- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Simon and Schuster; Reprint edition (24 Jun 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743204182
- ISBN-13: 978-0743204187
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.4 x 1.7 cm
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Product Description
Product Description
Having given voice in previous novels to the extraordinary Kate Vaiden, Blue Calhoun, and Roxanna Slade, Reynolds Price -- one of America's most respected men of letters -- adds Noble Norfleet to his gallery of compelling portraits. A few days before Noble Norfleet's eighteenth birthday, his family suffers a violent catastrophe. The sole survivor, Noble throws himself into a reckless affair with his Spanish teacher, whose husband is fighting in Vietnam. When Noble graduates, he enlists as well and, while serving as an army medic, experiences a mysterious vision that seems tied to uncanny events in his recent past. Not until thirty years later -- after a life short on friends and troubled by a compulsion to worship women's bodies -- is Noble challenged to rethink the decades-old mystery of his family tragedy. Faced with an ominous choice, Noble finally comes to accept an enormous duty he's long tried to ignore. Soon, perhaps for the first time, his future seems hopeful.
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8 reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Noble Norfleet
28 Jun 2002
Format:Hardcover
I bought the novel the first day it was available. I had completed it within several days. The story interested me. I do not think that, as a novel, this is one of the most satisfying stories that Reynolds Price has told. However, as someone who has read everything that Mr. Price has written (fiction and non-fiction), I was very happy to have a new piece of work to read and analyze. There are components that follow familiar patterns. Most of the story takes place in North Carolina. There are assorted acknowledgements to family histories and race relations through passing decades. Contents of meals are described. While there are no characters named Raven, "raven" is used to describe hair color throughout. Being aware of Mr. Price's interest, expertise and writings related to religion and religious texts, it is amusing to see characters relaying facts or opinions about religion. Those who found Roxanna Slade an interesting character because of her battles with chronic depression will probably want to read this novel because depression and ways of dealing with depression continue to be explored. In "Roxanna" there are references to education and entertainment via television viewing. In "Noble" sceen viewing is more related to film/video viewing of pornography. Same-sex and cross-sex couplings appear in the novel and readers will find themselves reading more explicit descriptions of sexual encounters than have appeared in some of the previous novels.
Some will find this book depressing---or perhaps too ordinarily human. This was not a problem for me. I am a big Anita Brookner fan and do not have an issue with small stories about ordinary, flawed human beings who live troubled and sometimes lonely lives. While this "read" like a Reynold's Price novel it reminded me of an Anita Brookner tale. It is not very optimistic; parts are sad, but it seems quite real.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
You Can Go Home Again
29 Jun 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Another famous North Carolina writer was wrong. You can go home again, at least if you are Noble Norfleet, Reynolds Price's latest character. While there is a lot to like about this wondrously complex novel, the African American characters seemed to be too perfect. I understand tha race is often an issue in American novels, particularly those written by Southerners. I also know that many black Southerners and white Southerners have always been friends and care about each other. Noble Nofleet says, however: "No black person had ever lied to me or done me the least unkindness I could think of." Perhaps this is a true statement made by a seventeen year old boy, but Noble says similar things all through this novel. I find that statement difficult to believe. Also, at first I was taken aback by the explicit sex in this novel, certainly explicit if we compare this novel to Price's earllier writing. But would I have made that criticism of, say, John Updike or Norman Mailer. Certainly not. So Mr. Price can describe sex in any fashion he chooses. These are just minor complaints about what is as good a story as Mr. Price ever told. Noble is like many of Price's previous male characters. They are ordinary, quiet people who will never made the newspapers. They pretty much live within the law; but they are decent beyond measure. No one else writes about these types of men with the empathy that Mr. Price does. Noble ultimately does the right thing-- by his mother, by Hesta, by practically everyone he encounters. For all his imperfections, he does become what his name implies, noble. He is in the tradition of many fictional characters, going back as far as Odysseus, who are trying to get back home.
A teller of wonderful tales, Mr. Price has few peers when it comes to writing prose.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
You Can Go Home Again
29 Jun 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Another famous North Carolina writer was wrong. You can go home again, at least if you are Noble Norleet, Reynolds Price's latest character in this quite wonderful novel. Before I list the things I liked about the book, what disturbed me most is that the African-American characters are perfect. I understand that race is often an issue in American novels, particularly those written by Southerners. I also know that many black Southerners and white Southerners have always been friends and care about each other. Noble Norfleet says, however: "No black person had ever lied to me or done me the least unkindness I could think of." Perhaps this is a true statement from a boy of seventeen, but Noble says similar things all through this novel. These statements are difficult to believe. Also, at first I was taken aback by the explicit sex in this novel, certainly explicit if we compare this novel to Price's earlier writings. But would I have made that criticism of, say, John Updike or Norman Mailer? Certainly not. So Mr. Price can describe sex in any fashion he chooses. These are just minor complaints about what is as good a story as Mr. Price ever told.
Noble is in the tradition of many of Price's male characters. They are ordinary, quiet people who will never make the newspapers. They pretty much live within the law but are decent beyond measure. Noble ultimately does the right thing-- by his mother, by Hesta, by practically everyone he encounters. For all his imperfections he does become what his name implies, noble. He is in the tradition of many fictional characters, going back as far as Odysseus, who are trying to get back home.
Reynolds Price is a wonderful teller of tales. You won't be able to put this book down once you get started. There is not a dull page here. Events take many twists and turns. Even though Noble may be ordinary, many awful things happen to him. But isn't that true of the lives of many people who have lived to be over 50 in the late Twentieth Century?
There are so many things I liked about Noble: for example, his attitude toward organized religion-- I suspect he is speaking for the author here when he describes ministers during the Civil Rights and Vietnam era-- ". . . almost none of them stepped out and said what Jesus would have said about rights for black people or about the filthy war." Then there's Noble's comments about physicians: "Doctors, if you'll notice, mostly call themselves Doctor. They'll walk in a room where a scared patient's waiting; and instead of saying, 'hey, I'm Jonathan Daniel,' they'll almost invariably say 'I'm Doctor Daniel'-- just in case the white coat isn't magic-badge enough." I particularly liked Noble on frozen vegetables: "Why does any live human ever buy frozen vegetables, I ask myuself every time I eat a mouthful: why not eat wet newspaper instead?"
No contemporary writes better prose than Mr. Price. May he live long and write much more.
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