The Good Priest's Son

by Reynolds Price

Flying home to New York after a much needed getaway abroad, private art conservator Mabry Kincaid learns that his downtown loft has been devastated by the World Trade Center attacks. Unable to resume his normal life, he flies south to North Carolina to visit his aged father, a widowed Episcopal priest who is cared for by live-in nurse Audrey Thornton and her grown son, Marcus. During his stay -- with help from his cantankerous father, Audrey, Marcus, and an alluring old flame named Gwyn -- Mabry is compelled to explore his tormented relationship with his father and a world he fondly remembers but has long since abandoned. Back in New York a week later, Mabry faces his old life, which lies in ruins before his eyes. There, he must once again confront change and uncertainty -- and a daunting disease that may prove fatal.

In an elegantly crafted and profoundly moving novel, Reynolds Price follows one man's wrenching journey to come to terms with two familiar worlds that have been radically altered.

Genres: Fiction, Literature

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2005

About the author

Reynolds Price was born in Macon, North Carolina in 1933. Educated at Duke University and, as a Rhodes Scholar, at Merton College, Oxford University. He taught at Duke since 1958 and was James B. Duke Professor of English.

His first short stories, and many later ones, are published in his Collected Stories. A Long and Happy Life was published in 1962 and won the William Faulkner Award for a best first novel. Kate Vaiden was published in 1986 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Good Priest's Son in 2005 was his fourteenth novel. Among his thirty-seven volumes are further collections of fiction, poetry, plays, essays, and translations. Price was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his work has been translated into seventeen languages.

Photo courtesy of Reynolds Price's author page on Amazon.com

Reviews

[Howard]

I don't know why I have never read any of Reynolds Price's work before, but I wish that I had selected one of his many other books to be the first. I made it half-way through this one, but I don't wish to go any farther.

[Marne Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was almost done reading this book before I took the time to turn it over and read the blurbs on the back cover. Much to my surprise, the first one is from Harper Lee. She calls this novel "A major work from one of our greatest novelists." I believe that Miss Lee was right on both those points, and yet, fifteen years later, this book is scarcely known and has only 29 reviews here. It's hard to understand why some books don't get the attention they deserve, but I would say this one is definitely worth seeking out.

I haven't read that many September 11th novels, but, of those I have, this is the one that most reminded me of my own reactions to that tragedy. The main character, Mabry, was on a plane back to New York from France that morning, so he got his information secondhand after the fact, without benefit of seeing it unfold on television. He spends most of the novel trying to piece together exactly what happened, which, because I was at work in a place with no televisions or radios that morning, is exactly what I found myself doing in the following days. So this is definitely a September 11th novel, but not the melodramatic kind. Instead, the faraway tragedy serves as an excuse for Mabry to visit his octogenarian father in North Carolina and mend fences with him.

While reading the sections that take place in North Carolina, I was often reminded of the work of Kent Haruf. As I've often noted in my reviews of his works, Haruf has a very accurate way of rendering the subtle speech of Plains people, which is often difficult for outsiders to grasp. I assume that Price is similarly accurate with the speech patterns of the Carolinian characters here, because I felt that the emotional implications of the things they said were often just outside my perception. One character would say something seemingly innocuous and another character would be highly offended, but I wasn't always able to figure out why. I love this specificity in Haruf, so I feel I must respect it in Price as well, even though it often made me feel like I was on the outside looking in. Still, he's good enough at setting the scene that I was never totally at sea with what was going on, only slightly bemused by an unexpected reaction.

I'm glad I picked this book up at the library, and I hope my review helps more people discover Reynolds Price. I definitely will be reading more of his work in the future.

[Don Siegrist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly typical tale of a former Southerner returning to his boyhood home and facing up to people and issues he left behind. But it is well written and entertaining. Just nothing particularily unique about it.
The story takes place during the weeks just after 9/11 and it's interesting to hear the lamentations about "the world is changed forever" and "our lives will never be the same". From our vantage point 20+ years hence we can see this was simply not true. People make these sort of pronouncements each time a crisis emerges and they are almost always proved wrong. The Chicken Little Syndrome. Humans are resilient and can usually just get on with things.
An OK book

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed reading regional novels set in the Raleigh, North Carolina area ever since we lived there from 1976-1991. Reynolds Price was a leader in that movement. This novel, written in 2003, was a timely read for me as it was set in the few days and weeks after 9/11/01 and I was reading it exactly eight years later. The characters are flawed but sympathetic. Reynolds Price was a Christian teaching literature at Duke. This book has themes of faith and doubt and love in families, both traditional and non-traditional.

[Nicole Northrup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reynolds Price is such a giftedwriter. His characters, and descriptive language pull you in,and allow you to feel that sense of place and web of complex relationships that is uniquely Southern. I highly recommend this novel. Since I am moving directly into Roxanna Slade, you will hear about that novel soon.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book. I can hear it being read by Reynolds Price in my mind’s heart. The dialogue read like my father’s family from rural North Carolina born in late 1800’s. A haunting, lyrical novel. Will reread.

[Mandy Chilcote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read; thankful for the recommendation from my online reading group; rich characters; real-life, familial issues and conflicts; written in beautiful prose

[Bob Peru · Rating 5 out of 5]

i probably should not have read this as it all hits very close to home but the writing carried me away.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this author. He discusses real-life situations with progression but without unnecessary solutions.

[Cher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a unique and great story. If you feel too overwhelmed with 9-11 stories, don't let that play into your decision to read this book as it is almost coincidental in relation to the story. Basically it plays a role only in that the main character, Mabry Kincaid, a fifty yr old art conservator, can't get to his NY home after the attacks so instead goes to his childhood home to visit his father. Also, there is another minor role in that Mabry also gets to spend time with his semi-estranged grown daughter when he does make his way home through the chaotic after mass of 9/11. Oh, and one more issue is the fact that one of Mabry's clients appears to have died in the attacks and Mabry is in possession of a painting he aquired for the client. (Ok, so it plays a role in the story, but the story is not truly about the events of Sept. 11th!)

The main story is about Mabry's life and his relationships with those in his life: his father, his adult daughter, his late wife, an old buddy he has all but forgotten from his home town, an old flame and the relationships with his father's caretakers. There are of course other story lines such as Mabry's health, the story of the painting he went to Italy to retrieve and the whole story of Audrey Thornton, an African-American caretaker to Mabry's father. (Honestly, I never really did get the significance, if any, of any past connection between Mabry's family and Audrey's.) I'm not a big fan of stories about infidelity but I feel the subject in this story is written in such a way that it is not overtly accepted as just something that happens but deals with the real life consequences and emotions involved even years and years later.

If you forget that this story is obviously set in 2001, the "Old South charm" and conversation and racial inferences can almost make you feel this story was set in the 1950s.

An easy to read, well developed story that I recommend.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange book. It was immediately off-putting due to the highly "mannered" prose, maybe for lack of a better word. It was almost like it was written by someone who'd locked himself away for decades, perfecting his craft but eschewing any actual interaction with the real world. Not that Price comes off as naive here, and far be it for me to criticize him in any way anyway, but anyway, the prose kept me from truly believing most of the book. The troubled protagonist is supposed to be a womanizer, but he reads as a refined goodie-goodie who calls his dad "Pa" and bristles when people use the word "mom" instead of "mother." The young black character vacillates vocally from street to Harvard scholar and so completely read false to me. But in general, yeah, the mannerisms of the prose just sort of bothered me, the dialogue is stuff, etc. We get strange minutiae that don't matter—what a character was supposed to have for dinner the night he died, etc. Price throws in a dab of backstory to make a single, unimportant detail work—our protagonist used to work nights in a mental hospital, so he knew that crazy people often looked beautiful. Never again does this nights-in-a-mental-hospital detail come up again. Irritating.

Also, there's a LOT to take in here—protag loses his NYC loft on 9/11, his father is dying, he maybe has MS, and he's estranged from his daughter. Oh, and his wife has just passed away, which he's tormented about since he cheated on her 130 times. But then the daughter stuff turns out to be nothing—she's super sweet to him, as if Price felt he deserved a bone. And it all turns out to be fairly boring. I raced through to the end of this one, and really just didn't care. Probably not the best intro to Reynolds Price.

[Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Help me answer some questions that I have from the book:

What is the relationship between Audrey and Tasker and Mabry? Are they related? I started to think that Tasker might be her father (or grandfather, not sure) ...from the references made to him having relations with a few church members; Audrey's saying that her mother had to raise her in Washington DC as it would have been painful to stay in Wells; and Audrey's unexplained devotion to Tasker. And if this isn't the case, then how to explain Audrey's connection to the family? it has to be more than Cooter, at least I believe that it must.

Now my review of the book is that i did enjoy it, but that although i live in Charlotte, NC and have done for over 26 years, i didn't grow up in the South and have difficulty relating to the social and racial mores and the kind of wandering prose in some "southern" books, i.e., Faulkner, Pat Conroy, Thomas Wolfe. A friend of mine highly recommended this book and Reynolds Price in general, so i will read some of his other novels to see if I can tap into what my friend finds so compelling.

[Rasma Haidri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Purple prose, tell not show, to say the characters are wooden would be to give them too much dimension - cardboard. I am glad for all those who loved this book, and I wish I had. I really, really want to like Reynolds Price's writing. So far a few short stories and his memoir are fairly engaging, but this book has people I don't care about talking about the the same things, that I also don't care about, over and over, in ways that fail - utterly - to convince me of their authenticity. Furthermore, the characters don't seem to care about these things either. The book manages to make even Vincent Van Gogh uninteresting. The most memorable character is an oddball art dealer in Raleigh who appears for about 3 sentences, but manages to have some distinguishing characteristics.

I love Southern prose and I want to love this - but Reynolds fails to write good enough sentences to make his story believable. It is totally in his head, the idea of a story, not a story. I have turned to Flannery O'Connor as an antidote.

[Chip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its a "John Updike returns home to his William Faulkner roots in North Carolina" kind of book. Lots of southern almost-cliche', gothic race-drama and a little dispassionate sex. There's a plot tie in with Van Gogh that was interesting. Overall, there isn't anything here that makes me want to run out and find another Reynolds Price book. I suppose the 9/11 opening had me thinking that this book would be dealing somehow in a meaningful way with the soul-searching this country went through in the weeks following 9/11. Instead, the entire story seems to be cobbled onto 9/11 after the fact and would have been much stronger if 9/11 had been left out of the plot entirely. I haven't yet found the quintessential 9/11 novel and there may never be one, but if you're going to make 9/11 part of the plot you can't dance around it, you have to deal with it.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, like other books by Price, one of my favorite authors, displays a keen sense of place in both North Carolina & New York City and a keen sense of intergenerational family dynamics--and religious faith and doubt. The story is set in the wake of 9/11/2001--it takes place beginning on that day & over the two succeeding weeks. The primary characters--well, all of them actually--are certain that life will never be the same in the wake of the events of that day. And yet it is clear--if subtle--that the private tragedies & triumphs of the day-to-day lives of these characters far outweigh in practical significance the consequences of 9/11--even for some of them who are directly affected by the "larger" events.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to see if there is any correlation between his writing and that of Virginia Woolf's. They are both interested in the interior lives of their characters and have lovely descriptive passages. Since Reynolds Price will be moderating the postponed discussion of To the Lighthouse, thought it a good idea to read one of his books again. I am puzzled as to what this book was about. Love, friendship that leads to responsibility for others, southern pride of place? Why is every interaction of characters connected to their sexual histories or potential coupling?

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book very much even though the subject matter was heavy. It centers on the relationship between an older Episcopalian priest in the South and his son who are estranged from each other and the story continues until the father's death. I enjoyed the quirky characters and Price's wonderful writing style. Loved the mystery of the rescued painting from Italy that may cover a famous artist's work and the visit to New York City shortly after 9-11--I felt as iI were transported there. Recommended!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning that the Father in this case is not a catholic priests but a former episcopalian sets your mind at rest about the tack this story might take. It's not so much about the father but about the son's life as he wrestles with the probability of MS shortening his life (if the diagnosis is confirmed) as he has contacts with not only his father but other people that have been important in his life. Reynolds is a first rate writer. I recommend this book highly.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book by Reynolds Price more than the first two I've read. Very real, human story set in the immediately post 9/11 period both in Manhattan and North Carolina.

Price is terrific at expressing real feelings and relationships in a manner that draws you in and makes you feel part of the story.

Back to the library to see which of his other books they have.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact I finished this book before it was due back at the library means I must have liked it, as that is rare. And I did. I picked it up because I recently read Reynolds Price's autobiography A Whole New Life, which describes his battle with cancer, so I was curious to read one of his novels. I'll look for more of them. It's a sad story, in a way, but somehow not depressing.

[Debbie Maskus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realize that many consider Reynolds Price to be a good writer. He has wonderful themes, but his style of writing goes nowhere. I felt I was reading a lifeless textbook. The sentences are long and the reader loses momentum, as well as knowledge of the story line. The main character did not inspire any strong emotion other than relief that the book was finished.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unexpected and interesting plot, an Art Conservator finds his apartment uninhabitable in New York after 9/11 attack. He goes home to North Carolina to see his aged father and discovers how far apart they have become. This is a character driven plot with good story telling. Price has won the National Book Critics Circle Award

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reynolds Price writes the most amazing dialogue. Normally, I think that not allowing your characters to speak like actual people is an unforgivable sin, but the way these characters talk has forced me to rethink that position.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that writers can be superb and awful in the same book...no big news. Price creates good characters and gives them the most banal dialogue in the history of American literature. His themes are interesting and then flip into pedestrian. Sorry, Ren, Ole Boy.

[Doug Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly good novel, with a few things to say about life.
Unfortunately for me, it was written by and for my parents' generation. Much of what this book has to say is targeted specifically at them.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm still not sure what the author was trying to tell in this story. Not one I'd recommend any time soon.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

probably more like a 4.5...this novel was so mysterious and ambiguous...like life can sometimes be. It really made me think about all kinds of relationships...

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could read Reynolds Price's grocery list and be enthralled! This story is about the tension between a son, an art conservator, and his father, an episcopal priest

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A post-9/11 family drama, my two favorite things (nope).

Update: nothing happens, even better.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for book group. I must be missing something as I see many other rated it highly. Discussion is tomorrow, so we'll see.