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evapk's review against another edition
4.0
How special to be allowed a glimpse into another’s prayer journal, to be encouraged, comforted, and brought to laughter by someone’s authenticity. Highly recommend.
k8r8r's review against another edition
Like other reviewers, I hesitate to "rate" another's prayers. O'Connor's words challenged, provoked, and consoled me and for that I am grateful.
heidihaverkamp's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful. Spare, earnest, and probably recognizable to anyone who's tried to pray. A glimpse into Flannery O'Connor's faith that could be guilt inducing but somehow seems like no intrusion because it seem so true to her.
arthurian's review against another edition
"I want a revolution now, a mild revolution, something that will put an even 20th cen. asceticism into me at least when I pass the grocery."
rating something so personal and so unintended for publication makes me feel weird but that was beautiful.
rating something so personal and so unintended for publication makes me feel weird but that was beautiful.
nattynatchan's review against another edition
5.0
even if you're not religious, i think this book speaks to the intricacies of our human desires - of wanting to want something to an extent we feel or even know we should, yet falling short every time.
"It is easy for this writing to show a want. There is a want but it is abstract and cold, a dead want that goes well into writing because writing is dead. Writing is dead. Art is dead, dead by nature, not killed by unkindness. I bring my dead want into the place[] the dead place it shows up most easily, into writing. This has its purpose if by God's grace it will wake another soul; but it does me no good. The "life" it receives in writing is dead to me, the more so in that it looks alive-a horrible deception. But not to me who knows this. Oh Lord please make this dead desire living, living in life, living as it will probably have to live in suffering. I feel too mediocre now to suffer. If suffering came to me I would not even recognize it. Lord keep me. Mother help me."
"It will be a life struggle with no consummation. When something is finished, it cannot be possessed. Nothing can be possessed but the struggle. All our lives are consumed in possessing struggle but only when the struggle is cherished & directed to a final consummation outside of this life is it of any value. I want to be the best artist it is possible for me to be, under God.
I do not want to be lonely all my life but people only make us lonelier by reminding us of God. Dear God please help me to be an artist, please let it lead to You."
"It is easy for this writing to show a want. There is a want but it is abstract and cold, a dead want that goes well into writing because writing is dead. Writing is dead. Art is dead, dead by nature, not killed by unkindness. I bring my dead want into the place[] the dead place it shows up most easily, into writing. This has its purpose if by God's grace it will wake another soul; but it does me no good. The "life" it receives in writing is dead to me, the more so in that it looks alive-a horrible deception. But not to me who knows this. Oh Lord please make this dead desire living, living in life, living as it will probably have to live in suffering. I feel too mediocre now to suffer. If suffering came to me I would not even recognize it. Lord keep me. Mother help me."
"It will be a life struggle with no consummation. When something is finished, it cannot be possessed. Nothing can be possessed but the struggle. All our lives are consumed in possessing struggle but only when the struggle is cherished & directed to a final consummation outside of this life is it of any value. I want to be the best artist it is possible for me to be, under God.
I do not want to be lonely all my life but people only make us lonelier by reminding us of God. Dear God please help me to be an artist, please let it lead to You."
analiseag's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the authors voice, resonated with the sentiments, didn’t super connect to the form.
marvelmama19's review against another edition
5.0
Great insight into the development of one of my favorite American authors. A must-read for anyone who identifies with O'Connor's characters.
camtheobscure's review against another edition
5.0
“I do not know you God because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.”
This is an intimate view into O’Connor’s struggle to draw closer to God. Her yearning for grace and and for her work to lead only to God and His glory is a testament for what every Christian should desire in this life until “the time when [we] shall see You face to face and need no stimulus than that to adore You.”
This is an intimate view into O’Connor’s struggle to draw closer to God. Her yearning for grace and and for her work to lead only to God and His glory is a testament for what every Christian should desire in this life until “the time when [we] shall see You face to face and need no stimulus than that to adore You.”
adamrshields's review against another edition
4.0
Short Review: a brief edited journal from the famous writer Flannery O'Connor when she was a college student at the University of Iowa. Short but worth reading. These journaled prayers are common for young Christians that are seeking after their calling. This isn't a highly polished work, but there are glimpses of her brilliant writing.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-prayer-journal-by-flannery-oconnor/
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-prayer-journal-by-flannery-oconnor/
gnomicsans's review against another edition
2.0
I think I'm just too cold and godless for this to register at all, I'm afraid. Also it feels really filthy reading a great author's secret inner monologue.