I found this a strange book. Kind of schizophrenic, hard to follow, but I suppose it is fitting since the main character presents with psychological issues. Not a bad plot overall but not an "easy" or "relaxing" read.

Tremendous

Have wanted to read Walker Percy for quite a few years and am finally getting to it. Percy was an important writer of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Usually referred to as an important southern writer. The regional reference is an unfair assessment, diminishing his work by relegating it as regionalism. Usually this is done in contrast to "New York writer," which is just as much a regional restriction.

I really enjoyed this book. It was strange; the author made some interesting choices, like calling his narrator "the engineer" all the time, instead of by his name. This was odd, because all the characters called him by his name, but for the first part of the book he doesn't interact with anyone, so you don't learn his name until 50 pages in or so. Odd. (p.s. the narrator shared my surname.) There's a ton of philosophy in here, no surprise from Percy, and overall the story is mostly compelling and the characters are somewhat interesting. The middle sagged for me, though, I found myself drifting off into La La Land while reading. Barrett is a meanderer for the ages, so the plot is, well, meandering, and nothing really seems to have much gravitas. He finds himself with less than a dollar to his name, yet this doesn't bother him, and later in the book he has more money than he knows what to do with, though this doesn't seem to affect him either. And not in a "money isn't important" sort of way. Also, he sometimes seems to be deeply in love with a woman named Kitty, though at times fairly ambivalent toward her. There just seemed to be a lot of nonchalance inherent in the characters, which made me care less about what happened to them. Often I couldn't tell if the narrator was meant to be liked or pitied or if he was just meant to seem pathetic. Anyway, though, the final scene -- in fact the entire last section of the book -- is great. Barrett's doting relationship with Vaught is compelling.

I liked The Moviegoer a lot more than this, but I'll keep reading Percy's stuff. He's a unique writer.

Percy’s characters are too relatable for my comfort.

This was an unusual reading experience for me. I slogged through the book and the story never gripped me. I even considered giving it up about 100 pages in. However, I was always conscious of the undeniable skill of the author and wanted to find out how he ended the story. He had something very tangible to say that was developing in a seemingly disconnected, but very unique way. I may come back and write a review after I mull things over, because this is a remarkable book with a powerful ending. I can't say I enjoyed the book overall, but I was impressed with the way it was put together and have to say, Walker Percy was a very gifted writer indeed.

I am giving this book one star because I did not like it. The beginning was ok... It concerns a young man transplanted from the South living in a YMCA apartment working the night shift in a basement. Perfect - young man stuck in the labrynth. This I can work with. But then he meets some other characters and goes on a road trip down South and the whole book falls apart. It's the South with a capital S - Walker Percy is one of those southern authors you read in college - so of course he tries to make everything symbolic and allegorical. It is just hard to follow and some of the characterizations are really racist. It was written in the 60s but has the racial norms of hundred years earlier. So altogether and fairly pretentious and turgid read.

I abandoned this book at 13% read. It was so boring and self-absorbed, I wasn't prepared to waste another minute of my life trying to read it.

I almost stopped reading the book several times. About 50% through it went a little quicker. I don’t plan to read any more from this author. There were words I had to look up, confusing story lines.

I'm going to be EXTREMELY generous and give a book I couldn't take past page 108 (where the sex scene in Central Park begins, or maybe failed sex scene, I give no shits) two stars. Why? Because the "engineer" is admittedly a very haunting character in certain respects. Life going nowhere because of neurosis and the inability to actually choose a path in life instead of wallowing in potential? God, the man is writing about me. Kind of. I wish I had a plantation and a check every month, however modest.

Unfortunately, the book is

- rife with annoying generalist musings about the nature of life, the South, mental illness, blah, blah, blah;
- populated by characters who all feel flat and artificial and one suspects all have the same palette of mental illnesses;
- clearly going nowhere fast. My brother has a hockey card as a bookmark halfway through the book on the page with a passage that I will loosely quote: "Some days Kitty got a hangnail, and they spent the time looking for bandages and alcohol and nail scissors." Tons to look forward to!

Between Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and now Walker Percy, I am off mid-twentieth-century literary fiction for a while. Life is too damn short to read about meaningless middle class lost souls wandering through life having pointless affairs and dabbling in trifles.

Wow! Just finished this wonderful journey of a book. Barrett is a wonderful surreal character living on the edge of his own life. He holds in his soul the confusion and disorientation that comes from living old in a modern world. Incredible. Percy is a master of both dialogue and the stream of consciousness. This last gentleman is a tragic but enviable character.

For those living in the South, or familiar with this strange place facing the Gulf, Percy's references will truly hit home. The author is a master of his native domain. Looking forward to the sequel.

Percy has a clever sense of humor and turn of phrase. The fact that he was the one responsible for getting John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces published made a lot of sense after reading The Last Gentleman, as Toole’s style seems to be a more raw and unrefined version of Percy’s.

As far as The Last Gentleman in particular goes, I was quite impressed with how Percy weaved interesting themes (such as Will Barrett’s search for identity) into a very entertaining and humorous story, with the last portion of the novel being particularly impactful.