Customer Reviews

The Graduate

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This little novel really is quite good entertainment. Most of the book is just dialogue, reading much like a screenplay, so it is hardly going to rank up there as an all-time great novel. The conversations between Ben and his parents, Ben and Mrs Robinson etc. are tremendously witty, and I found myself laughing out loud on a number of occasions. Ben is a considerably darker character than he appears in the (perhaps superior) film version, being a cynical and disillusioned graduate going through a depression during which he loses interest in just about everything and resigns himself to a life of 'bumming around'. I think I would agree with Douglas Brode, the film critic who wrote of the movie that it was not a story about the generation gap, but rather about a young man who feels as alienated from his own peers as from his parents' generation. This comes across much more strongly in the book, and we also get a very strong sense of WHY he feels so distanced from the rest of his culture - the superficiality and hypocrisy of middle-class America (this is very much a book of its time) is evident, and the reader finds himself disgusted with the shallow attitudes of the milieu in which Benjamin finds himself.

As for all those extremely negative Swiss reviews, I guess this book and the white suburban upper middle class American sub-culture it so accurately portrays do not come across as funny and as true to people from other cultures. That's understandable; I may not be able to fully relate to an accurate tale of European life. This apparent lack of universality is a valid complaint. But the book sure rings true to me. Benjamin's frustration and rebellion are all part of the normal search for meaning and self-fulfillment that many people go through. It's a classic American coming-of-age story complete with a profound identity crisis. And the discussion between Ben and his father about fighting fires and sleeping with prostitutes in frozen fields -- well, it wasn't in the movie and it makes me laugh out loud each time I read it. That part alone makes the book worthwhile.

I found this book to be loaded with unspoken richness and multi-dimensional characters, especially Mrs. Robinson. Charles Webb has created a very complex woman trapped in a situation that she regrets but can only try to hold on to because it is all she has. At the same time he has the main character, Ben Braddock, trying to find puropse in his life after he has already accomplished everything everyone else wanted him to. At 20 he finds himself out of college with neumerous prospects for graduate school but feeling lost and empty inside becasue he has never stopped to understand who he is and what he wants out of life. In this state of internal turmoil and kindred spirit, Mrs. Robinson, finds him and makes him an offer he tries to refuse but eventually cannot. In the end this offer causes everyones lives to be turned inside out. I reccomend this book to everyone.

As other reviewers have said, this book is only a classic because the movie is. THE GRADUATE is one of my favorite movies, and when I read this book I see Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Still, this is probably the closest novel/movie adaptation I know of. The book reads like a screenplay. It's heavy on dialogue, most of which was used verbatim in the movie, and there's very little exposition. I found this a great model for writing dialogue, as well as saying a lot in the subtle reaction of a character. But if I hadn't seen the movie, I'm not sure what I'd think.

WOW! The Graduate, also a 1968 motion picture, is told in a script-like, straight forward manner which rivets the audience and lures them into a web of entertainment. We are captivated into Ben's life,a seemingly scandous soap opera which dances on the delicate line between trashy and alluring. Ben Braddock, the highly successfuly Graduate, comes home "confused" about his future. He is seduced by an old family friend, Mrs. Robinson, continues the affair, wastes his life bumming around, then falls in love with her daughter, and is determined to marry her. This page turning, eye catching novel makes you want to laugh, cry, and scream with frustration. Dealing with themes such as prevailing love, betrayal, broken friendships, determination, and too much success, this novel is a great all around read. No wonder the movie won so many academy awards!

I found this book at a used bookstore and because the movie by Mike Nichols is my favorite I bought it. I thought the movies witty dialogue came from the pen of Buck Henry, so I was really amazed to find that much of it was written by Charles Webb. The book reads much like a screenplay and it's a cool way to "watch" a movie while you're on the bus or wherever you're reading. Good luck finding a copy!

`The Graduate' is one of those rare iconic films that actually stands the tests of time and continues to live up to the hype and the doting respect surrounding it. It is the film of a generation; a story for the times as some have said, and what Mike Nichols did with it was tremendous.

That brings me to the novel, written in the early 60's by Charles Webb. It's strange to say that `this novel had big shoes to fill' considering the fact that, much like the egg, this novel came first, but the fact remains that I saw the film far before I ever read the book and so, in my eyes, this novel had a lot to live up to. I will admit that my expectations had dropped slightly when I saw the large amount of low-star reviews here, and while I didn't read them (I'm not one who likes to read too much BEFORE I actually get into the product myself) I was concerned and so those read flags were thrown up almost immediately.

In the beginning, I was stumped by the reviews. The first half of the novel is rather well written; the second half kind of falls apart.

Oh, yeah...and then there's the dialog.

The story, as many know, centers on a young graduate; Benjamin Braddock. Benjamin is disillusioned with his life and, more specifically, his future. Graduating with honors and with a career in teacher almost etched out for him, Benjamin seems to want to spit in the face of his family's expectations of him. He is downtrodden and irritable; aggressive and reclusive. His parents, especially his father, are pushy and intrusive and his neighbors and family friends corral around him, smothering him. Things change when Mrs. Robinson, a family friend with a daughter Benjamin's age, proposes an affair. Benjamin is at first highly opposed to this idea, but he soon gives into it and begins an odd affair with a woman old enough to be his mother. Things really turn themselves upside down when Benjamin begins forming a fondness for Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine; leading up to one of the more bizarre love triangles in the history of `fiction'.

Sadly, the themes and intrigue that was captured in the film is somewhat lost on paper.

That isn't to say that Webb's novel is a complete waste, but it is one of those stories that is far better told on the big screen. When you are dealing with incompatible `love' it really needs charisma and charm to offset the absurdity of it all. Just merely reading of Benjamin's infatuation with Elaine is lost on the reader, while watching Dustin Hoffman pine over Katherine Ross makes a lasting impression on the viewer. Benjamin's personality is also tamed for the film version, which also makes Elaine's reciprocation of his affections feel far more genuine and understandable. There are moments within the novel's second half where I personally wanted to punch Benjamin in the face and I cannot imagine that Elaine could stomach him, let alone `love' him. Another major issue I have with the novel is the dialog. I have no issues with dialog driven narratives because I tend to use them in my own writing and I think it adds an air of personality to the prose, but the way that Webb structures his conversations is very formulaic and feels like a transcript, with no detailing of `how' things are being said and conveyed. He also uses a certain word OVER AND OVER and dragging out his conversations to nearly twice as long as necessary. That word is `what' and it is used after nearly every statement, causing that statement to then be repeated. I understand the use of that word on occasion because it happens (as in, sometimes people just don't hear what you said) but unless the entirety of this cast of characters are deaf, there is no reason to repeat every statement made in the whole novel.

It's obnoxious and aggravating.

Alas, it is hard for me to criticize `The Graduate' because my fondness for the film itself knows no bounds, but this novel falls short of the brilliance Nichols and company brought to their film adaptation. This is one of those rare instances where the film far outweighs the book that inspired it.

i am a beginner in English im not good in this lunguage.. this book was perfect for me cause it have a simple english..
This book also very intersting i found it very good one..
Chales Webb did great work of writing this book, anyway i like the most Elaine in the book cause she was very mystory girl and it pull me to be interst in things she did..

Just read this book for having fun..
!!

I'm not a fan of this book. Even knowing it was written by an individual who had recently graduate from college and it was supposed to be something fighting against the establishment does little to increase its standing in opinion. Reviewers of the time called it heartbreaking and hilarious. I would lean towards calling it hilarious - hilarious that a novel which is absolutely chauvinistic, misanthropic, lacks plot, character development or witty dialog, could have received this much recognition.

In most cases, the book shines, the movie is ok, and the soundtrack is forgettable. This title seems to defy gravity. The Simon & Garfunkle music is so powerful and haunting, it is seered into the collective memory of two generations. imagine the movie without the soundtrack, it's ok, but hardly iconic. Perhaps that the problem with the book.