The Final Beast (1965)
Book Description
Numbed by the untimely death of his wife, Rev. Theodore Nicolet struggles on with his twin vocations: the raising of his two daughters, and ministry to the members of his church.
Scandal rears its unwelcome head when Rooney Vail leaves her husband and runs away from home, and Nicolet goes in search of this, the latest lost member of his flock. In his absence, the town begins to buzz with rumor when an article appears in the local newspaper that Rooney and the minister are engaged in an affair. The unwitting source, Nicolet’s housekeeper Irma Reinwasser—a grief-haunted survivor of the Holocaust—is inconsolable at the realization that her conversation with an unscrupulous journalist, Will Poteat, has provoked the controversy.
Unaware of the rumors being circulated back home, and following a harrowing encounter with his estranged father, Nicolet finds Rooney at the house of a faith healer named Agnes Sanford. For both the minister and his parishioner, this strange place and their journeys to it provide an opportunity to seek forgiveness, comfort from grief, and God. Having moved on in their respective pilgrimages, the two friends return to their hometown, only to find it beset by the swirling clouds of gossip, tragedy, and arson.
Reviews
“His novel is a minor masterpiece of wit and human understanding.”
— John Davenport, The Spectator
“This is a story that skates with daring skill and exuberant speed over the thin ice of potential blasphemy, sentimentality, and violence to emerge finally on the firm, smooth surface of honest faith and uproarious laughter.”
— Katherine Gauss Jackson, Harper’s Magazine
“The writing is excellent and the handling crisp”
—Venetia Pollock, Punch
“Here is the rarest of the rare in contemporary fiction: a novel devoted to the celebration of faith and joy. If you enjoy good fiction and stand within the Christian faith, a first reading of The Final Beast will give you pleasure and a second reading will enrich your faith.”
— Lee Whiston, United Church Herald
“Buechner uses four-letter words, blunt sexual references, and near-blasphemy to convey what are basically reverential religious implications. It is as if he is trying to speak to contemporary man in language and imagery with which he is familiar so that Buechner might be heard.”
— Nancy Myers
“Buechner has given us a beautifully written, sensitive novel in The Final Beast...Buechner is able to take this flagrantly Christian viewpoint, and still captivate the mind of the person who likely couldn't care less about this religion. Quite a feat.”
— The Episcopalian
