The Second Coming

What is wrong with Will Barrett? He is depressed and his golf game is off kilter. He has a sort of falling down sickness and that theme pervades this tale of revelation and change in the life of this widower who has become a somewhat different person than the young seeker whose story was told in The Last Gentleman.

In this, his fifth novel, Walker Percy once again surveys the themes of alienation, from self and from God, and dissatisfaction with the commercialism of modern American life. This book, while filled with realistic details about life in North Carolina in the 1980s, is able to speak to twenty-first century readers with its existential approach to life's problems. Many of the people Will encounters, and there are some memorable show more side characters like a chaplain whose belief is somewhat doubtful, remind me of the mediocre Christians who provided fodder for the commentaries of thinkers like Kierkegaard. We find Percy asking the important question whether people may be missing their own lives while going through the motions like shopping or wasting away on the local golf course.

At the center of the novel Will has an epiphany of sort that leads him to a fall that becomes a catalyst for a new life - a new relationship both for him and for a young woman named Allison who has her own psychological baggage. It was somewhat ironic, however, that Will's fall was due in part to his hubristic demand that he would commit suicide if God did not reveal himself. And even more ironic was that this demand led Will closer to being present for his own life than ever before.

Best of all is the way that Percy packages the story - in two parts that fit together so well that this may be his best novelistic effort. It certainly rivals the brilliance of his premiere effort of The Moviegoer. As a reader I was thankful that he returned to Will Barrett and found a way to tell a story of second chances and new love wrapped in an elegant package. The existence of god in the life of Will Barrett is brought home in a more thorough way here than in The Last Gentleman. I found it a transformation made possible by a reasonable belief. show less

"The Second Coming" is a fine read, which isn't at all surprising, as it was written by Walker Percy. But I'm not quite convinced that it's a wholly successful novel. It's less focused than either "The Moviegoer" and "Love in the Ruins" -- the other of Percy novels that I've read -- and while it has many strengths, I'm not sure that it states its thesis all that clearly or sets out to do what it intends to do.

It concerns Will Barrett -- a former lawyer, newly minted widower, extremely rich man, and unlikely spiritual seeker. Will finds himself suddenly haunted by half-forgotten memories, afflicted with mysterious fainting spells, and enamored of an eccentric young lady. While "The Second Coming" successfully extends the existentialist show more themes that are present in Percy's other novels, it's sure to frustrate those people who don't like to think of literature as something that comfortable people do when they find themselves unhappy. The book, though beautifully written, is a bit of a slog in places, and shares that disorienting quality that most books that have mentally ill protagonist at their center tend to have. As in all of the Percy I've read, religion plays a large role, but while the author's observations are sharp, Will's spiritual quest seems a bit more like the ravings of a madman than any sort of productive soul-searching.

But it's these observations, in the end, that make "The Second Coming" interesting. Percy seemed to have an almost preternatural ability to see societal change in America as it unfolded and to sense where Americans, as a society, were headed. Even though this was published in 1979, it's a sharp portrait of the New South, even as Will himself attempts to flee from the nostalgia, hatred, and pride that defined the literary Old South. It also senses the rise of a new, more self-centered kind of Christianity in America and the country's coming fascination with big money and success, which would more or less define the cultural climate of the next decade. Percy's perceptiveness also extends to his characters. He's never so obvious as to describe his characters straight on, but the details he does provide seem well-chosen and telling, and tell us more about his characters than any photograph or interview would. Percy might have been one of American literature's great observers. While "The Second Coming" seems confused and bogged-down in places, it's still a successful novel in many other respects. Recommended to Walker Percy's many fans. show less

The Second Coming is a deeply spiritual book, though not a religious one, and I believe its writer, Walker Percy, wrote it to draw exactly that distinction. I think Percy would have said that faith is essential, in fact innate, in humanity, but that we have buried our impulse to truly know and understand it so deep that we mostly founder, like a lost ship, throughout our lives.

His main character, Will Barrett, has everything material a man could want. He has had a satisfying marriage, although he has recently lost his wife, and he has a daughter that he barely understands, and whose idea of a connection to God is an over-zealous religiosity. He is, in fact, a man involved in a soul search. He is looking for God, for some proof of God, show more for some meaning in a world of evil and indifference, and a definition of moral purpose. He seems to recognize in his fellow Christians that there are more of those who “join” because being a Christian furthers their contacts or gets them into the right golf game, than those who actually embrace the presence of a higher power. There are a lot of church-goers but really very few Christians in Will Barrett's world. In fact, if these people are Christians, they would inspire in us all the hope to never be one.

What Will does to determine whether he should believe or not is devise a sort of challenge to God himself.

“my death, if it occurs, shall occur not by my own hand but by the hand of God. Or rather the handlessness or inaction of God.”

Even in this, I think the reader is allowed to choose. Does Will receive his answer? Does God speak? You really have to read the book and decide for yourself. What we tend to forget, as human beings, is that faith is by definition believing without proof. If you can see it, touch it, know it, no faith is required. Thomas needed to see the wounds in Christ’s body to believe in His resurrection. Thomas may have been a believer, but he lacked faith.

There is much that is cynical and depressing in this story. One could make a very good case for the two main characters being off their rockers. Different is not always worse, sometimes it is just different, and that is how I see Allie and Will, both of whom seem to have better perception than their sane but greedy families and friends. What I also loved about the book is that, while in the beginning there seems to be nothing but desperation, in the end, there is hope.

This is an eminently quotable book. I marked dozens of passages, including one that is a direct reference to Matthew Arnold’s poem [b:Dover Beach|19413202|Dover Beach|Matthew Arnold|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386920640l/19413202._SX50_.jpg|53255806] (the second time in a week that that poem has been brought to my attention while reading another work. I do not believe in coincidence, so I have to call that serendipity.)

Percy is said to have a great deal in common with Flannery O’Conner, but it was Graham Greene who kept springing to my mind. Both Percy and Greene are Catholics struggling with their faith, and while they take different roads, I think they arrive at the same destination. I am now anxious to go back in time and read Percy’s earlier work about Will Barrett, [b:The Last Gentleman|84903|The Last Gentleman|Walker Percy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312014658l/84903._SY75_.jpg|2403417]. show less

"Shortly afterward, he became even more depressed. People seemed more farcical than ever. More than once he shook his head and, smiling ironically, said to himself: This is not for me."

There's an improbable romance in this featuring my least favorite stock character, ie, the zany girl that changes your life and teaches you to love again, but I like this book so much I'll let it pass.

Walker Percy is a celebrated Southern author which I have always been ashamed to have not read. This was my first of his novels and it made me wonder if I had waded in at the wrong end of the pool. This is a novel about mental illness, love, suicidal tendencies, and ultimately God (though it gets there by a circuitous route). The main character, a wealthy widower, has a medical condition (un-diagnosed) which causes him to fall down on the golf course. When he does, he starts remembering details from his past. This includes his father's suicide and his failed attempt to take Will with him.

This puts him in psychological turmoil, and his mind slips. He enters into a wager with God, where he goes down into a cave, expecting to die there show more unless God proves himself, somehow. A toothache causes him to wander deeper into the cave and he falls into Allie's Greenhouse. Allie is a recent escapee from a mental hospital and the daughter of one of his friends.

Like Allie, Will spends much of the novel with the people in his life trying to maneuver him. Eventually Will wakes from the slumber of life to forge a new life together with Allie.

The title 'the second coming' refers both to Will's rebirth toward the end of the novel and to the return of Christ. When Will is at his most delusional, he wonders if 'the Jews' are a sign (and these are convoluted ramblings). However the second coming is not just symptomatic of madness, it also bears hope.

Most of the religious characters in this novel are sophisticated, affluent Episcopalians. Percy does not paint them in the most favorable light. show less

I give this 5 stars and more. It is a book I started and should have finished my senior year of college, yet I understand it infinitely more now. I'll go so far as to say it is a favorite, a book I could read over and over with new appreciation each time.
Perry's writing has a depth and beauty I have never found in another book. Large sections are highlighted and starred in my copy. it is difficult to get into Percy at first, but once you're in, impossible to get away. This book is part critique on modern society, part philosophical journey, and part love story. In all parts, it challenges and enriches the reader. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a unique yet remarkable and thoughtful novel. I can't wait to read more from Percy.

My favorite Walker Percy novel. Been through it three times. It's deep, moving, funny, and short. Everything I need. I mostly loved the characters. Wanted to give both of them a big hug.