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Molloy

Samuel Beckett,

Patrick Bowles (Co-translator)

Start date: August 1, 2018

Finish date: August 31, 2018

Discussion: 2018 RT Tournament of Books

Why we're reading this: This book is a contender in our 2018 Tournament of Books, round G
[close] This book is a contender in our 2018 Tournament of Books, round G

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What Members Thought

Feb 22, 2016 Zadignose added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century

Perfect. Brilliant. Mysterious. Funny. Containing invented words. Musing on the nature of narrative.

Random quotes follow:

"I am still alive then. That may come in useful."

"Not to want to say, not to know what you want to say, not to be able to say what you think you want to say, and never to stop saying, or hardly ever, that is the thing to keep in mind, even in the heat of composition."

"Can it be we are not free? It might be worth looking into."

"...the moon was moving from left to right, or the ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2018 Irene rated it did not like it

What the **** did I just read? We get a 90 page paragraph in which a guy rambles on about how many farts he has per hour and his system for rotating sucking stones while rambling along running over an old dog and beating an old man to death. Part 2, a private investigator narrates how he sets out to find the man of the first part while emotionally battering his son, beating some guy’s head in and returning home months later without finding that man, without his son and without his sanity apparen ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2018 El rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cuckoos, 1001-books-list, 20th-centurylit-late, library-borrow

What. The. Heck.

But not what-the-heck the same way I felt after reading James Joyce's Ulysses. That's a whole 'nother kind of what-the-heck. There's something about those Irish writers that I haven't quite figured out, but I am trying. I blame all the Guinness and Jameson. And the fact that their pubs don't close until 2:30 am or whatever.

There are two distinct parts to this story. The first part is told from Molloy's perspective. And who is Molloy? Exactly! We get his internal monologue which t What. The. Heck.

But not what-the-heck the same way I felt after reading James Joyce's Ulysses. That's a whole 'nother kind of what-the-heck. There's something about those Irish writers that I haven't quite figured out, but I am trying. I blame all the Guinness and Jameson. And the fact that their pubs don't close until 2:30 am or whatever.

There are two distinct parts to this story. The first part is told from Molloy's perspective. And who is Molloy? Exactly! We get his internal monologue which takes up about 91 pages and is told in (wait for it) two paragraphs. If you get past the first one which is short, expect the second paragraph to then go on for about 90 pages. I read a review where someone said it was best to try to read it in one go, and yeah, why not, I agree with that. It's challenging, though, because who has time to read 91 pages in one sitting - and by that I mean something like Beckett which is not your average, run-of-the-mill sort of literature. There are no sparkly vampires here. This is dense and confusing and all the things a lot of readers hate, rightly so.

We know that Molloy's mother is dead, or maybe she's not. We know that he has some sort of physical ailment (and presumably a mental ailment as well). We know that he rides a bicycle, he sucks on stones, and something happens to a dog. We know that he writes reports for someone, which then are returned to him all marked up, but he pays them no nevermind.

The second part of this book is the real bulk of the novel, told from the perspective of a private investigator, Jacques Moran, who is hired to find Molloy. Why? We don't know! Aces! He sets out with his son (also named Jacques Moran, just to add to any more confusion) for this particular adventure. There's also a bike here. And a physical ailment. No reference to sucking on stones that I picked up on, however.

Okay, the rest is spoilerific-ish, so here are my thoughts: (view spoiler)

I have a lot of feelings and thoughts. This isn't that easy of a story to read, it's frustrating. I'm probably reading too much into it. But somehow it worked for me. Not a lot. I didn't love it. But I'm interested enough to want to read the next two books in the Trilogy, to see if there are any answers or just more questions... though not right away. This one needs to marinate a bit more before I can move onto Malone Dies. Luckily this is a library book and it's not due until December. So I will likely return to it when I finish this semester. Like a treat to myself.

Because reading Beckett is some sort of sick treat to myself. ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2018 Susanna - Censored by GoodReads rated it did not like it

::shudders:: It was a bad week, when I was simultaneously reading Beckett in English in "Modern British & American Drama," and Beckett in French in a French literature class. ::shudders:: ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 09, 2018 Christopher rated it did not like it

Shelves: metafiction, 20th-century, audiobooks, postmodern, fiction, modern-classics, british

I really disliked reading this book. If there's one emperor author I'd declare nude, it's Samuel Beckett. Sure, he did some stuff that nobody had done before. That doesn't mean it's good.

Molloy is just a bleak, muddled, joyless mess. There's no logic to the story; there's really no story. "There is nothing to express, nothing with which to express, nothing from which to express, no power to express, no desire to express, together with the obligation to express." While I think it's true that Bec ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2015 Lark Benobi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: exuberant-books, male-identified-authors, uk

I'm speechless.

...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2018 Heather(Gibby) rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-to-read

This was one of the most frustrating novels that I have ever read. Part one goes on and on, with many rereadings of several passages required or you just plain get lost in the text. Part II however flows and is much easier to comprehend. Both Sections the narrator is unreliable, and questions his own observations/ memories numerous times.
1 star to part I, 4 stars to part II

1 like · Like · see review