Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel [Hardcover]

Peter Pouncey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2005

A brief, lyrical novel with a powerful emotional charge, Rules for Old Men Waiting is about three wars of the twentieth century and an ever-deepening marriage. In a house on the Cape “older than the Republic,” Robert MacIver, a historian who long ago played rugby for Scotland, creates a list of rules by which to live out his last days. The most important rule, to “tell a story to its end,” spurs the old Scot on to invent a strange and gripping tale of men in the trenches of the First World War.

Drawn from a depth of knowledge and imagination, MacIver conjures the implacable, clear-sighted artist Private Callum; the private’s nemesis Sergeant Braddis, with his pincerlike nails; Lieutenant Simon Dodds, who takes on Braddis; and Private Charlie Alston, who is ensnared in this story of inhumanity and betrayal but brings it to a close.

This invented tale of the Great War prompts MacIver’s own memories of his role in World War II and of Vietnam, where his son, David served. Both the stories and the memories alike are lit by the vivid presence of Margaret, his wife. As Hearts and Minds director Peter Davis writes, “Pouncey has wrought an almost inconceivable amount of beauty from pain, loss, and war, and I think he has been able to do this because every page is imbued with the love story at the heart of his astonishing novel.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Begun in 1981, this slender, unpretentious, lyrical and deeply moving novel by the president emeritus of Amherst College was more than two decades in the making. The year is 1987, and octogenarian Robert MacIver is alone, in failing health and debilitated with grief over his wife's recent death, hiding out in the dead of winter in a remote, unheated Cape Cod house "older than the Republic." Shocked into confronting the seriousness of his plight when the timbers of the front porch collapse under his weight, he retreats back inside the house and realizes that he wants to live out his remaining days—however few in number—with dignity. Thus resolved, he formulates his Ten Commandments for Old Men Waiting, the seventh of which is "Work every morning." And so he decides to write a short story about an infantry company in "No Man's Land" in WWI, which will draw on the interviews he conducted with victims of poison gas that he used for his first book, the well-received oral history Voices Through the Smoke. Pouncey's novel thus becomes a story within a novel; and MacIver's story is elegantly juxtaposed with his memories from his own long life. Pouncey's first book is proof that sometimes greatness comes slowly and in small packages. Agent, Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency. (Apr.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

We’d like to think a better-late-than-never literary debut hasn’t garnered this much attention since Ants on the Melon, Virginia Hamilton Adair’s first collection of poetry published at age 87. Pouncey, a classics professor at Columbia University and the retired President of Amherst College, began work on Rules in 1981; at a slim 210 pages, it’s obvious he chose his words carefully. Reviewers generously praise Pouncey’s controlled prose and ripened wisdom. Those who enjoy the book embrace it as a serious-minded antidote to the treacly works of Mitch Albom. The few detractors note that Pouncey falls into traps of many first time novelists: no matter how well it’s written, it’s still a story about a man wandering around an empty house with only memories to incite any drama.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition edition (April 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400063701
• ISBN-13: 978-1400063703
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,205,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating novel about love and war, June 5, 2005

By 

sb-lynn (Santa Barbara, California United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel (Hardcover)

I just read the last line of this book a few minutes ago, and all I can say is that I am quite stunned. I normally finish one book, and pick up another right away, but right now I just want to sit and think about THIS book.

Summary, no spoilers:

80 year old historian Robert MacIver is dying. He is at his old house on the Cape, and he has made a list of "rules" to follow these last weeks of his life. These rules involve such things as maintaining his personal hygiene, and eating a healthy diet. Rule seven is "Work every morning. Nap in afternoon if needed. The companion to this rule is, "Work to consist of telling a story to the end, not just shards, but the whole pot".

Robert begins to write a story, his last story, about a group of soldiers in W.W.I. As he is writing this tale, he reminisces about his life.

In doing so, we meet his beloved wife Margaret, and his son David. And we are taken through 3 wars, W.W.I, W.W.II (where Robert served), and the Vietnam War.

This is a devastating novel.

Although this is a short book (just barely over 200 pages), it is very dense, and it is not a quick read. Perhaps there might even be too much description, as I found myself tempted to skim at times.

Despite any minor quibbles, I found this a wonderful story, with a terrific beginning, AND end. In fact the last page (the last sentence!) left me reeling.

Highly recommended. This book would be an EXCELLENT choice for your book club.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of wit and depth...great with a glass of scotch, April 13, 2005

By 

Owen J. Stearns - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel (Hardcover)

While not an old man waiting myself...not yet, anyway...this book resonated strongly with me, largely because the characters are so compelling you can't wait to see what happens to them. With all these young authors today testing their chops with literary cutenesses (exhibit A - Jonathan Safran Foer's "Everything is Illuminated"), this novel is refreshing in that it is straightforward, yet full of depth and subtlety, particularly as Pouncey weaves together the 3 narratives of the book in the latter half. Clearly the product of a more experienced life, it's surprising that a book that is anchored around the subject of dying is so damn funny at times.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel Worth Waiting For, June 24, 2005

By 

I, Reader (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rules for Old Men Waiting: A Novel (Hardcover)

Peter Pouncey, now president emeritus of Amherst College, has written his first novel -- long in coming, perhaps, but worth the wait. Having just finished Nicole Krauss' pretentious The History of Love, I recognized from Pouncey's first pages that I had wandered into a truly well-rendered piece of writing -- writing of restraint that nevertheless reveals depths, an understanding of human nature that never shows off its virtuosity (eg, see Krauss). Pouncey's main character, the old man MacIver, former Scottish rugby champ and Columbia history prof, is a diminished man -- yet despite the deep empathy one feels for him, it is not solicited. MacIver hasn't "evolved" far from his true nature -- revealed in flashbacks -- but he does understand it and continues to battle with it. The death of his wife has plunged him into a lonely life in their Cape Cod house -- and he fights the decline of his health while attempting to write a story about WWI, his historical area of expertise. This tale of the trenches becomes the story within the story -- but it is in itself an engaging narrative, not a gratuitous attempt to seem Borgesian (eg., see Krauss). The writing has such clarity and thoughtful simplicity that I literally had to catch my breath at some sentences. The narrator, whose manner parallels MacIver's more fluent and considerate aspects, clearly loves his characters. It is a voice of acceptance that refuses to compromise with the general audience's desire for snap-shut happy endings or puerile intimations of mystery in life (eg, see Krauss). A tough novel of tenderness.