Analyzing Walker Percy's Another Message In The Bottle

What causes a book to be filed under the bad book category? In Walker Percy's essay, Another Message in the Bottle, he very boldly states that bad books always lie. According to Percy, a book that lies about the human condition, does not fit, and does not give pleasure is a bad book. If bad books always lie, why don't all authors just write about truthful things. Sometimes an author will lie about the human condition because they believe it will make the story more interesting. However, in Percy's eyes, if the book lies about the human condition, the reader will not be able to connect as well as they had hoped when they picked up the book. Although it is true that the reader probably will not connect as well, I do not believe that this one

Percy believes that "a good [book] is like a good table. The parts have to fit; it has to work, that is, sit foursquare and at the right level" (59). Therefore, if a book does not connect directly with itself, the book is definitely a bad book. The last reason a book would be categorized as a bad book is if it does not give pleasure to its reader. However, even if a book does give pleasure, that does not guarantee that the book would be good. Percy states that "even when a bad book gives its own sort of pleasure, either a pastime of diversion and adventurism, or the titillation of voyeurism, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth" (59). Therefore, if a book lies about the human condition and it does not fit together but gives pleasure, the book is definitely still a bad book. In Percy's opinion a book that lies, does not make sense, and does not give pleasure is a bad book. I do believe that this is correct, but Percy says that bad books always lie. This, however, is not always true. I believe that in most ways he is correct and that his essay is a good description on what categorizes a book as a bad