Noble Norfleet

by Reynolds Price

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743204182
• ISBN13: 9780743204187
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

You Can Go Home Again

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.

You Can Go Home Again

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.