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Rating: 
Summary: Tears for Reynolds Price
Review: I have long admired Reynolds Price. I vividly remember the first time I ever saw him in person--he appeared at the Dock Street Theatre here in Charleston, S.C., as part of this City's annual Spoleto/Piccolo Festival. The theatre was packed as one of America's premier literati read and discussed his work. The only thing better than reading Reynolds Price is listening to him. "Feasting the Heart" is Price's latest literary offering. With this latest work, Price has proven that he is not merely a brilliant writer of novels, short stories, and poetry, but now a master essayist as well. "Feasting the Heart" is truly a literary feast. Here you will find all of Price's commentaries which he did for NPR's "All Things Considered." The range and depth of the topics discussed varies widely, reflecting Price's own engaging intellect and emotional acuity. He discusses capital punishment, revenge, and christian charity in "My Tolerance Problem;" the plight of those with disabilities in "Wheelchair Travel;" and the importance and virtues of great teachers in an essay simply entitled "Teachers." In "Oral History" and "Birthplace" we get a glimpse of that which has made Price what he is today. And, for all of us who always wanted to know, "The Ghost-Writer in the Cellar" cracks the door for us to get a glimmer of Price's own font of creativity. However, my favorite is "The Last Great Weeper." According to Price, this is an appellation given him by some of his friends. Price tells us that his own father wept only once in his presence. It was when Price was a young child and saw his father, moved upon seeing President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938, weep as Roosevelt waved to the crowd while struggling on his leg braces. Price writes, "[f]ather knew that his life had been saved, in the pit of the Depression, by this damaged man;..." Like his father, tears do not come easily to Reynolds Price. However, at the conclusion of the movie "Apollo 13," he tells us tears "streaked [his] face." Price's tears at the conclusion of "Apollo 13," like his father's, were not tears of sadness. They are lacrimae rerum: "the tears of things." They are tears that come when we "see our kind at the highest pitch of skill and luck...those moments when somebody gets something right. Exactly right, the rarest event." As always, Reynolds Price gets it right, exactly right !!!
Rating:
Summary: A book I treasure
Review: I'd read Reynolds Price's autobiographical A Whole New Life a year or so ago. That book, about his long battle with spinal cancer, impressed me with the man's courage, honesty, and depth of insight. When I saw Feasting the Heart, I grabbed it instantly and read most of it the same night. Jacques Maritain said once that truly creative people go deeper and deeper into an inner silence and extract everything the Source there has to give them, until finally their own heart is used up. I thought of Price when I read that. Not many modern writers struggle so hard with their own sense of integrity or go so deep they would ever risk using up their own hearts. Price does, and I always leave his books feeling that I have feasted my own heart. This collection is a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: A book I treasure
Review: I'd read Reynolds Price's autobiographical A Whole New Life a year or so ago. That book, about his long battle with spinal cancer, impressed me with the man's courage, honesty, and depth of insight. When I saw Feasting the Heart, I grabbed it instantly and read most of it the same night. Jacques Maritain said once that truly creative people go deeper and deeper into an inner silence and extract everything the Source there has to give them, until finally their own heart is used up. I thought of Price when I read that. Not many modern writers struggle so hard with their own sense of integrity or go so deep they would ever risk using up their own hearts. Price does, and I always leave his books feeling that I have feasted my own heart. This collection is a treasure.
Rating: 
Summary: Horace, not Homer
Review: I'm really writing this because I have to respond to the reviewer who thinks the title comes from Homer. Reynolds Price wrote and read about the two lines that give the title of this collection. He cites the Latin poet, Horace and says that the English poet, A.E. Houseman translated the poem. It is beautiful but Price writes beautifully also. I like the first novel the best, I think.
Rating:
Summary: Horace, not Homer
Review: I'm really writing this because I have to respond to the reviewer who thinks the title comes from Homer. Reynolds Price wrote and read about the two lines that give the title of this collection. He cites the Latin poet, Horace and says that the English poet, A.E. Houseman translated the poem. It is beautiful but Price writes beautifully also. I like the first novel the best, I think.
Rating:
Summary: Getting It Right.
Review: In "The Last Great Weeper" from this collection of essays Reynolds Price says that he often cries these days when somebody gets something right-- a flawless dive from Greg Louganis and a perfect A above middle C from Leontyne Price. The same could be said of most of these fifty-two commentaries from National Public Radio: he gets it right. Mr. Price has opinions on most subjects and certainly doesn't hesitate to express them. Even when some of his subjects do not particularly interest me, I as always feast on Mr. Price's language. There's something for almost everyone here. I was moved by his essay called "Wheelchair Travel," and also liked "The Great Imagination Heist," where he laments the evils of TV exposure on today's students, and "Private Worship." Mr. Price avoids the typical white church in America today which he describes as "The church as country club" and, like Emily Dickinson, keeps the Sabbath staying at home. Sound familiar?
Rating:
Summary: Getting It Right.
Review: In "The Last Great Weeper" from this collection of essays Reynolds Price says that he often cries these days when somebody gets something right-- a flawless dive from Greg Louganis and a perfect A above middle C from Leontyne Price. The same could be said of most of these fifty-two commentaries from National Public Radio: he gets it right. Mr. Price has opinions on most subjects and certainly doesn't hesitate to express them. Even when some of his subjects do not particularly interest me, I as always feast on Mr. Price's language. There's something for almost everyone here. I was moved by his essay called "Wheelchair Travel," and also liked "The Great Imagination Heist," where he laments the evils of TV exposure on today's students, and "Private Worship." Mr. Price avoids the typical white church in America today which he describes as "The church as country club" and, like Emily Dickinson, keeps the Sabbath staying at home. Sound familiar?
Rating:
Summary: Gemlike
Review: It isn't easy to cover important topics briefly, deeply, and well. Price makes it seem easy. His topics are consistently interesting. You will never check your watch. Somehow he distills the feel and the details of an event, a remembered feeling, place, or thing, and the results are completely satisfying. He is kind, even courtly toward his reader/listener. You sense that he is good at relationships (family and friendship) - and at telling an utterly fresh and original story. In "Wheelchair Travel," a very large topic is explored - in around 600 words. "Father and History" covers a father's effect on his son, again, in brief - but deeply. These short essays are great examples of how to write. In addition, there is a refreshing absence of curmudgeonliness, an attitude which (outside of nature writing) seems to dominate the field of short essay-writing, lately.
Rating:
Summary: feast your heart
Review: Last fall, listening to ATC in my car, Reynolds Price started a commentary about epitaphs. At 70 MPH, I found myself frantically searching for a scrap of paper to record the 2 lines of Homer he quoted. I was hoping , doing that, that I would not need an epitaph before my time. I wrote a form of hierogliphics on the car seat and added the book store to my long list of errands. Alas, it was not to be. Only on-line book stores, not popular mega stores, carry classic translations. I found myself lost in my effort to find a copy of the complete ode. Being a fan, regular listener, and NC native, I knew Mr. Price hailed from NC. I did some sleuthing, and found his e-mail address and spun an e to him inquiring as to where I might find the poem. He did, in fact, respond; and I purchased the translation on Amazon. The 2 lines in question were: Feast then thy heart, for what thy heart has had the fingers of no heir will ever hold. dateline: one year later, in a bookstore in Penn, I espied a new book by Reynolds Price: Feasting the Heart. It was meant to be. Might I say, the whole is even better than the part. Treat yourself. If you are a thinker, you will love it. As Homer was saying: do it, you can't take it with you.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Thin
Review: Reynolds Price is my favorite writer, and while there is nothing wrong with "Feasting the Heart" as far as it goes, it doesn't go far enough. Each essay is interesting, some are very satisfying, but I don't believe the collection is worth a book. A much weightier offering would have coupled these commentaries with the other reviews and essays written by Price since the publication of "A Common Room" in 1987. "Feasting the Heart" is too thin. I much prefer "A Perfect Friend," his first book for children, also recently published. I look forward to Price's next novel, memoir, or play. I know it won't be too thin.
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