This book was made into a much more famous movie. Apparently it made $100m at the box office, but poor old Charles Webb who was 24 at the time had sold the rights for just $20,000. Apparently (according to Wikipedia) he felt the movie took away from his status as a serious artist, so he was ‘glad’ it worked out that way. You need to tell yourself what you need to tell yourself I guess.
In any case, it’s a great little novel, and I’m surprised that its original reviews were not good. It tells the story of Benjamin Braddock, who comes back from university to his parent’s home in the suburbs with a good degree and everything in front of him; the only hitch is he doesn’t want everything. Or indeed anything. He doesn’t care about traditional success, but then he can’t seem to find anything else he does care about (even ‘travelling,’ which he briefly tries). Then he is seduced into an affair with the wife of his father’s business partner, Mrs Robinson. This at least arouses his interest (among other things) but then very unfortunately he meets her daughter who he falls in love with. YIKES.
I won’t tell you how it all works out, but I will tell you this daughter is only like 22 and has had 3 marriage proposals! People did not waste time in the 1960s. Based on how that worked out for Mrs Robinson, who had to drop out of university to get married because she got pregnant, this is not the smartest move. Better to do what we do today, date for like 10 years and then change your mind at the last minute in the hopes of finding someone ‘better’