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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I wasn't sure how O'Connor would work with a somewhat longer form, since she's more famously known for her short stories. But this book was (darkly) hilarious, heart-rending, wise.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At first, I loathed this book. It was a chore to get through the first half of the story. I'm not sure what happened, but about halfway through until the end, something clicked. I started really appreciating the story for its allegorical nature and commentary on nihilism, christianity, etc.
Flannery O'Connor is one of my favorite writers. I love the southern gothic style of writing (much like Faulkner) and this embodies that wholeheartedly. Even still, I appreciate her short stories much more and think she has a magical quality to tell a story that has a lot of "meat" and layers to it. This doesn't fail in that regard.
I don't know if I could recommend this book or, rather, who I would recommend it to. I feel like it is a love it or hate it type of story/writing style. I also think that it benefits from discussing with a small group rather than reading by one's self.
Flannery O'Connor is one of my favorite writers. I love the southern gothic style of writing (much like Faulkner) and this embodies that wholeheartedly. Even still, I appreciate her short stories much more and think she has a magical quality to tell a story that has a lot of "meat" and layers to it. This doesn't fail in that regard.
I don't know if I could recommend this book or, rather, who I would recommend it to. I feel like it is a love it or hate it type of story/writing style. I also think that it benefits from discussing with a small group rather than reading by one's self.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
This was a hard read. I guess mostly because I read it in English, which is my third language, but at times, I got really lost. I think at some point I'll try to find the book in other language, which will make it easier to understand, but I definitely need to read it again to understand it properly.
A cruel, humorous, and bleak musing on religion and the insanity of free will. Destiny dictates all; you're only as free as the path you take towards it.
So strange that I don't know what to say about it. Two characters, well, three and a half - one with a purpose to destroy all notions of religion that he's grown up with, dissociate from it completely to the point of preaching for a new church (without Christ, without sin, without repentance), one with no known purpose (or maybe I missed the point completely) but ended up stealing a gorilla suit and scaring an innocent couple for who knows what reason, and then we come to the one and a half. A blind preacher (really blind or blind with faith?) and his morally loose daughter, gathering people and producing pamphlets that offer closeness to Jesus. A mess of a book that I had a hard time finishing and hated all the characters and thought them too weird to be interesting but then, a few days later, I find myself wondering... what the actual fuck... and maybe there's something to that.
this is maybe the fourth time i've read Wise Blood through and it still hypnotizes me with the clarity of its lines, the wickedness of its simile ("Jesus hidden in his head like a stinger" etc), and the surety with which O'Connor moves these bozos to their various awful fates (run off to scam some other town, run off for the double sin of being female and low, wearing a gorilla suit on a rock in the park, dead and blind etc). This time it began to feel cruel to me, like O'Connor was making fun of her characters, like there wasn't enough or sometimes even any sympathy for the characters or for humanity itself. At no point in my many reads of this book have I ever been entire sure what it's about or what some of its symbols/touchstones are meant to say -- the weird dried-out pygmy new jesus, the ape suit, self-mutilation. But I still keep thinking about them. I feel weirdly captive to this book, in a way that is not at all the same thing as literary appreciation. Til next time.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced