Wednesday, March 02, 2011
All the King's Men
by Robert Penn Warren
Narrator Jack Burton traces the political career of Willy Stark who goes from country bumpkin to kingpin. The story shows the underbelly of politics and how right and wrong blend together. Willy Stark described his relationship between goodness and badness; "Goodness. Yeah, just plain, simple goodness. Well you can’t inherit that from anybody. You got to make it, Doc. If you want it. And you got to make it out of badness. Badness." Willy Stark, by justifying his badness to make goodness, finds himself too deep to make make the switch back to a moralistic life.
Jack Burton finds himself broken and empty, not lonely empty, but soullessly empty. He uses the phrase, "The Great Twitch", to describe how he sees everything as motivated by some inborn reflex action with nobody responsible for their choices. "The Great Twitch" is like the chicken running around the coop with its head already removed.
I loved this book for is characters, mood, and beautifully written style.
Narrator Jack Burton traces the political career of Willy Stark who goes from country bumpkin to kingpin. The story shows the underbelly of politics and how right and wrong blend together. Willy Stark described his relationship between goodness and badness; "Goodness. Yeah, just plain, simple goodness. Well you can’t inherit that from anybody. You got to make it, Doc. If you want it. And you got to make it out of badness. Badness." Willy Stark, by justifying his badness to make goodness, finds himself too deep to make make the switch back to a moralistic life.
Jack Burton finds himself broken and empty, not lonely empty, but soullessly empty. He uses the phrase, "The Great Twitch", to describe how he sees everything as motivated by some inborn reflex action with nobody responsible for their choices. "The Great Twitch" is like the chicken running around the coop with its head already removed.
I loved this book for is characters, mood, and beautifully written style.
