13
Oct
2009
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
This is an epic, character-driven, beautifully-written, philosophical, sad, political, morally-ambiguous, expertly-foreshadowed, thematic,hard to get immersed in, dramatic, ironic, difficult, sweeping book.
I both highly recommend it and did not love it.
It’s one of those books that is worth reading, but for me at least, it took a really long time. The language was so beautiful, so thoughtful, that it detracted from the story and it was hard to sit down and read for long. The narrator, Jack, will go on for pages about the nature of childhood friendship or the way the weather reminds him of this that and the other right in the middle of story, tearing you away from the action until it’s hard to really care about what is going on any more.
But my God, it is so beautiful. And the characters are so well-developed, it makes it worth the effort.
The story is loosely based on–or perhaps inspired by would be better–Governoor/Senator Huey P. Long from Louisiana. The protagonist here is named Willie Stark, who came out of virtually nowhere and overcame his own naivety to become Governor (of what state it is never clear).
The theme of the book–on of the themes, as there are a lot of them–is whether or not the ends justify the means. Is it O.K. to play dirty politics, to bribe and blackmail, if it is for the greater good, to build a hospital that is free for anyone in a state with a great deal of poor people?
Willie believes that there is no good that does not come out of bad. But force of personality and conviction may not be enough to keep him safe.
One of may favorite paragraphs that I think really sums up one of the most important themes comes at the end of Chapter 5, that the past is always there, and that every action has an unknowable consequence:
“So I had it after all the months. For nothing is lost, nothing is ever lost. There is always the clue, the canceled check, the smear of lipstick, the footprint in the canna bed, the condom on the park path, the twitch in the old wound, the baby shoes dipped in bronze, the taint in the blood stream. And all times are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out of the shadow their eyes implore us.”
Buy All the King’s Men on Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Dangerous Friend by Ward Just
Echo House by Ward Just
Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics by Joe Klein
The Gay Place by Billy Lee Brammer
Deliverance James Dickey
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
Wag the Dog: A Novel by Larry Beinhart
Democracy: An American Novel by Henry Adams
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Huey Long T. Harry Williams
Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long by Richard White
The Cass Mastern Material: The Core Of Robert Penn Warren’s all The King’s Men by James A. Perkins
Other works by Robert Penn Warren:
You, Emperors, and Others: Poems 1957-1960.
Rumor Verified: POEMS
Incarnations Poems 1966 – 1968
Brother to Dragons: A Tale in Verse and Voices
Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back
A Place to Come to
World Enough and Time
At Heaven’s Gate
Democracy and Poetry
The Legacy of the Civil War
Remember the Alamo!
John Brown: The Making of a Martyr
Who Speaks for the Negro?
Blackberry Winter: My Earlier Years
Flood: A Romance of Our Time
Wilderness: A Tale Of The Civil War
Band of Angels
Night Rider
The Cave
The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren
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I’m slowly (VERY slowly) making my way though the Pulitzer winners, so I’ll get to this at some point. I’ll make sure to pick a time when I can devote a lot of time and my full attention to it, though. It sounds like a demanding book, but well worth the effort.
Well that is an interesting assessment and recommendation I must say. I loved reading your thoughts and don’t know quite what to think about attempting it for myself! : )
When you said it’s so beautiful, that did it. I’m reading this. I don’t care much for plot when the writing is that good.
I had to read this in high school and honestly don’t remember anything about it. But I hung on to it and probably should re-read it.
I should really read it. I know I should! I’m from Louisiana and all – but I don’t know, I’ve always been too intimidated to start. One of these days…
I read this book several years ago, and I completely agree with your review. I feel like I gained something by reading it, but will never pick the book up again. I was told by a classmate of mine that the reading became easier when accompanied with a glass of bourbon. In recollection, I think I would agree.
Sounds like a wonderful book that I just don’t have to time or emotional energy to invest in. Thanks for the great review.
I loved this book, too!
Yup Yup Yup. I feel the same way. I read this one last year (or two years ago?) and boy was it tough for me to get through (was supposed to read it in college and didn’t…). My thoughts in short: “So, did I like the book? I did like it. I didn’t love it. The language Warren uses throughout the book is at the same time beautiful and tedious.” Man, even reading through your review (and mind) again makes me want to pick it up again. How sick is that?