The Promise of Rest

This is the third volume of a trilogy that includes THE SOURCE OF LIGHT and THE SURFACE OF EARTH. The time is now 30+ years after the ending of the second volume. Hutch, a college professor of English and a man somewhat stingy with his emotions, must confront the death of his son, Wade, from AIDS. Wyatt, his son's black lover, visits Hutch, a man he despises, and Hutch begins to understand the power of Wade's love and emotional giving. The novel ends with a not-so-successful visit by Hutch to the northern slum in NYC where Wyatt's family resides. Price's writing power is in full flow, especially his uniquely brilliant use of figures of speech. It's a sad and poignant novel (though one that contains hope and promise, too), all about forgiveness and understanding and redemption, and it's one of Price's very best books.

Ignore the one-star types. This is a moving and oftentimes painful book. Just be open to what you read and do not come equipt with preconceptions about how to write. Price writes an often elegant prose with subtlety and depth. Too bad for those unable to appreciate this work.

I simply can say enough how much I loved this book. I am an avid reader, reading approximately 2 books a month and this was my all time favorite. It was incrediably touching to witness the relationship between father and son. I cried at the end because I was so sad the book ended. Because this is the holiday season and people are always swaping ideas for presents, this is the first suggestion I make.

It was a great pleasure to (re)discover Reynolds Price in this book. I had put him aside many, many years ago when I read A Long and Happy Life and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. My loss, it seems. I must now revisit the many books he has published over the last few decades because having read The Promise of Rest, I am sure I have missed a lot that is worthwhile.This book, about an aging southern poet/professor who brings his only son, suffering from AIDS, back from New York to die at home, is a beautifully written and touching portrait of the characters involved. But more, it is in many ways the typical 'Southern' novel, where the tragic outcome and any hope of redemption are all bound up with family history, race, sex, friendship, the 'wages of sin' and the weight of history. There is a sensibility at work here, as in Peter Taylor's work, that seems, in its particular experession, uniquely southern but manages to be, in its effect upon the reader, universal. This is a very moving book. The only problem I experienced in reading it was a slight twitch whenever the main character would speak of his own early same sex experiences. In these scenes, the language Price put into the protagonist's mouth seemed artifical and strained, and the euphemisms chosen to refer to body parts and sexual activity were so strange that even a Victorian would have laughed at them. Nevertheless, the story engaged the reader from the beginning and despite the inevitability of the outcome, maintained a strong emotional hold. I was deeply moved by this book, which, like the best of southern writing, left me questioning much in my own life and times.

I am reading the Great Circle novels backwards -- which may be an advantage! I found reading Price's language like eating rich food. There is no speed-reading this author! You want to savour every sentence, every beautifully wrought phrase and expression. He reminds me painfully of my own southern roots, and makes me mourn for the loss in my transplanted soul of what seems to be a particularly southern appreciation for the beauty and majesty of our American language.And it is simply a good read! I found it difficult to put down. And there were times when I had to put it down, overwhelmed as I often was by a scene, or a speech, or a description. Reynolds Price is a treasure!