Second Coming Book

My first buddy-read with our beloved Kirk... the first blossom of an incredible friendship with an extraordinary soul. Rest well, darling boy. We carry Janice and the boys in our hearts and love you still.
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Knowing a little bit about the actual life and history of the author made this book extremely interesting. The two primary characters each have a psychiatric condition that makes their interactions with those around them dissatisfying and odd. As yin to yang, though, Will and Allie are somewhat opposite in their most obvious symptoms yet each accepts the other with no judgment. To keep others surprised, Ill refrain from listing these characters' peculiarities and will also spare you a "book report" - there is some unexpected action here and there you will want to happen upon yourself.

The author Walker Percy trained to be a physician as a young man - some say he wanted to be a psychiatrist - but contracted TB from a cadaver he was performing an autopsy upon in med school. His resulting illness side-tracked him from his medical studies, and he spent some time recovering in a sanatorium.

He tried writing for a living, but was not overly successful and took to living off the inheritance his wealthy adoptive father/second cousin left him (who was a lawyer named Will - just like this main character!). Percy studied philosophy, and when you embrace his work, the reader can see the influence of those studies. There are also nuggets relating to time confined to a sanatorium, the angst of a wealthy but "unsuccessful" man, and someone whose father committed suicide when he was a pre-teen.

Percy may have taken a long time to get over that suicide, but he broke the chain of the "death-gene" that his character Will fights. About two years after his father's death, Percy's mother was killed in a car accident. In one piece I read, it was said that Percy suspected his mother faked the accident to take her own life as well. Surely, the loss of one's parents by any means will impact a teenager, and adding the topics of depression or suicidal ideation to his characters rings extraordinarily true.

Funny, there is erratic word use in the novel such as the repeated use of the word "farcical" in just a handful of the first pages. That had me scratching my head until I read further. The dialogue from the character Allie is very stilted and extremely odd. She is recovering from electro shock therapy, and as time goes on her wording improves throughout the book. What I came to understand is that these grammatical errors lent authenticity to the characters, even when used in second-person format, and do not reflect on Percy's ability.

He uses symbolism in the leaves of trees, in extinct sabertooth tigers, and reflects regularly on signs - but these techniques aren't blunt or obvious. His words about choosing life over death are blatant, but the subtlety in his technique is smooth.

I have GOT to read the "prequel" to this soon and am entirely thrilled to have enjoyed this as a buddy read with Kirk. Best invitation I ever accepted!