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juushikaTitle: Love in the Ruins
Author: Walker Percy
Published: New York: Picardor, 1971
Page Count: 403
Total Page Count: 16,544
Text Number: 45
Read For: My own enjoyment
Short review: The story of an all-American apocalypse, Love in the Ruins takes places in the South and follows one doctor's journey through technological discovery and mental breakdown, climaxing in the possible destruction of America herself. The writing style is straight-forward and physically descriptive but the subject matter ranges from the mundanity of a parallel-universe USA to a scientific conception of the human soul. As a result, the text, while appearing easy to grasp, can be confusing, abstract, and just plain weird. The book focuses on the events leading up to a theoretical apocalypse and functions primarily as a twisted, frightening speculation about what America could have become and may very well still be on its way towards becoming. The conclusion, however, is abrupt, and the apocalypse is never resolved. However interesting and possible the body of the text, Love in the Ruins seems somehow incomplete. I would recommend it, but there are other, better apocalyptic texts out there that are more deserving of a read.
I own this book because of an apocalyptic literature course that I took at Whitman, and reread it now because I never finished it—it was the last book of the year in a class I ended up hating. The book makes more sense a second time around, and reads smoother and more enjoyably—there's a lot that only makes sense when you know what the author is talking about/will talk about a few chapters from now. The new material, however, disappointed me—the end of the book, which I didn't read until now, feels like an anticlimax and leaves a lot unresolved. Three-quarters of the text is one long, steady build up: characters are introduced, backstory delved in to, apocalypse foretold, science done, all waiting for the theoretical end of America that hovers over the body of the text. The fourth quarter of the book lives up to none of those expectations: characters disappear or are explained away, we see only the beginning of this possible-apocalypse, and then suddenly, with the final 5 Years Later, we've moved on to a stable, reversed, but pretty much unchanged world.
Is that the point? Doubtless. In the body of the book, America's habit of dividing herself into Left and Right, and the strange similarity between the two sides, not only creates society but is also the biggest threat to society. Unseen by us, an apocalypse may or may not occur. After the fact, while a new group of people are in charge America is still dividing herself into almost-identical polar opposites. The danger comes and goes and comes again, and nothing really changes. However, even if this is the point, the author barely makes it: the end of the book, in particular 5 Years Later fails to establish itself or build up into anything at all, and so the resemblance to the beginning of the book can be hard to see. Rather than the point, the conclusion feels like a tacked on epilogue.
Where the book finds its strength is in the disconcerting, too-possible future/alternate universe that it presents. The themes are a big blatant: religion! sex! race! class! look at my themes! Nonetheless, Percy have a firm grasp on America's weaknesses and her possible downfall. The tendency to divide into Left and Right, while neither view presents anything or does much, is a real threat, as is the tendency for both Left and Right to capitalize on American values, specifically God and country, for their own benefit. The simultaneous objectification and glorification of sex. The combination of state and religion, and the use of religion in the state. The complacency of the large majority of the population. This is the type of thing that we see going on today, making this book, at least as a warning, incredibly relevant to a modern audience. In fact, the text is more meaningful and effective as a dystopic novel; as an apocalyptic novel, it's disappointing. Read it for the dystopic threat and warning, but don't expect to be entirely fulfilled by it.
Author: Walker Percy
Published: New York: Picardor, 1971
Page Count: 403
Total Page Count: 16,544
Text Number: 45
Read For: My own enjoyment
Short review: The story of an all-American apocalypse, Love in the Ruins takes places in the South and follows one doctor's journey through technological discovery and mental breakdown, climaxing in the possible destruction of America herself. The writing style is straight-forward and physically descriptive but the subject matter ranges from the mundanity of a parallel-universe USA to a scientific conception of the human soul. As a result, the text, while appearing easy to grasp, can be confusing, abstract, and just plain weird. The book focuses on the events leading up to a theoretical apocalypse and functions primarily as a twisted, frightening speculation about what America could have become and may very well still be on its way towards becoming. The conclusion, however, is abrupt, and the apocalypse is never resolved. However interesting and possible the body of the text, Love in the Ruins seems somehow incomplete. I would recommend it, but there are other, better apocalyptic texts out there that are more deserving of a read.
I own this book because of an apocalyptic literature course that I took at Whitman, and reread it now because I never finished it—it was the last book of the year in a class I ended up hating. The book makes more sense a second time around, and reads smoother and more enjoyably—there's a lot that only makes sense when you know what the author is talking about/will talk about a few chapters from now. The new material, however, disappointed me—the end of the book, which I didn't read until now, feels like an anticlimax and leaves a lot unresolved. Three-quarters of the text is one long, steady build up: characters are introduced, backstory delved in to, apocalypse foretold, science done, all waiting for the theoretical end of America that hovers over the body of the text. The fourth quarter of the book lives up to none of those expectations: characters disappear or are explained away, we see only the beginning of this possible-apocalypse, and then suddenly, with the final 5 Years Later, we've moved on to a stable, reversed, but pretty much unchanged world.
Is that the point? Doubtless. In the body of the book, America's habit of dividing herself into Left and Right, and the strange similarity between the two sides, not only creates society but is also the biggest threat to society. Unseen by us, an apocalypse may or may not occur. After the fact, while a new group of people are in charge America is still dividing herself into almost-identical polar opposites. The danger comes and goes and comes again, and nothing really changes. However, even if this is the point, the author barely makes it: the end of the book, in particular 5 Years Later fails to establish itself or build up into anything at all, and so the resemblance to the beginning of the book can be hard to see. Rather than the point, the conclusion feels like a tacked on epilogue.
Where the book finds its strength is in the disconcerting, too-possible future/alternate universe that it presents. The themes are a big blatant: religion! sex! race! class! look at my themes! Nonetheless, Percy have a firm grasp on America's weaknesses and her possible downfall. The tendency to divide into Left and Right, while neither view presents anything or does much, is a real threat, as is the tendency for both Left and Right to capitalize on American values, specifically God and country, for their own benefit. The simultaneous objectification and glorification of sex. The combination of state and religion, and the use of religion in the state. The complacency of the large majority of the population. This is the type of thing that we see going on today, making this book, at least as a warning, incredibly relevant to a modern audience. In fact, the text is more meaningful and effective as a dystopic novel; as an apocalyptic novel, it's disappointing. Read it for the dystopic threat and warning, but don't expect to be entirely fulfilled by it.
