Malcolm Lowry was a writer I wanted to read for a long time, and I was curious about him. The most popular book of this charismatic author, who committed suicide at the age of forty-eight, is on almost every must-read list. And that is Under the Volcano. However, if you do not enjoy the stream of consciousness method, I would say that you should approach the book a little more cautiously.
Under the Volcano can be a lovely and exhausting book at the same time. Mexico, the Day of the Dead Festival, a former “Consul”, the relationship that his wife tried to save, and the alcohol that consumes people slowly. So the book created in my mind by the words I have listed one after another is so delicious that I started the book with great pleasure from the very beginning.
But Malcolm Lowry’s style can be very tiring. I can also say that I was pushing myself to be able to follow the references made by a drunk person and not deviate from the main subject. However, despite all this, I was glad I’d read it. The end was terrific! Malcolm Lowry, who also wrote his gravestone, is a must-read if you don’t hate the stream of consciousness method intensely. Enjoy!
Malcolm Lowry
Late of the Bowery
Share Prose Was Flowery
And often flowery
He lived, nightly, and drank, daily,
And died playing the ukulele.
Under the Volcano
It is the fiesta ‘Day of the Dead’ in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac. In the shadow of the volcano, ragged children beg coins to buy skulls made of chocolate, ugly pariah dogs roam the streets and Geoffrey Firmin – ex-consul, ex-husband, an alcoholic and a ruined man – is living out the last day of his life.
Drowning himself in mescal while his former wife and half-brother look on, powerless to help him, the consul has become an enduring tragic figure. As the day wears on, it becomes apparent that Geoffrey must die. It is his only escape from a world he cannot understand. His story, the image of one man’s agonised journey towards Calvary, became a prophetic book for a whole generation.
Malcolm Lowry
Clarence Malcolm Lowry was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel Under the Volcano, which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
