The Second Coming

By: Walker Percy

Narrated by: David Hilder

Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Will Barrett of Linwood, North Carolina, is a depressed widower with a peculiar tendency to fall down in strange places. Allison, the girl in the greenhouse, has just escaped from a mental institution and is working hard to make a new life for herself. When their paths cross in a most unusual manner, a relationship begins that will help restore two struggling outcasts to new life.

What follows is by turns touching and zany, tragic and comic, as Will undertakes his own Pascalian wager in search of proof of the existence of God. Leaving his comfortable home atop a pleasant Carolina mountain and descending deep into the bowels of the long-unused Lost Cove cave, he is prepared to wait for a sign - which may, of course, be death. What he is not prepared for is what actually happens.

©1980 Walker Percy (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“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)

“Percy has a rare talent for making his people look and sound as though they were being seen and heard for the first time by anyone.” ( Time)

“He is a beguiling, uniquely gifted novelist who deserves to be read in order and in full.” ( Newsweek)

No Easy Hothouse of Consecration

There is something I love about Walker Percy. I think it is the loveliness of Percy's confrontation and struggle with spiritual belief. His characters are amazing, his prose is lovely. He writes these quirky scenes, in a sometimes peculiar prose, without them seeming fussy or overwrought (an amazing balancing act right there).

Perhaps, I am just drawn to my big Trinity of Catholic Novelists(Greene, O'Connor, Percy). They don't play in an easy hothouse of consecration. They don't write about faith, belief, or redemption as if these topics were easy loads to lift. Percy, to me, meets the Modern man where he is; trapped between light and darkness, between falling and hoisting, between Heaven and Hell. Percy greets the reader and lifts him, slaps him on the ass, and pushes him on his way.

Not as good as remembered

Would you try another book from Walker Percy and/or David Hilder?

As a young adult, I read every Walker Percy book I could find. As a middle-aged man, I can't say that I found the book all that interesting. I found the characters less than believable, the flow of the novel was painful at times and I almost gave up on it several times.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was okay but not worth the time spent on the book.

Would you be willing to try another one of David Hilder’s performances?

I wouldnt rule him out, but I suspect that his performance didn't help my feelings for the book. I thought that his attempts at character voices was weak to say the least.

Was The Second Coming worth the listening time?

It was not worth my listening time. There are so many books that I am trying to find time to read. This one felt like a wasted credit.

Asking for a refund

This is by far the worst book I’ve ever got from the horrible it just goes on and on and on and doesn’t ever make any sense. The narrator uses nice clean clear tones the author used nice big words. The subject matter wanders me Andrews and goes nowhere. I can’t finish it.

Spoiler: Disappointing ending,IMO...

Mr. Percy was a brilliant writer, but I sure wished he maybe could have saved a little more energy and cut back on his issues with religion and tied up a few at the very end of the book. It is like he just quit writing it. I expect Cormac McCarthy books to do this, but not in this case. I doubt I would have listened for almost 13 hours had i known this.

Unbelievably brilliant and timeless.

Will Barrett, is a modern day truth seeker in the lineage of Erasmus and Rembrandt. Thank goodness for him and for Walker Percy.
MLHT

I Wished the Author Would Just Get On With It

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not to most of my friends. This book is kind of an intellectual exercise. Most of my friends would probably not be thrilled by that. Not to insult my friends' intellect, it's just that this book doesn't really have a compelling plot.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

That was it!!! I was expecting a little bit more of a resolution.

Have you listened to any of David Hilder’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not that I'm aware of.

Do you think The Second Coming needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, I can't see where another book would go. It seems like more of a stand-alone story to me. There's not a plot that lends itself to a sequel.

Any additional comments?

This book is well written but I wouldn't call it a truly compelling read. There were few places in the book where I was all that interested in finding out what was going to happen next.

it just...stopped

this was an interesting book. the narrator was not great. but the story was engaging, if strange. my biggest complaint is that it just stopped. nothing concluded, nothing explained. like the author just got tired of writing and quit. very disappointing.

One of my all time favorites

Wonderfully read, deep and meaningful, thought provoking. I cannot recommend highly enough. Go ahead. Do it.

Tried...but no cigar...

I think this is the first time in all my listening that I have ever NOT let an Audible title continue.

Listened through the 2nd chapter...just couldn't continue. Too much prose, mind wanderings, etc.
I'm thankful that I did not waste a credit on this one...

My favorite of Percy's novels

Takeaway: Evidently I am old enough to understand and appreciate mid-life crisis books.

Recently I have decided that I need to read more 20th-century literary fiction. My education missed out on that entire century. And I also have been interested in the Catholic writers that were so popular in the mid to late 20th century.

I didn’t realize when I started (and I don’t think it makes much of a difference) but The Second Coming is follow-up to The Last Gentleman. (I will get back and read that at some point.)

Will Barrett is middle aged, retired early, wealthy, and recently, a widower. This is a classic mid-life crisis book, one that I don’t think I would have appreciated as much as I do now even five years ago.

Allison is a young woman that has recently escaped from a mental hospital. She is schizophrenic, daughter of an old flame of Will’s, fabulously talented, but unable to cope with much of normal life.

Most of the book centers around Will Barrett’s internal drama. He is focused on the meaning of life, whether there is a God (and how God can be proved) and Barrett’s own history. Barrett’s (like Percy) father committed suicide when Will was a teen. Coupled with Barrett’s health problems, which are slowly revealed throughout the book, his thoughts take over his life.

Allison is in many ways a more interesting character. But she is mostly a side-kick. She moves the story along, creates tension and drama for the story, but is not fully explored or allowed to really roam free on her own.

And like my complaints about Flannery O’Connor (and to a lesser extent Cormac McCarthy), this is a book that just ends. I get interested in where the book is going and in the middle of going someplace, it ends. The ending feels like a set-up for a third book in a trilogy that never came.

In spite of my disappointment with the ending, this is a book well worth reading. Percy (in a very mid-late 20th century way) grapples with God. Barrett feels the need to prove his existence and wants God to answer to Barrett for Barrett’s pain. It feels like a modern Job story (calling God to account) without all of the suffering. Barrett has everything. He has as much money as he would like, all the freedom in the world. He has a grown adult daughter who despite being a bit odd, loves him and wants what is best for him.

I think it is actually the abundance that is part of the suffering that Barrett is feeling as a Job character. Another part of the suffering is aging, not necessarily Barrett himself (although he feels his age), but all of the old people around him. (His late wife funded a retirement community that Will still is very involved in.)

I read some other reviews and a lot of people do not like Will Barrett as a character. Or how he treats Allison (there is a romantic interest there.) But I did not find Will an unlikeable character, nor did I think Allison and Will together were bad.

I did want more to the book. I wanted more of Allison, I wanted more at the end of the book and just more. In spite of my desire for more, Percy is a very good writer and I will read more of him.