(San Diego Tribune August 18, 1989)

Reynolds Price always felt that writing novels about small-town life in his native North Carolina was occupation enough. In good time he would write a memoir of his early years. He thought he'd linger, "betting on a long life," and begin nearer its end. That end got nearer quickly when five years ago Price nearly died from a spinal tumor that, removed, left him a paraplegic at 51.

It was time.

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