Axl Oswaldo's Reviews > Deliverance

2025/05

Modern Library 100 Best Novels (42/100)

This year I haven't focused on one of my goals I started in 2024: to read all books included in the top 100 Best Novels published during the 20th century, made by Modern Library. I genuinely don't remember when the last time I picked up a book included in the list was, but there is probably a long gap between that book and Deliverance. Speaking of which, my experience with this novel was very different from the others I had before, especially when it comes to how readable and straightforward it is.

Overall, Deliverance introduces the reader to what seems to be a peaceful getaway with friends, an escapade that promises to be exciting yet safe and normal. Nature awaits our protagonist and three of his friends on this adventure, although it won't be the only thing they will come across. And that's when the action begins.
As far as the books in this list go—based on my reading experience so far—they tend to be cooked slowly narrative-wise, but this novel, on the other hand, doesn't let you breathe one moment, and the pace is as fast as it gets. No sooner have you finished reading one chapter than you find yourself vigorously reading the next one, and in that way until the end of the book. Yes, I finished it in two sittings, and there are no regrets at all.

In terms of the story, it somewhat reminded me of Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness, not because they have similar plots or their structure is alike, but because you constantly get an ominous atmosphere in its pages. The more you read, the bleaker it gets. It also resembles a thriller film almost entirely; movies such as Cape Fear (1962) and No Country for Old Men (2007)—in this case both novel and adaptation—came to mind while reading Deliverance, even the first and only worth watching film in the Predator franchise with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and only after knowing that James Dickey had a lot to do with its adaptation—he wrote the screenplay—that came out only two years after he published the book, it all made sense.

All in all, I wouldn't put Deliverance among my favorite books though, probably not even among the first 50 best novels written during the last century. Sorry Modern Library—agree to disagree. I was telling my friend J., with whom I buddy read this, that Modern Library wasn't being entirely fair when they came up with 100 books since they left behind authors such as Toni Morrison or Cormac McCarthy and authors like Virginia Woolf or Willa Cather only have one book in the entire list. I digress.

Deliverance is worth visiting, and as I said before, it is a quick and easy read—a well-written book with some deep passages that invite us to reflect on humanity and morality.

My rating on a scale of 1 to 5:

Quality of writing [4/5]
Pace [5/5]
Plot development [4/5]
Characters [4/5]
Enjoyability [4/5]
Insightfulness [4/5]
Easy of reading [5/5]
Photos/Illustrations [N/A]

Total [30/7] = 4.28