Book # 2 THE GRADUATE By: Charles Webb

We all know The Graduate primarily because of the 1967 Mike Nichols film and Simon and Garfunkel's iconic words: "Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson...". Charles Webb's novel was published in 1963, just two years after he graduated from Williams College. The book was a critical and commercial success, but as of late is considered to have been heavily eclipsed by the massive success of the film.

The premise of the book is naturally the same as the film. Benjamin Braddock recently graduated from college with honors and opportunity, but floats mentally adrift following graduation, leading to his affair with a friend of his parents: Mrs. Robinson. Naturally things get a bit dicey upon falling in love with her daughter, Elaine.

One of the most interesting things about the book is that it is written with no inner-monologue of any character. The book is about 80% dialogue-driven and while the author makes it clear how the characters are often feeling it's because of his stark description of their action as opposed to their thoughts.

Another thing about The Graduate as a novel vs. a film is the relationship between Benjamin and his parents. In the book this relationship is flushed out for multiple chapters before Ben even begins his affair with Mrs. Robinson. It is through this relationship that you can see the seemingly ungrateful youth that Mr. and Mrs. Braddock see in their son and the tension of the early sixties where parents didn't seem to understand their children wanting anything other than what their parents brought them up to want.

There are quite a few things that were omitted from the film that I found unfortunate as they added to the overall richness of the story.

In the film, we only really got to know Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson (and to a degree, Elaine). In the book, Benjamin's parents are full-bodied characters as is Mr. Robinson, who I actually found to be one of the most interesting characters in the book.

With The Graduate's sizzling plot and spot on dialogue, Charles Webb really did make the jobs of Calder Willingham, Buck Henry, and Mike Nichols much easier to turn The Graduate into a movie. But while the iconic film has clearly stood the test of time, I found the story's original origin to be far superior.

Grade: B