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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Not my cup of tea. It forced me out of my comfort zone, which is good. This book was selected for a book club, which is why I read it.
This was the first book from the LOST booklist that I tackled. This is the book that Jacob is reading when he's awaiting to touch John Locke after his accident with his father. If there was a special significance to reading this particular book in that moment, I didn't catch it, but still...cool to pick this one up. It's fair to say this isn't likely one that I would have picked up on my own, and that's part of what makes this little experiment of mine so interesting to me. I'm not usually big on short stories ...I generally find them to be a little unsatisfying.... and this collection was really no different in that regard. This was written in the 1950's and the stories are definitely reflective of the time, as one would expect. Race plays such a big part of them, and the language and the attitudes of the time. It's always fascinating to read a book like this to understand how the world once was. But you can clearly see that O'Connor was a bit ahead of her peers in terms of acceptance and that was exciting to see. She seems to be a well liked and well respected author. Like any short story book, some were better than others. I think A View of the Woods, The Comforts of Home, The Lame Shall Enter First, and Parker's Back were my favorites. All in all though, I'd put this collection firmly in the middle of the road.
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life and this is a softness that ends in bitterness.”
― Flannery O'Connor
Reading a O’Connor story, i’m amazed by just how much I can be shocked. There’s the language, the depravity of character plumbed, the exploration of sensitive social topics and generally an ending that swoops in as if some bolt of lightning to give a larger context to this snippet of southern life. Her writing is courageously bleak and curiously graceful. These stories are largely about parent-child relationships fraught, dysfunctional, but not without grace.
In the title story “Everything that Arises Must Converge” a bus ride shared by a mother and son illustrates the ways in which they reckon with a family history that benefited from slavery and the ways in which they attempt to transcend this ignoble history. The son Julian blisteringly chides his mother “you needn’t act as if the world had come to an end, because it hasn’t. From now on you’ve got to live in a new world and face a few realities for a change. Buck up, it won’t kill you” (p.22). Savage bleak worldviews replacement warm familial coziness. Squaring their lineage with a love is tested in O’Connor’s typical steely style.
More than any other story here “Revelation” the story of Mrs. Turnpin in a hospital’s waiting room provoked the strongest response in me. A decent woman by her own measure, church-going, versed in hymns, is violently assaulted by a young less privileged woman. Trying to make sense of the assault, her assailant says “go back to hell where you came from, you old warthog” (p.207). Leaving her shaken, she wonders about the sanity of the girl, and the sanity of the world. Speaking out to God that he deliver her some deeper understanding of the world. Back on her farm, in silence, has a vision across the crimson sky, and a possible reveal to a deeper truth.
Other stories “Greenleaf”, “The Enduring Chill” and “Mr. Parker” also were very thought provoking. Some I was less taken with, such as the drawn out “The Comforts of Home” or the seething provocative “Judgement Day”.
Overall, I was fascinated by O’Connor as a writer. It’s always interesting to come across a writer with a command of the language that is singular to her. No one would mistake an O’Connor story for anyone else’s. Her themes of grace in a sinful world, the reckoning of privilleged and the dispossessed, and the difficult mom/son relationships were subtly infused. Her writing warrants much further and insightful readings than my 1-2 reads per story, but i’m also thankful that their craftmansship has had her stories reeling in my head for days.
― Flannery O'Connor
Reading a O’Connor story, i’m amazed by just how much I can be shocked. There’s the language, the depravity of character plumbed, the exploration of sensitive social topics and generally an ending that swoops in as if some bolt of lightning to give a larger context to this snippet of southern life. Her writing is courageously bleak and curiously graceful. These stories are largely about parent-child relationships fraught, dysfunctional, but not without grace.
In the title story “Everything that Arises Must Converge” a bus ride shared by a mother and son illustrates the ways in which they reckon with a family history that benefited from slavery and the ways in which they attempt to transcend this ignoble history. The son Julian blisteringly chides his mother “you needn’t act as if the world had come to an end, because it hasn’t. From now on you’ve got to live in a new world and face a few realities for a change. Buck up, it won’t kill you” (p.22). Savage bleak worldviews replacement warm familial coziness. Squaring their lineage with a love is tested in O’Connor’s typical steely style.
More than any other story here “Revelation” the story of Mrs. Turnpin in a hospital’s waiting room provoked the strongest response in me. A decent woman by her own measure, church-going, versed in hymns, is violently assaulted by a young less privileged woman. Trying to make sense of the assault, her assailant says “go back to hell where you came from, you old warthog” (p.207). Leaving her shaken, she wonders about the sanity of the girl, and the sanity of the world. Speaking out to God that he deliver her some deeper understanding of the world. Back on her farm, in silence, has a vision across the crimson sky, and a possible reveal to a deeper truth.
Other stories “Greenleaf”, “The Enduring Chill” and “Mr. Parker” also were very thought provoking. Some I was less taken with, such as the drawn out “The Comforts of Home” or the seething provocative “Judgement Day”.
Overall, I was fascinated by O’Connor as a writer. It’s always interesting to come across a writer with a command of the language that is singular to her. No one would mistake an O’Connor story for anyone else’s. Her themes of grace in a sinful world, the reckoning of privilleged and the dispossessed, and the difficult mom/son relationships were subtly infused. Her writing warrants much further and insightful readings than my 1-2 reads per story, but i’m also thankful that their craftmansship has had her stories reeling in my head for days.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
tense
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read just the title story not the collection specifically, hopefully that's clear with this edition- it's good and the characters and situation are well-drawn and interesting but I most of the stories in A Good Man Is Hard To Find better, this had the ironic layer but wasn't as funny as some and something about the style or tone felt more cold and clinical, didn't feel as strange or ominous or spiritual as the some of the better ones. Anyway you don't need to read this as anti-integration but you certainly could
I read Marilynne Robinson's description of Flannery O'Connor recently: "Her prose is beautiful, her imagination appalls me". She is a wonderful, vivid writer. Just have to brace yourself for the wicked turns.
From an Amazon user review:
O'Connor uses no words of mystery. That woman was club-thumping blunt. If you prefer stories that wash down pleasantly with watercress sandwiches and Darjeeling, then you'd better find your authors elsewhere. However, if you need something that brands your soul, and if you want the burn to last a long, long time, then read this collection.
My thoughts:
I'm not sure that it branded my soul, but I did greatly enjoy her variety of Southern characters in these short stories.
O'Connor uses no words of mystery. That woman was club-thumping blunt. If you prefer stories that wash down pleasantly with watercress sandwiches and Darjeeling, then you'd better find your authors elsewhere. However, if you need something that brands your soul, and if you want the burn to last a long, long time, then read this collection.
My thoughts:
I'm not sure that it branded my soul, but I did greatly enjoy her variety of Southern characters in these short stories.
this is one of my top five favorite books of all time. it's a collection of short stories. slice-of-life stores (again, my favorite kind). it's the first book i read that was like this...it gives you this quick peak into the lives of these people. one story, one day, one hour...
i think i read it in college the first time, but have read it probably 15 times since then. i love every story, every character, every word.
i advise anyone and everyone to read her storie collections. start with this one, move to the next. read them all.
i think i read it in college the first time, but have read it probably 15 times since then. i love every story, every character, every word.
i advise anyone and everyone to read her storie collections. start with this one, move to the next. read them all.
A few stories stuck out to me (A View Of The Woods, The Comforts Of Home and The Lame Shall Enter First) but the rest left me somewhat empty. In each story I felt I knew what was coming and it left things tasting a bit stale.