The Second Coming: A Novel [BARGAIN PRICE] (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The first sign that something had gone wrong manifested itself while he was playing golf..." (more)
Key Phrases: potting room, woman barber, cave air, Will Barrett, Jack Curl, North Carolina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Splendid...a beautifully textured novel...a distinguished work of art.... Walker Percy's perception luminously lights up obscure depths of experience without at the same time explaining that experience away."--The New York Times Book Review

"What a pleasure . . . His best nook since The Moviegoer . . . and among the most admirable American novels of the past few years."--The New Republic

"He is a beguiling, uniquely gifted novelist who deserves to be read in order and in full."--Newsweek
-- Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"Splendid...a beautifully textured novel...a distinguished work of art.... Walker Percy's perception luminously lights up obscure depths of experience without at the same time explaining that experience away."--The New York Times Book Review

"What a pleasure . . . His best nook since The Moviegoer . . . and among the most admirable American novels of the past few years."--The New Republic

"He is a beguiling, uniquely gifted novelist who deserves to be read in order and in full."--Newsweek

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Picador (September 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312243243
• ASIN: B0013V3BJM
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,497,087 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You should read this book, February 14, 2003

By	Grapey (the South) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Coming: A Novel (Paperback)

Do not think of Walker Percy's work as Southern literature. I say this not because it isn't Southern literature, but because hardly anybody seems to understand what Southern literature is. Percy, himself, noted this.
Think of Percy's work as good books that deal with the South, but more importantly with people -- with what it means to be human.
The Second Coming is one of my favorite novels. It deals with the existence of God, the fecklessness of modern life, and any number of other banal, overworked subjects that you might find in any other contemporary novel, but they are enlivened by Percy's malicious wit (he called himself malicious, though his doing so was simply an instance of his peculiar malice, which is not really malice, though its sting is the same). The response to the question of God's existence is a toothache.
Percy writes in a straight-forward, ironic manner, but where normal irony is double-voiced, Percy's is triple-voiced. One must always ask oneself if one is really getting the joke even when one is laughing out loud.
Don't think of Percy as a Southern writer because you can't help but shortchange him when you do so. He presents himself with a Southern drawl, and a casual wit, but behind this is incisive social and psychological commentary, and behind this is yet another layer.
The Second Coming is a fine novel -- a good love story if you can stand the fact that the lovers are a mental patient and a horny widower. Percy tells fine jokes, and tosses you on your rear every other page. This is enough, but it is not all. You can enjoy this novel if you just want to be entertained, but if you are willing to look for it, there is an undertone of malice that isn't malice, and yet deeper, a still, small voice.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If I Could Rate it Higher, I would!!!, February 2, 2004

By	Hugh Pearson (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Second Coming (Mass Market Paperback)

I've long been familiar with the name, Walker Percy, and of his well-known relative who helped settle the Mississippi Delta, and was one of the most powerful and wealthy planters in that region. But it wasn't until I finally picked up "The Moviegoer" to figure out why that book is so well-respected, that I finally understood why Percy was considered such a phenomonal writer by those in the know. His style is PERFECT. His themes -- PERFECT. I have never read a writer I am more enthralled with. And I like "The Second Coming," too. This guy, if anything, is UNDERRATED. He is as profound as Faulkner, but EASY TO UNDERSTAND (my 11th grade English teacher always taught that you can be as profound as you wish, as long as you make your writing understandable to EVERYONE, ranging from an educated king, to the lowliest peasant, which is a policy that I have personally tried to follow as a published author myself). The Second Coming is an excellent story that explores human depths that so many novelists don't even begin to reach. I now intend to read everything I can get my hands on that this outstanding writer ever wrote.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wise and Beautiful, June 22, 2004

By	oddsfish (Winters, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second Coming: A Novel (Paperback)

When I read books, I mark up the text and write in the margins pretty thoroughly, and when I am finished with the book, I go back through and copy down my favorite passages. Usually there is only one or two quotes to write down, but The Second Coming was a different matter. Walker Percy has such extraordinary insights and power with words that passage after passage, with their humor, wisdom, and beauty, pierces straight through me. It took me two hours to copy all of the passages I wanted.

The Second Coming is one of the greatest novels that I have ever read, and that is partly because of the quirky story at its heart. Will Barrett, a rich and successful widower, is trapped in his life, a sort of living death. His big first step begins to happen in the first wonderful episode of the novel when he is playing golf and begins to realize it. "Knowing about what is going to happen is having a chance to escape it. If you don't know about it, it will certainly happen to you." From there, Will begins to try to find how to live his life. The other primary character is Allison, a girl escaped from a mental hospital now trying to find out how to live in a world totally new to her. Together, they embark on a quest to be born again into life.

The Second Coming is one of the greatest novels I have ever read. Percy was trained as a physician, and he took those skills to literature. In The Second Coming, he diagnoses American society and tries to find a cure. There is some real wisdom there and most importantly, some real hope. This is a novel that is vastly underrated and one that should not be missed (along with all of Percy's other novels).