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baibhavreadsagain's review
4.0
I really like this compendium. Filled with subtlety, smooth but properly unsettling (when its called for).
armiles713's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed reading through these stories. They were very dark, portraying the darkness of each of us within that we often try to bury and hide away. The stories were all deep and intruiging. Tragic that more couldn't be written.
kimtrucks's review against another edition
4.0
haunting, horrifying, "Christian realism". Greek in it's use of fatal flaws, steeped in pre civil rights act South, for better and for worse
alexkhlopenko's review against another edition
4.0
I rarely see such a critical view of Catholicism in US prose, without any righteousness or preachiness. Genuine and imaginative prose and research deep into the American consciousness, that may as well apply in 2019 as in 1950. And that's my only caveat - it is such a limited, US-exclusive experience depicted in her stories, that I found it a hard time to understand or sympathize with most of the characters and plots.
A must-read for those who want to understand how short stories work.
A must-read for those who want to understand how short stories work.
doulicia's review against another edition
3.0
I stopped on page 156. They were solid, sometimes surprising, always representing a precise mood, even when the reasons aren't always clear. But I tire of a steady diet of short stories and at 500+ pages, this collection was just too long. I'm noting where I left off because, in part, I can see myself picking it back up again someday.
skeleton_richard's review against another edition
1.0
Another American realism story about unpleasant people.
deathlores's review against another edition
5.0
O'Connor is a master, and every time you think you have her figured out, she goes and proves you wrong. This collection is so, so good. It has definitely aged well which, considering her environment and general biography, is a testament to her talent and disposition. No one writes the South quite as poignantly and effortlessly as she does. There are some stories set in New York here and there, but even when she's not writing about the South, deep down, she is, and all of it is sharp and ominous.
The lesser known stories are just as worthwhile as the most famous ones, which makes the whole book a definite must read. Do not stop at "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and consider your work done. Delve deep and savor all of it. "The Lame Shall Enter First" and "The Partridge Festival" had me staring at the wall for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Even perusing the contents page is a treat, to be honest, and just as deliciously disturbing as the actual contents. I mean, "You Can't Be Any Poorer than Dead"?
Yes. Please tell me more.
The lesser known stories are just as worthwhile as the most famous ones, which makes the whole book a definite must read. Do not stop at "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and consider your work done. Delve deep and savor all of it. "The Lame Shall Enter First" and "The Partridge Festival" had me staring at the wall for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Even perusing the contents page is a treat, to be honest, and just as deliciously disturbing as the actual contents. I mean, "You Can't Be Any Poorer than Dead"?
Yes. Please tell me more.