When You Don't Understand A Novel

Book club did Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins this month, and I was puzzled for a good deal of it.  Not that I couldn't pick anything up, but events unfolded that had little connection to each other, and even well into the book, when the various subplots were building and connecting internally, how they fit with each other remained obscure.  I figured out a some interesting things I noticed and found a tag line I thought would hold up: What is wrong with mankind, and what can be done about it?  

It was good to listen to smart people who loved the book. Pieces came together. But as they came together, I realised that I had dropped basic information that I had been given.  Had I recollected those I would have done better, as I could have asked myself good questions after 100 pages.  First is the title, Love in the Ruins. Always keep the title in mind, right?  It's important. The protagonist is in love with three women but the relationships are fragmented and he believes the world is about to either end or change drastically. So when puzzled, asking yourself "Why is this book called Love in the Ruins?"  Whenever I remembered the title, I diverted into thinking "Wasn't that a movie with Katherine Hepburn?  Was that connected with the poem by Browning? Is this book going to tie into one of those somehow?" None were helpful thoughts in understanding this book.  Keep it simple.

One of the participants read from the first page of the novel. Every paragraph not only introduced the themes and subplots, but pointed to exactly what was central about them.  So go back and read the first page again. Pay attention to names.  The protagonist was named Thomas More and was one of his descendants. I just took it as a generic historic religious figure, telegraphing that there were going to be religious topics and themes.  No. It was important that it was Thomas More.  The town in Louisiana was named Paradise.  I thought that was merely ironic. There was lots more where this came from.

Some others picked up that this was about the lack of integration between parts of the personality, as well as between parts of society, and parts of the Church.  As the kaleidoscope keeps turning, it finally comes to some stable picture at the very end.  Strange, but recognisable and looking healthy rather than pathological. If you know that going in, and remember the title and pay attention to the names, the book may reward a reading.

The Assistant Village Idiot is supposed to make his contribution by paying attention to the obvious things that everyone else has overlooked.  I got that backwards, failing about as spectacularly as possible.