The Graduate by Charles Webb

[Anton LaVey]

I know that I am in a minority, but I have always found The Graduate to be an unappreciated master work. Most people dismiss it for being a poorly written work though a seminal work in terms of catching post-war existential crisis.

However, for me this book does what Hemingway never achieved and does what every book should do: Stick to the story and be economical with descriptions. There is almost no character descriptions, place descriptions, and we are not informed of any of the characters lives before the story takes place.
The characters perform seemingly unmotivated acts, which I personally attribute to surreal and existential psychology. The novel is written almost entirely in dialogue, and yet, the story advances and we care for the characters. There is not one single word that isn't needed and every sentence brings the story forward.

Has anyone else found this about this book? Have you ever read anything similar?

[ennison]

Interesting commentary to which no one responded, perhaps because no one at the time was familiar with the novel. I haven't read it. Webb has written more but I suspect that in his late seventies he will be out of steam. My only association with this text was seeing the Dustin Hoffman film version.