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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my introduction to Flannery O'Connor and even though I enjoyed reading it, what a strange story...good but, very strange! I plan to dig deeper into her work because I hear her short stories are a lil' more user friendly (so to speak).
I read this book for my Southern Grotesque class. While it did provide me great insight into the genre, I can’t confidently say I enjoyed or didn’t enjoy it. I’m left feeling fairly indifferent about it as a whole
The story of a traumatised soldier called Hazel Motes who arrives in a small town (Taulkinham) and becomes obsessed with a blind preacher and his 15-year-old daughter. More specifically he is obsessed with the false religiosity of the community and he endeavours to preach his own anti-religion by creating what he calls the church without Christ. Meanwhile there's a weird zoo worker called Enoch Emery who is fixated on a mummified dwarf (which he steals) as a symbol of something meaningful to Motes and who gloms on to him as someone in possession of Wise Blood (an apparent instinct for innate spiritual guidance and knowledge).
There are some interesting things going on in this book but ultimately, I really did not enjoy reading much of it. If this is a good example of Southern Gothic then I guess we can add that to the list of genres I dislike. There's something profoundly alien about these people and this world, something which reveals the real America as a rather separated and obscure culture. There's only so much 'Gee, shucks, y'all' Americana I can take before I find it tiresome or just downright repugnant. It brought to mind A Confederacy of Dunces (another book I disliked) in the way that every character seemed to be a bloated exaggeration of what to expect from reality. Sure enough characters all have names that could only ever exist in American Literature such as Hazel Motes, Sabbath Hawkes, Hoover Shoats... yeehaw!! If anything it only served to remind me of how distant American culture really is from my own. I once read somewhere that Europeans make the mistake of thinking that America is a European country in North America when in truth, it's a South American Country but with money. Books like this feel eerily unfamiliar to me and I can barely grasp the intense religiosity that seems to overwhelm that country. It's becoming clear that the pilgrims didn't go to America to escape religious persecution, they went there to engage in it.
And then there's O'Conner's writing. To me it came across as clunky and poorly expressed, as though (as it actually is) the book was her first. Where three sentences would be sufficient to push the plot along, she will opt for fifteen. It felt a little cluttered and jarring, lacked the flow I prefer, and seemed to be in desperate need of having a great deal of the fat removed. I certainly can't imagine how anyone could view this as lyrical in the slightest. This fact and the bizarre setting and subject matter combined for an unpleasant reading experience. There's some weird and interesting things going on in this book but none of it spoke to me or impressed. I found it a slog.
That being said, it's got enough weirdness to justify being recommended.
There are some interesting things going on in this book but ultimately, I really did not enjoy reading much of it. If this is a good example of Southern Gothic then I guess we can add that to the list of genres I dislike. There's something profoundly alien about these people and this world, something which reveals the real America as a rather separated and obscure culture. There's only so much 'Gee, shucks, y'all' Americana I can take before I find it tiresome or just downright repugnant. It brought to mind A Confederacy of Dunces (another book I disliked) in the way that every character seemed to be a bloated exaggeration of what to expect from reality. Sure enough characters all have names that could only ever exist in American Literature such as Hazel Motes, Sabbath Hawkes, Hoover Shoats... yeehaw!! If anything it only served to remind me of how distant American culture really is from my own. I once read somewhere that Europeans make the mistake of thinking that America is a European country in North America when in truth, it's a South American Country but with money. Books like this feel eerily unfamiliar to me and I can barely grasp the intense religiosity that seems to overwhelm that country. It's becoming clear that the pilgrims didn't go to America to escape religious persecution, they went there to engage in it.
And then there's O'Conner's writing. To me it came across as clunky and poorly expressed, as though (as it actually is) the book was her first. Where three sentences would be sufficient to push the plot along, she will opt for fifteen. It felt a little cluttered and jarring, lacked the flow I prefer, and seemed to be in desperate need of having a great deal of the fat removed. I certainly can't imagine how anyone could view this as lyrical in the slightest. This fact and the bizarre setting and subject matter combined for an unpleasant reading experience. There's some weird and interesting things going on in this book but none of it spoke to me or impressed. I found it a slog.
That being said, it's got enough weirdness to justify being recommended.
About halfway through, I thought "I don't get it". Then, three quarters through, I thought "ooh I think I see what she's doing!", but by the end I was sure I didn't get it. There are some good portrayals of the ways people use religion for all sorts of things other than what it's officially intended to be, but other than that I'm not sure what to say about this. I read it quickly, almost single-mindedly, which, although perhaps appropriate given the protagonist, was definitely done out of a desire to be done with it. If you understood this book and can explain why it's great, let me know.
Can't lie, for the start of my Southern Gothic book club, I didn't love Wise Blood. It feels like so many things I could love, so many things that could be executed so well, and yet, it never progresses.
A superbly odd novel that sadly, I cannot see the appeal of.
A superbly odd novel that sadly, I cannot see the appeal of.
I loved O'Connor's short stories so I couldn't wait to dive into a novel. Unfortunately, O'Connor is best at short stories.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A little hard to get into. A very odd book that makes sense if one knows O'Connor's view of the South.