Declare Appertaining To Books Wheat that Springeth Green
| Title | : | Wheat that Springeth Green |
| Author | : | J.F. Powers |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
| Published | : | May 31st 2000 by NYRB Classics (first published 1988) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Literature. The United States Of America. Historical. Historical Fiction. Novels |
J.F. Powers
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 3.85 | 233 Users | 46 Reviews
Narrative To Books Wheat that Springeth Green
Wheat That Springeth Green, J. F. Powers's beautifully realized final work, is a comic foray into the commercialized wilderness of modern American life. Its hero, Joe Hackett, is a high school track star who sets out to be a saint. But seminary life and priestly apprenticeship soon damp his ardor, and by the time he has been given a parish of his own he has traded in his hair shirt for the consolations of baseball and beer. Meanwhile Joe's higher-ups are pressing for an increase in profits from the collection plate, suburban Inglenook's biggest business wants to launch its new line of missiles with a blessing, and not all that far away, in Vietnam, a war is going on. Joe wants to duck and cover, but in the end, almost in spite of himself, he is condemned to do something right.J. F. Powers was a virtuoso of the American language with a perfect ear for the telling cliché and an unfailing eye for the kitsch that clutters up our lives. This funny and very moving novel about the making and remaking of a priest is one of his finest achievements.
Particularize Books Concering Wheat that Springeth Green
| Original Title: | Wheat That Springeth Green |
| ISBN: | 0940322242 (ISBN13: 9780940322240) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Minnesota(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (1988), National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (1988) |
Rating Appertaining To Books Wheat that Springeth Green
Ratings: 3.85 From 233 Users | 46 ReviewsColumn Appertaining To Books Wheat that Springeth Green
Absolutely loved this, as I did Morte D'Urban and Powers's collected stories. So wry and funny and smart and subtle.This is an oddball book. Towards the end I pressed on the Kindle screen to go the next page and discovered it had finished. Just like that. But that was only one of its oddities. It's less of a story than a series of chapters over the forty-plus years of Joe Hackett's life, from his appearance as a toddler at an adult's party, where he's seen as cute, to his unexpected isolation - once again -when he's moved from a parish where he's been working with a curate (a man he's had to work hard to get
Funny, wonderful book. Powers is amazing.
Not many books can straddle laugh out-loud funny and painfully sad at the same time. Wheat that Springeth Green follows the life of Fr. Joe Hackett from childhood, through seminary, early priesthood to late middle age and disillusionment. It is also eccentrically droll; I found myself rereading each section to pick up even most of the subtleties. It would take a couple more careful reads to get them all. The book is packed with clever detail, ironic and poignant. Sadly this is one of those books
Updike once said that a reviewer must never judge a book harshly for not doing what its author never set out to do. I had to keep this in the forefront of my mind as I read about the priestly formation and ministry of Father Joe.As a priest myself, I found it interesting that Powers entirely neglects what every priest actually does most of his week: administer the sacraments, counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, and visit the sick. These things are more or less inescapable in the life of
"Religion," she said, crossing her legs so he could see her garters but not very well in the dark. "It's like Santa Claus, only it's for old people afraid of dying."So the impressionable Joe Hackett is told when still a kid. He becomes a priest anyway, but not before he learns the secrets hiding in the dark.This turns him not quite jaded, not even entirely cynical. He's just a bit of a stinker, as priests go. Midway through the book, this act was wearing thin. I didn't like Joe. Characters in
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