Book Review: "The Graduate" by Charles Webb

The sheer amount of times I've skipped over reading this book because of the film is unreal, I tell you. Did I have a good time with the book though? Yes, and no. There were times where I felt the book was going a bit all over the place, as the film does, veering here and there without any real sense of direction. But in the classic words of any bookworm: the book is still better than the film. The character of Benjamin really got to me, and I'll share why in the review - but there were times where it felt like he was speaking some of his words straight out of my own soul. There were also other times where it felt like nobody around could understand exactly what was going on. I have to give marks to this book's great sense of characterisation even though I must knock off marks for a lack of atmosphere.

Benjamin has come home from university and, on top of that, his family and family's friends have been singing him praises. He is referred to as an intellectual and is talked up as if he is the smartest man there even though there are qualified long-term lawyers around him. When family friends are over, Benjamin feels out of place, not wanting to see them but instead, simply wants to go on a walk.

He claims that university didn't really teach him anything and he doesn't feel any smarter now than he did four years' ago. He berates himself as not an intellectual at all and we, as readers, can definitely tell there is something wrong with Benjamin Braddock. One thing that bothered me about this introduction to character was that there wasn't much atmosphere (as I already mentioned), and I couldn't really picture enough in my mind.

Of course, in steps the famed Mrs Robinson and she obviously seduces our protagonist who is already sort of disillusioned. Benjamin goes away for a few weeks, comes back starving and detached, spends his nights either with Mrs Robinson or on his own watching television - he doesn't even pay any attention to his future. His anxiety and overhwhelmed nature at the start of the book where he snaps at people has turned into depression, angst and just plain apathy. That is until his mother asks him whether he's been seeing anyone at night - and then he writes to Mrs Robinson, stating he cannot see her anymore. He is anxious that his mother may have found something out.

Alongside this, Mr Robinson is cordial and friendly with Benjamin, which sets the reader on edge of course. Again, there's a stark lack of atmosphere but where the author doesn't do that, he presents us with a deep characterisation of Benjamin as this extremely relatable character. He is disillusioned, apathetic and just depressed as hell. So he does just about anything to feel something - even something pretty disrespectful by anyone's standards. He has an affair with another man's wife.

He eventually continues his affair, but wants to talk to her as well. He starts to learn about her marriage one night, but agrees to stay away from her daughter, Elaine. However, Elaine turns up and his parents tell Benjamin that he should definitely consider taking her out, though he promised to Mrs Robinson he wouldn't. Not able to escape from the stress, he drinks. I'm not sure this counts as 'stress' in comparison to what else this character has going on but it is definitely bugging him. He's scared of being found out, he's scared of being the disappointment he knows he is. He's scared of imaginary consequence. The whole thing is a back-and-forth of character development for Benjamin and his disillusionment and Mrs Robinson states that he can never see Elaine again...until he decides to marry Elaine.

The author's intention to present Benjamin as wanting stability but increasingly unstable is something that the reader gets to explore through his behaviours. He takes Elaine on a date, doesn't order any food but takes her to a strip club where she is humiliated and begins to cry. He then apologises to her, stating he once had an affair with an older woman though not telling her who. He defies everyone around him in order to try to make the mundane boredom of his own life more interesting for a minute or two. Even the pain and anxiety of being 'found out' is far more preferable to feeling nothing at all. This is something the reader underlines the book with and though there is a lack of atmosphere, I don't think there's much wasted.

As the book goes along, we get more and more story to do with Elaine, the fact that the overt anxiety Benjamin has with being found out often boils out into misbheaviour and lack of control is something that is really relatable to many people. It is not just a lack of self-control though, it is a lack of being understood and a lack of sympathy or care for his position. He really does feel like a protagonist who represents all who suffer with their self-esteem and confidence when they are in fact, in a privileged position and in their prime - so believe that they don't have the right to suffer this way. He cannot find himself and most of the book deals with that same problem.

All in all, I found this book to be worthy of the mark that I gave it. It is both a brilliant character exploration and a moment of wonder as the author creates something with so little. He is sparing in language and in story.