Molloy

March 24, 2025 12:25 PM

Molloy goes on a bicycle tour to visit his mother. There are several distractions. Meanwhile, maybe earlier or maybe later, Moran takes his son on a road trip to visit Molloy. This adventure also does not go as planned. The first of Samuel Beckett's trilogy of novels.

If you are also at that age where you say to yourself "I ought to get around to reading Beckett", this is our "wtf did I just read" commiseration thread.

posted by phooky (3 comments total)

A classic and a personal favorite. I have never been so riveted by an internal monologue about which small stones should go in which pockets. Very few besides Beckett could make that absolutely hilarious.
posted by kyrademon at 9:10 AM on March 25 [2 favorites]

The entire trilogy is brilliant - thanks for this nudge to revisit it.
posted by kickingtheground at 2:27 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]

Something about Beckett that isn't often pointed out (in my experience) is that his roots are in a kind of almost-absurd writing about rural Ireland (but written by a Dubliner), which puts him in a similar category to Flann O'Brien and Father Ted.
posted by Grangousier at 12:29 AM on March 26