The Floating Opera

[Gail]

I had read The End of the Road which is the companion book to this book The Floating Opera and I really disliked it so when Floating Opera showed up on my Random List I was less than excited about reading it. However, this was a companion piece in philosophy, not in tone and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The Floating Opera was John Barth's first book which he wrote as a 24 year old. It was written in 1955 and published in 1957 and then Barth had it republished with his original ending in the 60's once he had made a name for himself. However, the narrator tells his story which in various ways outlines his whole life from the 1900's until his middle age. Our narrator, the main character, is writing to us, his readers, about why he changed his mind about a specific way of seeing the world, which then caused him to change his mind about a specific tactical act. He makes clear to us he is not a writer, then proceeds to use that as an excuse to fold in his love triangle, Dickenesque law cases and per the title, a floating vaudeville show. In this wide ranging construction Barth is masterful. The whole little book has a lovely self mocking comedic tone about our main character and all his friends and acquaintances in a small town on the Maryland's Eastern shore. In fact it takes place in the same town that Barth was born in. Barth's characters are all totally egocentric, and self involved and there is a way in which only a 24 year old could be so hard on an older middle aged "writer" who is attempting to understand how he came to have made the decisions that he made.
In comparison to The End of the Road which takes these small themes and turns it into a nihilistic tragedy in which the reader is encouraged to hate everyone in the book, in The Floating Opera you are sympathetic to all the characters and encouraged by their choices.
I rated it 4 stars.
Warning however that it does have a pre 1950's southern perspective and there are insults to African Americans that would not and should not be tolerated that the reader has to get through.

[Kristel]

Read 2015. Post modernism literature. This I believe is the author's first book, written in 1955 and published 1956 or 1957. I find discrepancy on publication date. Written when the author was 24. It is a first person reminiscence of the day that the protagonist Todd Andrews decides to commit suicide. It is a story of one day in Todd's life when he is 27. He tells us right away in the beginning that he doesn't really off himself. He rambles on about building boats, love triangles, lawsuits, Hamlet's indecision. There is quite a bit of humor in this book about suicide. I actually liked the commentary on suicide at the end and felt that it reflects the truth that suicide is not logical. For postmodern literature, this one was a bit more readable than some. I give it 3.5 stars and probably will read the next one The End of The Road sometime as both were included with this audible. Narrator did a good job.