Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
Movies are my second love after books. I suppose that should come as no surprise, seeing as there’s such a large crossover. When it came to films released before I was born, I would generally only watch whatever films my parents showed me. Which is how I ended up watching Bond and The Terminator. There are a lot of classics that I never saw until I started uni. The Graduate is one of those classics. I was about twenty-four and in my second year of uni before I saw the film, and it’s easy to see why it is a classic.
Recently, Cineworld was showing a range of classic films as part of their Awards Season, and The Graduate was one of those films. I went to see it. I make full use of my Unlimited Card for occasions like this. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen a film before. If I love it but I’ve never seen it in the cinema before, I’ll make every effort to go if I can. I genuinely believe that seeing a film on the big screen is different. And, because I’m me, I had to then request the book from the library to see how they compare. Without further ado, here is my review of the book.
Published in 1963, The Graduate focuses on Benjamin Braddock, who has recently graduated from college and has returned home to his parents’ home. Despite being an intelligent man who has earned countless accolades, he is bored and disillusioned with life. The book opens with his parents throwing a celebratory party for him. One that he doesn’t want to attend, and he spends the whole night hiding upstairs in his room.
Most of the guests at the party are friends of Benjamin’s parents. One of the friends, Mrs Robinson, comes up to his room to visit him. As an excuse to leave the party, Benjamin agrees to drive Mrs Robinson home. Once there, she insists he stay and wait for a bit because she claims she hates being home alone. She asks probing questions, and Benjamin gets the impression that she is more interested in him than he initially thought. “Mrs Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.”
Benjamin and Mrs Robinson embark on an affair that lasts several months. They meet up at a hotel, sometimes multiple times per week, and do the deed. Benjamin seems to enjoy this no-strings arrangement. In fact, it seems to be the only thing he enjoys in a summer where he sleeps the day away, floats around in the swimming pool, and falls asleep while watching movies and drinking beers. This scenario is disrupted when Mr Robinson continually puts pressure on Benjamin to take his daughter, Elaine, out on a date.
What happens when Benjamin finds himself falling for Elaine Robinson? And what would happen if Elaine ever found out about Benjamin’s affair with her mother?
There were four years between the release of the book and the release of the film. As a result, it’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone else but Dustin Hoffman in the role of Benjamin Braddock. This book is a lot of dialogue, and I could hear all of it in my head. Hoffman captured the erratic side of Benjamin perfectly. There are times when he talks about everything and nothing at the same time. Webb had me hooked, and the pages flew by.
There are no two ways about saying this: The Graduate is a book that has aged. For me, nothing stood out like a sore thumb more than the fact that Benjamin only ever refers to his lover as Mrs Robinson. He never uses her first name. I understand that I’m from a different generation, but I’ve never known anybody who has referred to another person like that, unless they are a student talking to their teacher. But the fact that Benjamin has been sleeping with her for months and still calls her Mrs Robinson feels weird to me. It’s not a criticism, just an observation. I’m sure Webb was writing accurately to the time he was living in and couldn’t be expected to see the future.
At just under 200 pages, this is an easy and enjoyable read. Easy to recommend if you’re in the mood to enjoy a classic.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)
