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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Short Review: I am going to leave this unrated because I don't know how to rate it. O'Connor is an incredibly skillful writer. I appreciate that she in very intentional with her art and incorporating Christianity into her art in a way that isn't dogmatic, but is real. I am not fond of the style of ironic tragedy. Sin and tragedy are real, but so are beauty and joy. And while there are some backhanded senses of beauty, there is virtually no joy.
I am ambivalent about her legacy. The frequent use of N word is more than just historical setting. She is making points and some of the points of those I am not completely comfortable with. Alice Walker has a chapter on O'Connor and I think it is worth reading. But Alice Walker and I have different starting points. Walker can take the good and leave the bad and be okay with the result because she is not going to forgot the history (Walker and O'Connor lived just down the road from one another when Walker was 8 and O'Connor was 28).
But as a White person, I am not sure I can take the good and leave the bad in the same way because our histories are so different.
My longer thoughts on this are on my blog at http://bookwi.se/everything-that-rises-must-converge/
I am ambivalent about her legacy. The frequent use of N word is more than just historical setting. She is making points and some of the points of those I am not completely comfortable with. Alice Walker has a chapter on O'Connor and I think it is worth reading. But Alice Walker and I have different starting points. Walker can take the good and leave the bad and be okay with the result because she is not going to forgot the history (Walker and O'Connor lived just down the road from one another when Walker was 8 and O'Connor was 28).
But as a White person, I am not sure I can take the good and leave the bad in the same way because our histories are so different.
My longer thoughts on this are on my blog at http://bookwi.se/everything-that-rises-must-converge/
I liked each individual story in this collection, but I'm not sure they work so well together. Thematically, they are too similar for my taste (the convergence of one generation with another). What were nice, rounded characters became flat due to their context and similarity to characters in adjacent stories.
Yikes. I don't get the hoopla with this one. Morality tales lacking subtlety that have (after you've read one or two stories) predictable twist endings. Forewarning that if you're sensitive to the word, "nigger", it's on just about every page. She really likes to jab that one in. I gave it two stars instead of one because I enjoyed a lot of the character descriptions when she occasionally and briefly strayed from her quest to hit me over the head with her leaden moral compass, and I have a general appreciation for authors who aren't afraid to write downers.
She was a good Christian woman with a large respect for religion, though she did not, of course, believe any of it was true.
really enjoyed the layered mic drops in this read! my interest definitely lessened the more religious the book got but all of these can easily translate into movies or at least short films. the title story is probably one of the best short stories of the english language (and one of the best titles too)
What she meant when she said she had won was that she had brought him up successfully and had sent him to college and that he had turned out so well-good looking (her teeth had gone unfilled so that his could be straightened), intelligent (he realized he was too intelligent to be a success), and with a future ahead of him (there was of course no future ahead of him). She excused his gloominess on the grounds that he was still growing up and his radical ideas on his lack of practical experience. She said he didn’t yet know a thing about “life,” that he hadn’t even entered the real world—when already he was as disenchanted with it as a man of fifty.
The further irony of all this was that in spite of her, he had turned out so well. In spite of going to only a third-rate college, he had, on his own initiative, come out with a first-rate education; in spite of growing up dominated by a small mind, he had ended up with a large one; in spite of all her foolish views, he was free of prejudice and unafraid to face facts. Most miraculous of all, instead of being blinded by love for her as she was for him, he had cut himself emotionally free of her and could see her with complete objectivity. He was not dominated by his mother.
- everything that rises must converge: ★★★★★ !
- greenleaf: ★★★★✰ !
- a view of the woods: ★★✰✰✰
- the enduring chill: ★★★★✰ !
- the comforts of home: ★★✰✰✰
- the lame shall enter first: ★✰✰✰✰
- revelation: ★★★✰✰
- parker's back: ★✰✰✰✰
- judgement day: ★★✰✰✰
p.s: do not recommend listening to the audiobook in public
- greenleaf: ★★★★✰ !
- a view of the woods: ★★✰✰✰
- the enduring chill: ★★★★✰ !
- the comforts of home: ★★✰✰✰
- the lame shall enter first: ★✰✰✰✰
- revelation: ★★★✰✰
- parker's back: ★✰✰✰✰
- judgement day: ★★✰✰✰
p.s: do not recommend listening to the audiobook in public
Wow. O'Connor reveals evil in such a dark,lovely way.
picked it up for its part in the lost season finale and highly recommend it to anyone going through lost withdrawal. i liked o'connor's ear for dialogue, however dated it is, as well as the way you saw the set up for the story but were always surprised by the last turn in the final few paragraphs.
Here characters are revolting and her stories are gruesome yet somehow her work is filled with gripping spiritual truths. Also, amazing use of language. Perhaps the best insult ever written: "I wouldn't milk a cow to save your soul from hell."
the writing was good. the author was able to say a lot in each story with very few words. But...the stories were very dark and sad. I couldn't find a single redeeming value of any of the characters! Each parent and child were selfish, self-centered and stubborn. They each wanted more and thought nothing of anyone else! But, I never felt like each of them "got what they deserved". I don't think "justice" is ours to define or judge. I don't know that the dry dark humor or the irony in any of the stories made the time spent reading it worth it. But, finish the book I did....only through will-power and determination.
The stories in this collection are dark and twisted, but fun to listen to all the same. I must say that even though the protagonists and settings vary slightly, the stories all seem to follow a similar plot pattern, and revolve around the themes of racism, intergenerational conflict, and religious hypocrisy. If I remember correctly, every single story ends tragically. My favorite is the title story--Everything That Rises Must Converge.
Some good ol southern gothic stories. Flannery is a master of character exposition.