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elijahcuba's review
5.0
The poet is traditionally a blind man, but the Christian poet, and storyteller as well, is like the blind man whom Christ touched, who looked then and saw men as if they were trees, but walking. This is the beginning of a vision, and it is an invitation to deeper and stranger visions that we shall have to learn to accept if we want to realize a truly Christian literature.
A fascinating collection of essays on my favorite convergence of subjects, religion and art. For me, O'Connor has the striking similarity to C.S. Lewis in how she somehow digs into me and reveals what I believe, illustrating it in fabulous prose. That is another way to say I feel overwhelmed and almost more mystified than when I started.
It's a must-read for writers, and readers (O'Connor gripes about both). I will definitely be reading it again to digest and process just exactly what she was saying. Even though so much of it was repetitive, like beating me over the head with a wooden tome, I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the mysteries she was presenting.
O'Connor is also witty as heck.
A fascinating collection of essays on my favorite convergence of subjects, religion and art. For me, O'Connor has the striking similarity to C.S. Lewis in how she somehow digs into me and reveals what I believe, illustrating it in fabulous prose. That is another way to say I feel overwhelmed and almost more mystified than when I started.
It's a must-read for writers, and readers (O'Connor gripes about both). I will definitely be reading it again to digest and process just exactly what she was saying. Even though so much of it was repetitive, like beating me over the head with a wooden tome, I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the mysteries she was presenting.
O'Connor is also witty as heck.
dwlejcjvg's review against another edition
5.0
What I loved most about this book is not so much what it has to say about writing, but how easily the lines are blurred between thinking about writing and living.
nickyp's review against another edition
5.0
Great to chew on, especially her essays on the short story and the novelist having to make her own meaning in an age that does not value truth. Also, that take-no-prisoners voice! The section on Catholicism sailed over my head, but I have a greater appreciation for the Southern aspects of her work and others’. And the first essay, on her life with peacocks, was again a gem.
radioactve_piano's review
3.0
I love Flannery O'Connor's fiction, so when I discovered I still hadn't read this book six years after I bought it for a class as "supplementary material", I got excited.
Turns out I should have only been partly excited. O'Connor is predictably opinionated about all the topics within this book. For the most part, that wasn't a problem for me. I like her no-false-modesty stance on why she wrote ("because I'm good at it"); I like her annoyance at the idea that writing can be taught ("if it's not natural, coming from some place you tap into but have no control over, then it's not worth reading"); hell, I even liked her strong ideas about the difference between a "Southerner" and anyone else.
I just could not stand the religious parts. At all. It was as if she forgot all of her "rules" for others when religion came up; every essay or speech that touched on this topic was pretty much full of the stereotypical Catholic rhetoric that makes non-Catholics want to spit.
Turns out I should have only been partly excited. O'Connor is predictably opinionated about all the topics within this book. For the most part, that wasn't a problem for me. I like her no-false-modesty stance on why she wrote ("because I'm good at it"); I like her annoyance at the idea that writing can be taught ("if it's not natural, coming from some place you tap into but have no control over, then it's not worth reading"); hell, I even liked her strong ideas about the difference between a "Southerner" and anyone else.
I just could not stand the religious parts. At all. It was as if she forgot all of her "rules" for others when religion came up; every essay or speech that touched on this topic was pretty much full of the stereotypical Catholic rhetoric that makes non-Catholics want to spit.
dh981's review against another edition
3.0
Difficult to understand at first, but still worth reading. Flannery O'Connor is brilliant and everyone who consider themselves a reader needs to read her works!
spacejamz's review
5.0
If I hadn't discovered Anglicanism, this might have led me to converting to Catholicism. Here I found confirmed so many things I had been learning through her fiction, and through the processes of making and taking in art.
nanasanchez's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
I want to shout: At last! It took me almost a year to finish this book. It is an interesting collection of essays as it shows the perspective of a person that, I must admit, I am usually wary of: an ardent catholic from the South. It was interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see where we held similar opinions and where we would differ. Unfortunately some parts of it were of null interest to me, as they depicted dilemmas I do not really care about (mostly related to being a catholic and a writer). It is good to get out of your filter bubble and see the world through the eyes of someone with different values and believes.
emlickliter's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O'Connor, Sally Fitzgerald (Editor), Robert Fitzgerald (Editor) - The last and unpublished works by my favorite Southern Gothic writers were polished into this collection. Enjoy one of the queens of lyrical prose! Happy Reading!