Literary Fiction · LightAn eleven-year-old boy, a stolen car and a racehorse
The Reivers
A boy goes to Memphis in his grandfather's borrowed car and ends up in a horse race
Boon Hogganbeck, a family friend, takes Lucius Priest's grandfather's car without asking, and eleven-year-old Lucius goes along with Boon and Ned McCaslin on a trip to Memphis. The journey draws him into a scheme involving a racehorse and a race in a nearby town.
More about this book
Who
Lucius Priest, an eleven-year-old boy; Boon Hogganbeck, a family friend; Ned McCaslin, a stable worker and cousin; and Lucius's grandfather, Boss Priest.
World
Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, in the early twentieth century, with a trip to Memphis and the nearby town of Parsham.
What makes it different
It was Faulkner's last novel, published a month before his death, and it is written in a lighthearted, straightforward style. It won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was made into a film with Steve McQueen.
Feel
Comic and brisk, closer to a tall tale than to Faulkner's dense novels.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
It was Faulkner's last novel, published a month before his death, and it is likely the Golden Book of Yoknapatawpha County that he had said he would write to close his career.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The ReiversWikipedia