Deliverance

A masterpiece of lyrical, intense writing. When I think of the old writing admonition "make haste, slowly," I think of this book, because the plot is riveting and tense and yet it all unfurls with a measured deliberation, with great care in the writing that transforms it from a potboiler to somethin......more

Only men would think it is a good idea to go canoeing into the jungle wilderness of Georgia. If this novel were female driven it would have been about two pages long because no woman would stand for its sheer bravado-driven ridiculousness. So four guys so canoeing in Georgia and things go wrong. The......more

Few novelists have claimed such an epic success with their debut novel as James Dickey did with his dramatically brilliant thriller Deliverance, set in the remote North Georgia wilderness. Dickey, who was already an accomplished poet renowned for his surrealism and eye for primal impulses prevailing......more

This was a pretty good story. I enjoyed how it started out as a weekend of male bonding for a group of friends. However, their journey turned into a suspenseful nightmare as their outing became violently sidetracked. The ordinary turned into a survival story of uncertainty, looming fear and danger,......more

Wow. I've been talking about Deliverance to all my friends, who all roll their eyes at me, because I haven't seen the movie. This was one of the best books I've read this year. The writing is documentary style, but surprisingly lyrical. It's told from a single point of view, and works so well for de......more