greater problems let unresolved by the failure of the Occupy Wall Street movement.