THE REIVERS by William Faulkner

My brother and I saw the movie THE REIVERS about fifty years ago when we were teenagers.  Obviously, I don’t remember it all that well, but I know that we both loved it, and reading the book has jogged loose a few memories about the movie.  Steve McQueen bears no physical resemblance to his character Boon Hogganbeck, as described in the book.  Nevertheless, as I was reading I still pictured Boon in my mind as Steve McQueen.  This novel is much more accessible than most of Faulkner’s stuff, but, even so, there were passages with incredibly long sentences that left me scratching my head.  It takes place in the early 1900s and involves the trade of a “borrowed” automobile for a stolen racehorse.  Narrated by 11-year-old Lucius, who experiences the adventure of a lifetime at the hands of the aforementioned Boon Hogganbeck, this is a coming-of-age story in the truest sense.  Lucius learns more in a few days than in all the years leading up to this adventure.  He has a strong sense of what it means to be courageous and honest, and his young life up to this point has been one of integrity and good behavior.  Now he is challenged by what he calls non-Virtue and discovers how to bring his moral character to bear on a situation that is decidedly non-virtuous.  As always, Faulkner’s writing is mostly a delight, when you can decipher it.  For example, how clever is this sentence?  “He simply drove us up to the door and put us out and drove away, pausing only long enough to give Everbe one hard jeering leer and Boon one hard leering jeer….”  Love it!