Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

My initial reaction to this book was a huge, resounding "WAT".
On one hand, I knew from other sources that it was supposed to be about waiting for God/purpose/the answer to life the universe and everything. On the other hand, I don't know how anyone arrived at that conclusion from what was actually written on the page.

Sorry Calvin, I think this is one of the ones I'm condemned to not understand.

So being a play, this has a writing style that's much harder to criticise than novels. To be honest, the only play that I've ever read that I've LOVED is Cyrano de Bergerac, and I only loved it because Cyrano is SO sassy and SO poetic and SO heroic that nothing else matters. I digress.
There are two people waiting in the play: Estragon and Vladimir. I'm not sure what they are supposed to represent. Maybe two states of waiting: one who is ignorant to the intention and one who is aware? Anyway they both hate it. Then there's these other guys, Pozzo and Lucky, who come in and out, and I have no idea what that's about.

There was one point in the play where Beckett nearly stumbled into lucidity. Here's the bit:

VLADIMIR:

Let's wait and see what he says.

ESTRAGON:

Who?

VLADIMIR:

Godot.

ESTRAGON:

Good idea.

VLADIMIR:

Let's wait till we know exactly how we stand.

ESTRAGON:

On the other hand it might be better to strike the iron before it freezes.

VLADIMIR:

I'm curious to hear what he has to offer. Then we'll take it or leave it.

ESTRAGON:

What exactly did we ask him for?

VLADIMIR:

Were you not there?

ESTRAGON:

I can't have been listening.

VLADIMIR:

Oh . . . Nothing very definite.

ESTRAGON:

A kind of prayer.

VLADIMIR:

Precisely.

ESTRAGON:

A vague supplication.

VLADIMIR:

Exactly.

ESTRAGON:

And what did he reply?

VLADIMIR:

That he'd see.

ESTRAGON:

That he couldn't promise anything.

VLADIMIR:

That he'd have to think it over.

ESTRAGON:

In the quiet of his home.

VLADIMIR:

Consult his family.

ESTRAGON:

His friends.

VLADIMIR:

His agents.

ESTRAGON:

His correspondents.

VLADIMIR:

His books.

ESTRAGON:

His bank account.

VLADIMIR:

Before taking a decision.

ESTRAGON:

It's the normal thing.

VLADIMIR:

Is it not?

ESTRAGON:

I think it is.

VLADIMIR:  

I think so too.

So if this had been the whole play, I would have seen the metaphor with waiting for God et al. at once. But this nonsensical banter goes on and on and then the other guys show up and it's even more impossible to tell what's actually going on. Maybe I need to see it acted, I don't know.

Anyway, I talked it over with some people and I'm not the first person to have struggled with it. The general consensus is that it's so far out in the abstract that it may have cut itself adrift from sense entirely.

Overall, 2/5. Because that's how many of the characters I understood.

Up next: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, which comes highly recommended by both Erika and Jasmine. Thanks! After this one I want something less heavy so I might revisit a G. K. Chesterton or C. S. Lewis favourite.