The Rector of Justin: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A minor modern classic
Review: If you're going to read only one novel by the prolific American writer Louis Auchincloss, this is the one to read. It is a minor modern classic and represents Auchincloss's best work during what I regard as his prime period. The Rector of Justin tells the life story, from schoolboy to death at age 85, of Frank Prescott (Dr. Francis Prescott), rector/headmaster/founder of the exclusive New England Episcopalian boys' school Justin Martyr (a famous prep school), by means of six narrators, male and female, whose attitudes toward their subject range from veneration to hatred. It's an effective method of "surrounding" the elusive, somewhat larger-than-life central character, and the book is well written, the right length, and compulsively readable. I first read it when it came out in 1964, have just re-read it, and find that it holds up quite well. Auchincloss's main fault is his glib facility: writing is too easy for him; he was written too much; and too much of it, smoothly ushered in on its cushion of graceful, well-oiled prose, is pallid, thin, brittle, superficial; too much of it is engaging enough while you're reading it, but forgettable, leaving no lasting imprint. This fault is minimized but not absent here. This is not a profound or searching book, but an excellent, enjoyable read, and a fine introduction to a worthwhile if over-productive modern author.

Rating:
Summary: This one needs more than five stars!
Review: Louis Auchincloss is always dead-on in his fine wrought character portraits throughout his prolific oeuvre. Here, in what is likely his finest work, that, along with all his other formidable storytelling gifts, the characterization is at its lofty apex. He also experiments a bit with form, going beyond the usual fictional biography techniques by including pertinent conversations and writings by former students (a brilliant few chapters!), family, and associates. Indeed, there is a certain irony in his biographer's comments late in the book: "But my trouble is precisely that I am not interested in writing a biography. I am interested in inspiring my reader, and I am much at odds with my century in believing that to demonstrate the best by itself is more inspiring than the best with the worst." We get an entirely balanced portrait of a great man of ideas who, joyously, is ultimately as human and full of foibles as the boys he so carefully nurtures. This is awesome, hopeful, faith-inducing, awesomely inspiring and fun read.

Rating:
Summary: what is a Christian gentleman?
Review: This book surprised me by having a lot of substance. This multiple-narrator novel provides a shifting portrait of a fictional New England Episcopal boarding school headmaster - a legend in his time. It's like a Tom Brown's School Days for early 20th century New England, from the point of view of the headmaster. There is no TGI whatsoever, but the book provides an interesting contrast to the English Public School novel. Among its questions: what does it mean to be a church school? How should we educate boys into men, and what is a man? Ultimately, it examines the uneasy tension between the idealistic, fervently faithful (and rather Puritanical) founder and the materialistic boys, parents, and board that make up the school.