The Reivers in Never too Late to Read Classics

Oct 31, 2023 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-purchase, american-classics, pulitzer-prize-winners, 20th-century-literature, southern-lit, classics, humor, coming-of-age, literary-fiction, adventure

A reiver is a plunderer, a raider, a thief. Lucius Priest is only an eleven year old boy, not well acquainted with the world beyond his home, but he is lured by his much older cousin, Boon Hogganbeck, to steal his grandfather’s automobile and take an adventurous trip from Mississippi to Memphis, Tenn. They are joined by a stow-away black man, Ned McCaslin, also a blood relative.

What ensues is Faulkner at his most unlikely. The novel is hilarious, rollicking fun. The adventures are missteps and e ...more

29 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2015 Chrissie rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2015-read, hf, classics, returned, life-stages, usa, race, audible-us, southern, kids

I am annoyed - a bad end to a bad book. I wrote a review and somehow lost it before saving it! Here follows a second try.

Wordy, confusing and boring. Those are the three adjectives I would use to describe this book. Simplistic too.

My biggest complaint is the wordiness. Was Faulkner taking part in a contest to see who could come up with the most synonyms for each word? Someone should count how many times "or" is found in this book. Faulkner begins with an oblique statement, and then it is repea ...more

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Feb 23, 2021 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pulitzer, classics, american-lit, funny

The Reivers is the most humorous of Faulkner's books that I have read. The moments of loss and injury are less tragic and marked more by folly. But it is also still identifiable as one of his books, beautifully illustrating life in the deep south, exploring familial relationships and the effects of class. I loved this book almost as much as I did As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury.

This is the story of an ill-advised road trip in a car that was borrowed/stolen. It is charmingly told by onl ...more

3 likes · Like · see review