Customer Reviews

Malone Dies

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This is a remarkable monologue, told by man who knows he is dying. He drifts in and out of consciousness and interacts with no one. The story is one of his thoughts only, and when he dies he just stops talking.

Beckett does not envision one's dying thoughts along the classic lines of one's life flashing before his eyes -- more or less chronologically remembering one's childhood, first love, then adulthood. Beckett is more interested in philosophy than relationships, and for Beckett man's relationships with things seem to define him. The most remarkable passage is one where Malone recalls a menial farm task -- one that a person could stay up all night doing with no hope of finishing. Yet, some progress on the task is still a positive good and something worthwhile. This is Beckett's metaphor for life.

It's a difficult book to read, though the tension and drama of a man's dying thoughts makes up for the lack of plot.

Even though the subject matter is utterly depressing--I've rarely read such a vivid depiction of abject loneliness and physical and mental degradation, as the narrator and his protagonist progressively rot into nothingness--I found the book to be incredibly exhilarating and uplifting. The earthy realism, pessimistic wisdom, dark humor, and liquid poetry made me feel as if I'd not merely read a book, but lived and suffered, and learned some deep truths about human existence that I can't even express in words.