I have to confess something from the getgo: though I thought the movie was fine and dandy, I hated the book. Hated, loathed, despised it. Why? Because Benjamin Braddock was a whiny slacker who didn’t want to take responsibility for anything and then essentially annoyed Elaine into finally accepting him. How was this supposed to be a good novel? But of course, no one asked me, and it was very sad to hear that the author, Charles Webb, had been in extremely dire straits of late – and that he’d obtained a flat fee for the rights to the book and never saw a penny of the profits from the movie.
So now word comes in via the BBC that Webb has sold the rights to a sequel to Random House (presumably, UK, no word on whether a US house has anted up to publish) that will be released in June 2007. The Times had initially reported that Webb was initially reluctant to negotiate a publishing deal for this new book, but now that he’s gone ahead, it’s believed the new book will bring back Mrs. Robinson in some form or another.
And maybe, just maybe, Mr. Braddock will actually behave like a real man. But I kind of doubt it.