The Unnamable (The Trilogy #3)

This book is a long and disjointed monologue of some (unnamable) being, trying to determine what it/he really is. He is sometimes waiting to die, sometimes waiting to be born, always struggling with facts, sensations and language itself in the search of himself. Definitely not for everybody, but extremely funny in its way, and well worth the effort in my opinion. But the narration here is simply astounding. Sean Barrett brings this incredibly difficult, almost inaccessible work to life in a way I never imagined possible. The same also goes for his work on \”Molloy\” and \”Malone Dies\”, but this book is truly the hardest of the three, and Mr. Barrett reads it perfectly.

These books were so full of mad sanity it can be difficult to stay \”on the bycycle.\” Malloy was the easiest for me; he is so hysterically original. But they become more serious as they move along; the characters voices assuming a more bitter maturity. Beckett is a world class poet and I\’m out of my depth without larger insights than my own to follow but I loved the adventure and will enjoy listening to them repeatedly for years to come.

I regret not reading the first two books in the trilogy first (Molloy and Malone Dies). This book clearly pushes the limits of what can be said without reference to other people or things. Well, he does talk about other things but the effect is of being isolated outside of time and place; of being stuck without any external stimuli to respond to for all eternity. Hell. Probably. Unless it isn\’t. But there I go again. Absurdist seems like too frivolous a name for this genre, but I believe that is the usual classification. Whether the two prior books would have made this any more meaningful, they would at least have given a little context for this character. Read on its own, it is so unrelentingly bleak, it makes Waiting for Godot seem like a walk in the park. Back to the limits of what can be said without plot or character, Beckett is the master of this sort of thing. Just when you think there\’s nothing more to be said, and you\’re thinking you can\’t take any more of it, he manages to milk one more topic for his amorphous protagonist to rant about. But he knows when to stop. I can\’t say I was sorry when it was over, but I can\’t say I didn\’t appreciate this strange intellectual exercise either. I think there is a certain appropriateness in listening to this as opposed to reading it on paper. The protagonist is stuck listening to his own thoughts in real time. A similar phenomenon afflicts the brave listener willing to take on this audiobook. Good luck.

The narration is impeccable. Each clause considered and rendered brilliantly. Reverential, at the very least, perhaps even done with love.

What do you read, my lord? Words, words, words. The Unnamable is words. Read (or hear) them. Let them break the silence. For a time.

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