Reviews for Second Coming

The average rating for Second Coming based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-08-13 00:00:00 Jeremy Morley Belief Isn't Faith Walker Percy is often referred to as a 'Catholic writer'. Indeed, like G. K. Chesterton, he became a Catholic in adult life, but unlike Chesterton he didn't become a spokesman for the institutional church. I suspect that the underlying reason for Percy's ecclesiological reticence was his fundamental scepticism about the category of 'belief'. Religious faith for Percy is not a solution to a problem of life. And he recognised that belief is not necessarily divinely sourced; it could equally be derived as a rationalisation for one's status in life, let's say as a white, middle-class, privileged player of golf in the pleasant greenery of the North Carolina mountains. It comes as revelatory to such a person that "There are only two classes of people, the believers and the unbelievers. The only difficulty is deciding which is the more feckless." One is reminded of Hegel's nostrum: "You need not have advanced very far in your learning in order to find good reasons for the most evil of things. All the evil deeds in this world since Adam and Eve have been justified with good reasons." Walker's theology therefore is not ultimately grounded in beliefs because beliefs are always suspect. Faith for Percy is inseparable from doubt about belief, in a commitment to a belief in questioning even itself. This is the real mystery of religion, at least of the Christian variety: "If the good news is true, why is not one pleased to hear it? And if the good news is true, why are its public proclaimers such assholes and the proclamation itself such a weary used up thing." So also, in contrast to Chesterton, it is unlikely that there will ever be an institutional movement for Percy's canonisation. Thank God for that.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-30 00:00:00 Scott Thomas 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. ------------- 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!