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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
O'Connor writes about the real South, at a time when the very highest and the very lowest was extracted from its citizens. To me, that is the real meaning of the title of the stories. With writing a haunting and harrowing as this, a mere review will not suffice. She must be read.
I think I like this more in retrospect then I did while reading it. All the characters are so unlikable, which is funny, but I felt very distant from it.
I was not as down with this book as I expected to be. I had previously read one story by [author: Flannery O'Connor] that I liked, which I took as a sign that I'd like her other stories. Alas. Even for short stories, I felt that they dragged.
O’Connor sure knows how to write a realistic asshole. Maybe I would’ve appreciated the craft more outside of a pandemic. But her stories left me bummed and hopeless.
Dark, dark, dark! These stories are full of mayhem and tragedy, but the writing is oh, so good. While listening I felt like I was viewing a train wreck about to happen--horrifying, but I couldn't look away. Many thanks to my Goodreads friend, Lori, for recommending this collection. I will be moving on to read the rest of the stories in The Complete Stories, which I got from her in the Yankee Swap at Booktopia Bellingham. I think I'll take a break first, however!
A note on the readers of this audiobook: all were excellent. I loved the different accents!
A note on the readers of this audiobook: all were excellent. I loved the different accents!
Her stories really are all so damned good. Still, if I had to pick between the two collections, I’d go with this one. Each story in here is a cautionary tale about the many ways pride manifests itself, cons people into thinking they’re one of the ‘good ones’, and then leaves them hopeless and despairing when some act of grace comes crashing in. These stories are pitch dark and it makes the little glimpses of light all the brighter; her characters mostly keep their eyes shut to it straight to the end, but she gives each of us the opportunity to self-examine by staring at the sun if we want to. I love revisiting her stories and I feel like I’ll keep doing that till I die, learning something new in each book and cranny every time.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lots of old, difficult but essential racist content to digest and work through, but overall stunning, classic southern gothic.
Brillant, one of the American masters. It is such a shame that she died so young. Her stories never fail to make me gasp, no matter how many times I read them.
stories made me uncomfortable and even the characters that were supposed to be "anti-racist" were clearly racist. also boring.
a bunch of good stories about people saying the n word then dying