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The Mayfield Trilogy #3
The Promise of Rest
In this stunning and fully independent conclusion to A Great Circle, Reynolds Price tells the complex, moving story of a man's return home to die of AIDS and of the unexpected effect that his arrival -- and his death -- has on his family.Wade Mayfield's parents are separated, but for the remaining months of his life they and their friends come together to care for Wade with the love they can muster. They are unprepared, however, for the astonishing mystery Wade has prepared to reveal once he is gone -- a mystery that initiates the possible reunion of his parents and promises to continue the proud traditions of a complex, multiracial family.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1995
8 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Reynolds Price
193 books119 followersReynolds 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 6, 2020
There is so much pain and regret in this book that it’s almost impossible to read it for more than an hour at a time. A disintegrating marriage, an estranged son dying of complications due to AIDS—sorrow and suffering of every kind, and every which way you turn. And mystery, too, and not the good kind, but the kind that carves like a chisel. Price withholds the heart of his characters, as, indeed, he must, and as a result, presents the reader with fully formed, living, and breathing characters shaped and tormented by pain that cannot be explained or ameliorated, just like the people we live among.
May 26, 2012
Ever read some writers and wonder why you didn't discover their pleasures sooner? Maybe I wasn't ready to appreciate Price until the appropriate time in my life he would resonate and connect with significant meaning. This one is a keeper, a final volume in a trilogy begun nearly forty years ago, later collected in omnibus as "A Great Circle".
Extremely moving account of a family coming to terms with a loved one's death to AIDS. Price belongs to the grand tradition of Southern writers exploring the weight of Civil War history on the South, decimating a culture where racism and miscegenation thrived, fusing black and white families into a distinctly American melting pot seeking present day reparation for ancestral wrongs - all hidden behind gentile formality. Price adds a new dimension to Southern letters, depicting sexuality's primordial nature as a consummate or destructive dynamo, burning and tempering those seeking companionship. Gay and straight labels are unnecessary and limiting. Love, sexuality's ideal, transforms those willingly risking to receive and give it without reservation; a generational tie binding race and sex together in unexpected, redemptive ways.
Story told from point of view of Hutchins Mayfield, English professor and famous poet. whose gay thirty-three year old son, Wade, is dying of AIDS well before his prime. Wade's wish is to have his remains cremated and ashes scattered on a makeshift stream created by his one hundred year old kinsman, Grainger, a tough, no-nonsense survivor and bearer of Mayfield family history. Hutchins, usually well-versed in teaching and writing poetry, is at a loss for words while grieving over his dying son and seeing his estranged wife - who left him years earlier - now coming back in a bittersweet reunion to see her son make final pilgrimage to the great beyond, of which Price writes a beatific scene, not out of place, given the novel's realism. Hutchins has had his share of loss before; in a burnt-out love affair with a man in his youth and in a broken marriage and is anxious his dying son may not forgive his life of emotionally distancing himself from family and former lovers. He's a poet with dried-up inspiration, unable to siphon rhymes and meter from an emotional reservoir drained by a life of disappointment and regrets. Wade faces death with dignity, grace, and eyes wide open - despite being blind - offering Hutchins bittersweet absolution for past grievances, unapologetic for his sexuality, leaving a surprising legacy that captures, in full circle, a multi-generation of two families - one black, the other white - gaining solace that their lives will carry on with all the pain, thwarted love, and forbearance their ancestors had.
No easy read for anyone presently grieving; its sadness is very palpable. However, Price offers consolation in the hope that familial love need never be in vain, especially when freely offered without conditions and received without self-abnegation.
Price is true master of the novel when he ends this book symbolically full circle in a simple heirloom and in Hutchins finally finding words once more to write a poem in memory of his dead son. Price, himself an English professor and poet, must have been familiar enough with John Donne to observe that "Death be not proud ... ."
Extremely moving account of a family coming to terms with a loved one's death to AIDS. Price belongs to the grand tradition of Southern writers exploring the weight of Civil War history on the South, decimating a culture where racism and miscegenation thrived, fusing black and white families into a distinctly American melting pot seeking present day reparation for ancestral wrongs - all hidden behind gentile formality. Price adds a new dimension to Southern letters, depicting sexuality's primordial nature as a consummate or destructive dynamo, burning and tempering those seeking companionship. Gay and straight labels are unnecessary and limiting. Love, sexuality's ideal, transforms those willingly risking to receive and give it without reservation; a generational tie binding race and sex together in unexpected, redemptive ways.
Story told from point of view of Hutchins Mayfield, English professor and famous poet. whose gay thirty-three year old son, Wade, is dying of AIDS well before his prime. Wade's wish is to have his remains cremated and ashes scattered on a makeshift stream created by his one hundred year old kinsman, Grainger, a tough, no-nonsense survivor and bearer of Mayfield family history. Hutchins, usually well-versed in teaching and writing poetry, is at a loss for words while grieving over his dying son and seeing his estranged wife - who left him years earlier - now coming back in a bittersweet reunion to see her son make final pilgrimage to the great beyond, of which Price writes a beatific scene, not out of place, given the novel's realism. Hutchins has had his share of loss before; in a burnt-out love affair with a man in his youth and in a broken marriage and is anxious his dying son may not forgive his life of emotionally distancing himself from family and former lovers. He's a poet with dried-up inspiration, unable to siphon rhymes and meter from an emotional reservoir drained by a life of disappointment and regrets. Wade faces death with dignity, grace, and eyes wide open - despite being blind - offering Hutchins bittersweet absolution for past grievances, unapologetic for his sexuality, leaving a surprising legacy that captures, in full circle, a multi-generation of two families - one black, the other white - gaining solace that their lives will carry on with all the pain, thwarted love, and forbearance their ancestors had.
No easy read for anyone presently grieving; its sadness is very palpable. However, Price offers consolation in the hope that familial love need never be in vain, especially when freely offered without conditions and received without self-abnegation.
Price is true master of the novel when he ends this book symbolically full circle in a simple heirloom and in Hutchins finally finding words once more to write a poem in memory of his dead son. Price, himself an English professor and poet, must have been familiar enough with John Donne to observe that "Death be not proud ... ."
May 1, 2011
I realized after the fact that this was the final book in a trilogy, and I had not read the first two books. This made the book seem lacking. There were gay and racial themes, but I found the characters to be unsympathetic
July 14, 2022
Price has created what, at times, seems like a tedious novel. And frankly, in one sense it is. A young man suffering a slow death, from AIDS, is both tedious and yet breathlessly fleeting. Millions of lovers and family members (those who didn’t shrink from caring) in life have experienced the same tedium that Price creates here, and yet once you begin the journey of Wade’s slow demise, you don’t want to leave him behind. Even though this story is over twenty-five years old, it seems transcendent, timeless. Wade’s mother and father who’ve separated. His lover (in the parlance of that era). Wyatt, who kills himself. Wyatt’s sister, Ivory, her quiet yet affirming love for Wade. All of Wade’s aunts and uncles. Secrets! Oh, my, this novel is loaded with secrets, none of which I shall divulge, but all of them are woven together to create a narrative marking an era that has never really ended—merely shunted aside.
January 20, 2025
Reading other reviewers and their responses to the themes and voices in this book, I realize I’m maybe its ideal audience. It hits me right in my guilt and biases and longings and hopes for redemption.
Its omniscient point of view, though sometimes flipping characters clumsily from one line to the next, forces the reader to understand the honesty of each character in the moment - or, if not exactly honesty, how they fool even themselves.
The lyrical language pulls me along, but its the love and loss that I’m left with. One of the saddest books that I’ve ever read with pleasure - and with a conclusion that satisfies!
Last: It makes me sad about the lost practice and profundity of real, crafted letter writing. Even if these letters are artifice.
Note: I did not read the others in the series. Yet. Didn’t matter.
Its omniscient point of view, though sometimes flipping characters clumsily from one line to the next, forces the reader to understand the honesty of each character in the moment - or, if not exactly honesty, how they fool even themselves.
The lyrical language pulls me along, but its the love and loss that I’m left with. One of the saddest books that I’ve ever read with pleasure - and with a conclusion that satisfies!
Last: It makes me sad about the lost practice and profundity of real, crafted letter writing. Even if these letters are artifice.
Note: I did not read the others in the series. Yet. Didn’t matter.
April 7, 2025
unfortunately a bit underwhelming compared to the heights of the preceding The Source of Light.
still good, still reynolds price. the dialogue is as electric as ever. characters maybe aren't as well rendered, the political points are borderline didactic. but a satisfying enough end for the Mayfield saga.
still good, still reynolds price. the dialogue is as electric as ever. characters maybe aren't as well rendered, the political points are borderline didactic. but a satisfying enough end for the Mayfield saga.
December 3, 2017
I didn't finish this, and normally rate books I quit 2 or lower. However, I read 50% and stopped mostly because the topic felt dated - the heart of the AIDS crisis. So I don't blame the book exactly. I probably would've loved it in the 80s/90s.
July 7, 2017
Finished the trilogy, glad I read for the overall 20th century feel, didn't find the characters that appealing overall.
September 3, 2018
Class A writing, as if William Faulkner had penned a novel about the AIDS crisis.
February 4, 2012
Like many others, this was my introduction to Reynolds Price, and as such, I was embarking on a journey that essentially began with the first book of this trilogy 'The Surface of Earth.' It is strongly noted as a paraphrase on the corresponding jackets of each of the corresponding volumes that each book can be read as a 'stand alone' novel. I chose to do this, partly because of the fact that I endured frustrating hardships in trying to locate the two previous volumes, and also to test a theory that I believe that you sometimes develop a sympathy, an endearing patience for characters when you unravel their history in reverse motion.
Reynolds has often been compared to Faulkner. His is a world that is acutely focused on a specific time and place, and rarely does he employ literary tactics that veer from this sharp focus. I for one was glad to be able to focus all of my attention on a very concise and select group of people who, as the story unfolds have been their own progenitors of the happiness and fate that envelops them. Some have said that his characters are not 'likeable' while others point to his near poetic writing style that is richly laden with words, conversations often presented in the form of a letter or actual poem. One should not overlook Price's career as James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University.
A multiracial, multi-generational family torn asunder by the simple act of love is finally brought together [albeit for perhaps only a brief period of time]to witness firsthand the death of an only child. Harrowing and heartbreaking as it is to watch, the novel culminates with another 'act of love' that is meant to offer not only closure, but to give promise to the continuation of a most unique and individual family in modern literature. I am saddened to know that such a powerful voice has been silenced and encourage anyone who should come across any one or all three of the volumes that comprise 'A Great Circle' to take the time to embark upon a wonderous, unforgettable journey!
Reynolds has often been compared to Faulkner. His is a world that is acutely focused on a specific time and place, and rarely does he employ literary tactics that veer from this sharp focus. I for one was glad to be able to focus all of my attention on a very concise and select group of people who, as the story unfolds have been their own progenitors of the happiness and fate that envelops them. Some have said that his characters are not 'likeable' while others point to his near poetic writing style that is richly laden with words, conversations often presented in the form of a letter or actual poem. One should not overlook Price's career as James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University.
A multiracial, multi-generational family torn asunder by the simple act of love is finally brought together [albeit for perhaps only a brief period of time]to witness firsthand the death of an only child. Harrowing and heartbreaking as it is to watch, the novel culminates with another 'act of love' that is meant to offer not only closure, but to give promise to the continuation of a most unique and individual family in modern literature. I am saddened to know that such a powerful voice has been silenced and encourage anyone who should come across any one or all three of the volumes that comprise 'A Great Circle' to take the time to embark upon a wonderous, unforgettable journey!
August 12, 2009
A marvelous book about a father's troubled love for a son who is dying of AIDS. Though it deals with issues of sexuality, race, & class, it never has the cliched feel of political correctness. George Minot says great literature is always about death. I'm never sure I agree & could probably come up with a list of great books that aren't about death. Even this one, which focuses on the young man's dying and adds the imminent death of a 100+-year-old relative for good measure, felt very life-affirming to me. As the narrator, a writing teacher at Duke (like the author) says at one point, LIFE is "the Great Subject." Though the main characters are all religious skeptics of one sort or another, their reflections on God & the ultimate meaning of life have more depth & substance than those of many (most?) Christians. The prose is elegant & moving without being sentimental. I occasionally thought the writer got in the way of the story, but passages of great beauty more than made up for that. My only complaint was the failure to more fully explore the character of the narrator's wife (the dying boy's mother) and their complicated relationship.
August 30, 2011
Of the three books in this series, this one best fits the bill of being a stand-alone story with a solid and poignant tale to tell. As part of a series, it is probably the weakest at bringing in the previous storyline, but it does not suffer in the last bit because of that. Reading this story did a great service in assauging my disappointments in the content of the second book-it's amazing how the way a topic is presented can make ALL the difference.
This book is beautiful. The series of three books moved me. If it was a common practice to know our own family histories in this way, I think it would make a huge impact on society.
This book is beautiful. The series of three books moved me. If it was a common practice to know our own family histories in this way, I think it would make a huge impact on society.
September 20, 2014
Price tackles many weighty subjects (father-son relationships, AIDS, death, death of a child, homosexuality, race relations in the South) in this florid novel. His language is beautiful and composed, but as a whole, the novel struck me as very staged and unreal. His characters have no separate voices of their own; their dialogue is all equally unbelievable and stilted, even though eloquent. I couldn't believe in this people as realistic and thus quickly lost interest in them as characters.
April 28, 2008
I found this every bit as engaging as The Source of Light, and I like that Price followed up on some characters I thought were vivid, whose stories are interesting. I also like the topical nature of the third volume of the trilogy, an area in which I've done some volunteering. It's not neat, and it's not pretty, but it's realistic.
December 8, 2008
For anyone who is going thru physical/emotional distress. I cannot say enough about this book! This book is about Price's stuggle with cancer and his eventual paralysis. This book is about hope and faith.
June 27, 2014
Poignant and well told but in 2014 feels outdated. Fortunately fewer gay men are struggling with whether they are going to hell nowadays. Some stylistic quirks (no moment is left alone; it's always a long moment or slow moment or extended moment) got in my way but still a good read.
March 11, 2008
This book was probably better than I rated it, but I guess it just didn't strike that chord with me...
March 13, 2008
Reynolds Price is probably my all-time favorite authour although I haven't read him in awhile.
July 10, 2011
Well written, but full of people I came to dislike. Talented writer and his intelligence is reflected in his characters, but I didn't enjoy the time I spent with this confused family.
July 14, 2012
I have read Price since I first moved to NC - 40+ years ago. It was so interesting and enjoyable to see his NC folks & language & scene dealing with a contemporary issue - HIV.
March 30, 2013
Loved all of Reynolds Price.
April 20, 2016
I was 50 pages into this novel before I realized I'd read it in the mid-90s. It is a beautiful and powerful story. And its Reynolds Price, so the writing is elegant.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews