Reviews

The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss

meganglloyd's review against another edition

reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sarahxsimon's review against another edition

2.0

Aggressively not my cup of tea.

austen_to_zafon's review against another edition

4.0

I was reading Auchincloss's obit in the NYT recently and I realized that I hadn't read any of his books. Many critics consider this his most ambitious novel. I must say I enjoyed it. It was dense and intellectual and it sent me to the dictionary many times for such words as athwart, encomium and epicene. It also challenged my knowledge of philosophy and literature, assuming I knew more about Plato and Samuel Richardson than I really do! I like a book that pushes me in this way. It started out a bit slow, but became more engrossing as the details of the life Dr Prescott, headmaster of an elite American boys' school, piled up and we got to see him from many different perspectives: from his daughters, his friends, his students. I think many would say this book is dated, concerned as it is with the upper class New England life of the early 20th century, but ultimately, the book is about human nature, religious feeling, loyalty, cult of personality, striving for lofty goals, and failure. I don't think those things are ever dated.

blackoxford's review against another edition

5.0

The American prep school experience is the subject of Louis Auchincloss’s 1965 novel The Rector of Justin. The eponymous rector founds a school to produce an end product of comprehensible human import: young men of character who understand certain values like responsibility, discernment, and integrity. He fails utterly because, well, times were changing. The emerging corporate world did not need character, it needed high expectations which can be ’sold’ as valuable in themselves to others in order to both motivate and enrich. Auchincloss knew that the world he had been brought up in was dying. And he saw the implications for the future, not just for education but for what we casually call civilisation.

See here for a review in larger context: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1848821662?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

lijon's review against another edition

5.0

This is the first book I have read by this author. I highly recommend it--there are many well-developed, interesting characters, and a lot going on in the book. It is set in a fictitious Massachusetts prep school in the late '30s/early '40s.

jennicakes's review against another edition

3.0

There's quite a good story in here, somewhere.

marysee's review against another edition

3.0

It’s me, I think. I thought the book started out strong. By the last three chapters, I didn’t care that much.