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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
We’ve always been a nation of untreated mental illness and conmen
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stay out of the deep south
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you've read [b:The Complete Stories|284996|The Complete Stories|Flannery O'Connor|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311998165s/284996.jpg|886814], you will recognize many of the scenes in this novel. O'Connor combined "The Train","The Peeler", "The Heart of the Park", and "Enoch and the Gorilla" to make one dark tale. On numerous occasions while reading this I guffawed, but it is not a happy tale.
Hard to remember a book I’ve ever disliked more. Read this one w Mom and Eric for the Yale American novel class
There are two major characters -- Hazel Motes the preacher's grandson and Enoch Emery the holy fool with the wise blood. Hazel Motes sets religion on its head. Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross to expiate original sin. So that man is born in sin, but through accepting Jesus Christ as his savior, the sin is expiated. Hazel Motes sets that on its head. He says that without Jesus, there is no sin. There is no sin if you reject the entire construct. He is not precisely an atheist, he is an active, preaching, denier of Christ. By setting himself up as the prophet of the Church Without Christ, he becomes the only honest person in the story. Everyone else, like the boy who wants to go to the whorehouse, confess, and then go back to the whorehouse, is a hypocrite. They want to be able to sin and then be washed clean of sin. But Motes wants to blaspheme and fornicate honestly by denying the structure that makes it a sin. Enoch Emery is a sad distraction. He acts completely impulsively as his wise blood tells him to. He wants to be liked, to meet someone friendly. After Hazel commits the ultimate transgression, he has to expiate his sin. It is unclear for whom he is being punished. But it is clear that, despite his early denial of Christ, he becomes a saint and martyr.
The writing is amazing with lines that will stick with you forever: "People ain't friendly here. You ain't from here but you ain't friendly neither." "Jesus died to redeem you," she said. "I never ast him," he muttered. "I preach the Church Without Christ. I'm member and preacher in that church where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way." And my favorite as a lapsed Catholic: "What you do?" He said that he was a preacher. "What Church?" He said the Church Without Christ. "Protestant?" she asked suspiciously, "or something foreign?" He said no mam, it was Protestant.
I liked this so much I used to think I really liked Flannery O'Connor but as I read some more I realized that I only liked this. Also the movie is terrific.
The writing is amazing with lines that will stick with you forever: "People ain't friendly here. You ain't from here but you ain't friendly neither." "Jesus died to redeem you," she said. "I never ast him," he muttered. "I preach the Church Without Christ. I'm member and preacher in that church where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way." And my favorite as a lapsed Catholic: "What you do?" He said that he was a preacher. "What Church?" He said the Church Without Christ. "Protestant?" she asked suspiciously, "or something foreign?" He said no mam, it was Protestant.
I liked this so much I used to think I really liked Flannery O'Connor but as I read some more I realized that I only liked this. Also the movie is terrific.
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes