The Rector of Justin: A Novel (Paperback)

by Louis Auchincloss (Author) "SEPTEMBER 10, 1939. I have always wanted to keep a journal, but whenever I am about to start one, I am dissuaded by the idea..." (more)
Key Phrases: senior prefect, parlor night, sacred studies, Justin Martyr, New York, Duncan Moore (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Louis Auchincloss is one of the best writers alive. He has probed the
American character more boldly and more intelligently than many of his more celebrated contemporaries."
?Susan Cheever -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"Louis Auchincloss is one of the best writers alive. He has probed the American character more boldly and more intelligently than many of his more celebrated contemporaries."
(Susan Cheever )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (July 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618224890
• ISBN-13: 978-0618224890
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #337,823 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Major news:Rector of Jusin newly available!, February 21, 2001

By	David Mallery (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Rector of Justin (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

THE RECTOR OF JUSTIN is for my money the greatest of all"school novels" of the 20th century, and one of the great novels ever. Louis Auchincloss has an extraordinary collectioon of novels and non-fiction, and I hope more and more will appear in Modern Library's editions. Nobody now livng writes with the grace, richness of apirit and wit that Achincloss has, sentence by sentence. You care about hio people, and in all the novels there is a procession of fascinating, articulate characters, vividly alive and engaging,struggling, triumphing, wrestling with the complexities and hopes of their lives.. I must have read this novel ten times by now, across several decades. I have been handing out my own collected copies right and left. Nos it is newly published in a sparkling edition, and it stands with the world 's best fiction where it most certainly belongs.

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A minor modern classic, September 9, 2002

By	David A. Kemp (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're going to read only one novel by the prolific American writer Louis Auchincloss, this is the one to read. It is a minor modern classic and represents Auchincloss's best work during what I regard as his prime period. The Rector of Justin tells the life story, from schoolboy to death at age 85, of Frank Prescott (Dr. Francis Prescott), rector/headmaster/founder of the exclusive New England Episcopalian boys' school Justin Martyr (a famous prep school), by means of six narrators, male and female, whose attitudes toward their subject range from veneration to hatred. It's an effective method of "surrounding" the elusive, somewhat larger-than-life central character, and the book is well written, the right length, and compulsively readable. I first read it when it came out in 1964, have just re-read it, and find that it holds up quite well. Auchincloss's main fault is his glib facility: writing is too easy for him; he was written too much; and too much of it, smoothly ushered in on its cushion of graceful, well-oiled prose, is pallid, thin, brittle, superficial; too much of it is engaging enough while you're reading it, but forgettable, leaving no lasting imprint. This fault is minimized but not absent here. This is not a profound or searching book, but an excellent, enjoyable read, and a fine introduction to a worthwhile if over-productive modern author.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one needs more than five stars!, September 10, 2002

By	Stephen Richmond "Librarian/Teacher/Reader an... (Newton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Rector of Justin (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

Louis Auchincloss is always dead-on in his fine wrought character portraits throughout his prolific oeuvre. Here, in what is likely his finest work, that, along with all his other formidable storytelling gifts, the characterization is at its lofty apex. He also experiments a bit with form, going beyond the usual fictional biography techniques by including pertinent conversations and writings by former students (a brilliant few chapters!), family, and associates. Indeed, there is a certain irony in his biographer's comments late in the book: "But my trouble is precisely that I am not interested in writing a biography. I am interested in inspiring my reader, and I am much at odds with my century in believing that to demonstrate the best by itself is more inspiring than the best with the worst." We get an entirely balanced portrait of a great man of ideas who, joyously, is ultimately as human and full of foibles as the boys he so carefully nurtures. This is awesome, hopeful, faith-inducing, awesomely inspiring and fun read.