The Solid Mandala

By: Patrick White

Narrated by: Humphrey Bower

In The Solid Mandala, Patrick White draws a telling and touching portrait of twin brothers.

Waldo is the competent man of reason – he sees himself as the superior intellect. Arthur, accepted as a half-wit, is the innocent, God's fool, loving and outgoing in a blundering way. As they compete with and care for each other through half a century, their lives are inextricably intertwined – the two sides of man's nature forming a totality.

©1966 Patrick White. Originally published by Jonathan Cape 1976. (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'He is more like Dostoevsky than Thomas Mann: his novels are maelstroms of the soul whose power resides in the nightmare detail which assails their protagonists. They testify to the beauty and contortion of the spirit as few others this century have done.' (Sunday Telegraph)

'His most finished and powerful work.' (Sunday Times)

'The theme is interesting ...' (Kirkus Reviews)

Dark. Sad & Dark.

This is the fifth book I've read by Patrick White. There is certainly darkness in all of White's works. But this one I contained moments that I felt to be the most gut wrenching.

I was interested in reading this book because of an old interview I saw of Patrick White on YouTube from the early 1970s when he won the Nobel Prize. The interviewer asked him which one of the books he liked best. He mentioned "The Solid Mandala" along with "The Aunt's Story."

It took me a while to get into "The Solid Mandala." In fact, I almost put it down in frustration. Here is where I must highly praise the performance of Humphrey Bower. His narration brought this book to life. If it was just my own voice in my own head, I likely may have given up on it. But Bower's superb and nuanced dramatization made me start feeling for the scenes and characters. Still, it took me about 170 pages until I was fully hooked.

It is about that part in the book--about half way through the long second chapter "Waldo"--that the central relationship of the novel gets dark. It gets mean. It gets painful and sad to read.

But here is the magic of Patrick White. Here is why I love to read his books. They are all strangely transformative. I enjoy and feel more in my own life having read Patrick White. All of his books have this realistic surrealism in them, which helps me look at my own reality with a little more compassion, slowness and care. I always profit from reading Patrick White's books, including this dark and sad one.