Watt
by Samuel Beckett
published
January 12th 1994
(first published 1953)
by Grove Press
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binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
080215140X
(isbn13: 9780802151407)
description
In prose possessed of the radically stripped-down beauty and ferocious wit that characterize his work, this early novel by Nobel Prize winner Samuel B...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 353)
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Beckett-enthusiasts
A typical Beckett book, this one is not an easy read, but an interesting read most definately. Did I enjoy it - 'enjoy' would be a big word. It is not that I did not enjoy it at all, because I certainly did. I have always had a huge appreciation for Beckett’s work, and Watt only emphasized once again why that is. The capacity to make something very simple, very complicated, and in that way to offer a new look at things we might be taking for granted is a trait I have always admired. Yet this i...more
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Took me a long time to read this one. Beckett really punishes the reader, which is fine because for the most part it's a pretty funny novel. I spent most of it shaking my head in wonder. Almost the entire thing is written in an obsessive-compulsive fever that goes on for scores of pages at a time.
However, the ending struck me as much too weak. After all the time and effort I put into keeping up with Beckett's hyper-logic prose, I expected a satisfying payoff, or at least a damn good punchli...more
However, the ending struck me as much too weak. After all the time and effort I put into keeping up with Beckett's hyper-logic prose, I expected a satisfying payoff, or at least a damn good punchli...more
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I love Beckett's prose more than just about anyone's. Surgical, bleak and hilarious. Mostly hilarious and mostly bleak. Take for example:
"For if there were two things Watt disliked, one was the moon, and the other was the sun."
Then, a page later, "And if there were two things that Watt loathed, one was the earth, and the other was the sky."
"For if there were two things Watt disliked, one was the moon, and the other was the sun."
Then, a page later, "And if there were two things that Watt loathed, one was the earth, and the other was the sky."
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
the Beckett enthusiast, the appeciator of rhythm
dead calm, then a murmur, a name, a murmured name, in doubt, in fear, in love, in fear, in doubt, wind of winter in the black boughs, cold calm sea whitening whispering to the shore, stealing, hastening, swelling, passing, dying, from naught come, to naught gone.
flawed, but feauring much lovely prose poetry. it's my favorite kind.
flawed, but feauring much lovely prose poetry. it's my favorite kind.
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If Beckett thinks he is wasting his own time by writing, I am certainly wasting mine by reading. But I do think his points are especially applicable to the internet age: thousands of unqualified voices spewing into the void while no one listens. Still, that point can be made in one sentence; no need for him to spew himself.
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
three-legged half-starved dogs in your neighbourhood
I don't feel I should comment on any of this man's fiction. It is too good. It is too right. It's childish and wise. His fixation on details is something that shakes the core of my creative self. This one shows his youth, but has moments that compare to peaks in later novels (like stone-sucking in Molloy). Fantastic.
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If I could give this 6 stars I would. My favoritist-favorite of Beckett. I reread this one quite often.
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Put yourself to the task and you may learn how hard novels should be to write. Watt is Beckett's darling. Beyond all plays his novel writing kept his soul burning for scene and innovation. His characters reek of their country, their cinemata.
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Read in December, 2005
Any time someone claims to be a realist writer, I direct them to this book to show them what a "realistic" book would actually be like.
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Read in June, 2005
probably one of the stranger books I'll ever read. I definitely need to read it again, though I want to make it through the rest of Beckett first, so it will be a little while, probably. I 'liked' it, though.
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Read in January, 2003
I'm not even sure I can tell you what this is about; my thoughts might change every time I read it. But once it pulls you in, it's irresistible, no matter how impenetrable it seems in places.
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recommends it for:
psuedo-intellectual assholes
I know I'm supposed to be a smarty pants English guy, but I literally threw this book across the room. Wasted moments of my life I'll never get back. Insulting to the reader and all humanity.
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I laughed out loud in the library. Ennoble-ing and pathetic at the same time.
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recommends it for:
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Go fish. I've had the same card since Wednesday.
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Neck and Neck with Beckett's Trilogy. A must must read, no matter how much some complain along the way.
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Very, very funny if you have a bitter and cynical sense of humour; boring if you don't.
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few books can match the originality and humor found here. Read it immediately!
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Read in March, 2008
I love Beckett's plays but this was just too much. Oh well.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
Not my favorite Beckett. Nonetheless...
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