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thomp649's review
5.0
I had a little love affair with Flannery O'Connor over the last couple of years. It ended like affairs tend to do with us realizing that we are not really suited to one another. Although I bid her farewell with the dawn of 2023, I think I will always remember her with fondness.
It all started with[b:Wise Blood|48467|Wise Blood|Flannery O'Connor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389629799l/48467._SY75_.jpg|1046530]. I must have read it 50 years ago, after I saw the John Huston film. I recommend both, and it was to revisit that book that I pulled this volume off my shelf to re-read Wise Blood. I had also read some of her short stories. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" shook me up a bit at the time. I kept thinking about the total silliness of the grandmother, and how she was so much like people I knew in my own family. Saying more would be spoiling. I had pretty much forgotten the story when I came back to it in [b:Collected Works: Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything That Rises Must Converge / Essays and Letters|48462|Collected Works Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything That Rises Must Converge / Essays and Letters|Flannery O'Connor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412900634l/48462._SY75_.jpg|47408] but it had not lost its effect on me. Then I skipped to the letters, and pretty soon I was hooked.
Wise Blood is very funny, though there is a fair chance the humor will be lost on you if lack any sense of the itinerant preachers that used to prowl the American South in the years before they all got TV shows. The humor may also be lost on you if you can't stand irony when it comes to matters of religion. I saw the film at an art house in Atlanta in the 70s. I recall a stiff looking couple getting up and walking out in an audible huff about half-way through. But O'Connor rather famously said that what made many people laugh at Hazel Motes is what she most admired about him--his inability to shed his Christ-haunted past. You get that in some of her letters, quite a few of which are also quite funny. Given her sharp observational insight into personality, O'Connor's irony can be easily read as mockery. It's the tension between her cutting portraiture of Southern types circa mid-20th century and the realistic bent of her religious commitments that makes this collection so fascinating.
However, a lot of her characters do pretty horrible things because of their religion. As the bodies mount up I started to wonder why she could continue to admire the commitment with which they adhered to their faith, given the havoc they wreak on those around them. To be fair, she is pretty clear about all of this in the letters, if you are willing to work your way through them. I'm not going to spill those beans in this review. Instead I want to comment a bit on some different bits that are very likely to put contemporary readers off their feed, like her frequent use of the n-word. She clearly disapproves of its use--you get that from the letters--but her loyalty to truthful character study (circa the 40's and 50's) means that many of her characters use it liberally. One rather late letter also makes some disparaging remarks about James Baldwin, saying that she forms her opinion of individual black people by imagining what she would think of them if they were white.
I think that's a racist statement in itself, and I don't want to defend it. At the same time, I hope readers will recognize that very few white people (not just Southerners) would have recognized that as a racist view in 1963 and 1964. Part of Baldwin's greatness was in making that clear at a time when very few wanted to hear it. As I worked through the volume, I started to notice the absence of blacks in many stories, or their marginal role as part of the scenery in others. O'Connor is realistic about what how white Southerners of the area viewed blacks, but not so much about blacks themselves. But there are complexities. On the one hand, one letter complains about the fact that Northerners who converse with her always want to talk about race. On the other hand there's a story from the 1940's that notes some of the subtleties of terminology--colored, Negro, African-American, black--a good 40 years ahead of time. I ended up think that this body of writing actually could help us sort through race here in 2023, if only because it presents the nexus of whiteness, violence, innocence and religiosity so clearly. I think it could propel our conversations in useful directions, but you will probably have to cut her some slack for that to happen.
paigewetzel's review
4.0
Read most of the entries in this collection. Considering if was my first time reading O'Connor, I was blown away to say the least. During my professor's lectures, he explained main themes and concerns of O'Connor, which helped me engage her stories and writing better. I appreciate her attention to how beliefs are lived out and who gets left behind when orthodoxy is asserted as the most prominent concern. Some of my favorites were: The River, The Violent Bear It Away, Wise Blood, A Late Encounter With the Enemy, The Displaced Person, and A Temple of the Holy Ghost. Highly recommend to anyone in theology or literature, or any with interests in intersections between the two. She is a phenomenal writer in deserve of a larger readership.
qkjgrubb's review
Sometimes you devour a book. Sometimes a book devours you.
I chose this book, from my local library, for several reasons. 1) Flannery O'Connor is thought to have been one of the most respected writers of faith in recent history. 2) I need to read quality books to feed my brain if I'm going to call myself a writer. 3) My personal goal is to read fifty books in 2013 and 4) I chose this and got a hundred pages into it -- which I consider pretty committed -- before I realized that this volume was over 1000 pages long.
Until I picked up this book, the only thing I had read of hers was A Good Man Is Hard To Find and after reading it, I was so emotionally bewildered, I wasn't sure I wanted to read anything else by O'Connor again.
But for the sake of art, I decided to try again. This was before, of course, I realized this volume was so long.
It took me about 600 pages to finally realize that I need to buy this book. I NEED TO BUY THIS BOOK AND HIGHLIGHT THE HECK OUT OF IT. O'Connor's novels and short stories have a common element of Southern backwoods faith coming against the expectations of mid-century culture, Southern gentility and various forms of post-modern enlightenment. Her characters, especially the eaters of fat back and habitual church goers who speak more than they think, could have come right out of my childhood. The smug sons and daughters who return home (or who have never left) and argue with their parents over higher thought and reason and what they learned in college could have been me between the ages of fifteen and twenty-seven. The underlying themes of salvation and justice and redemption are all themes that I love and that I would hope to be able to communicate in my stories as well as she does. I am convinced that in the culture war we are now fighting in our churches and on the local news, Flannery O'Connor is still very relevant and I am not only going to make my children read her when they are old enough, but they are also going to savor her work, not just for the artistry (oh my, there is so much artistry!) but also for the hard questions it asks and the willingness to conclude that the answers are not easy.
If that weren't enough, at the back of this volume are 400 pages of her letters to friends and colleagues. Her humor and faith comes through in such grace -- in an entirely different way than it does in her stories -- and I want to invite her over for lunch and talk to her about her peacocks, her health and why she hates talking about writing. Maybe i"m a little star struck, but I think O'Connor would have made a great mentor or big sister.
Here are some of my favorites lines of hers from her letters:
"I am mighty tired of reading reviews that call "A Good Man" brutal and sarcastic. The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian sentimentalism."
"My audience are the people who think God is dead. At least these are the people I am conscious of writing for."
"There is a question whether faith can or is supposed to be emotionally satisfying. I must say that the thought of everyone lolling about in an emotionally satisfying faith is repugnant to me. I believe we are ultimately directed Godward but that this journey is often impeded by emotion."
"You ask God to let you see straight and write straight. I read somewhere that the more you asked God, the more impossible what you asked, the greater glory you were giving Him. This is something I don't fail to practice, although not without the right motives."
"When you write a novel, if you have been honest about it and if your conscience is clear, the it seems to me that you have to leave the rest in God's hands. When the book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry about this is to take over God's business."
"Fiction is supposed to represent life, and the fiction writer has to use as many aspects of life as are necessary to make his total picture convincing. THe fiction writer doesn't state, he shows, renders. It's the nature of fiction and it can't be helped. If you're writing about the vulgar, you have to prove that they're vulgar by showing them at it. The two worst sins of bad taste in ficton are p**nography and sentimentality. One is too much s*x and the other too much sentiment. You have to have enough of either to prove your point but no more. Of course there are some fiction writers who feel they have to retire to the bathroom or the bed with every character every time he takes himself to either place. Unless such a trip is used to further the story, I feel it is in bad taste."
This was only at the halfway point. I'm sure I could collect more and more passages that I loved, not only from her letters but from all the stories and essays that were in this volume. I loved this volume so much, I came up with three or four research papers I would write on her if I were taking a college course. Fortunately for you, I won't use my review space for such things.
This post is pretty much a Flannery O'Connor gush fest. It's been said that we write what we read. I'd be happy to have my writing reflect more of her wit, her honesty and her faith anytime. Hey Goodreads! You should have more than five stars. Flannery O'Connor gets ten.
I chose this book, from my local library, for several reasons. 1) Flannery O'Connor is thought to have been one of the most respected writers of faith in recent history. 2) I need to read quality books to feed my brain if I'm going to call myself a writer. 3) My personal goal is to read fifty books in 2013 and 4) I chose this and got a hundred pages into it -- which I consider pretty committed -- before I realized that this volume was over 1000 pages long.
Until I picked up this book, the only thing I had read of hers was A Good Man Is Hard To Find and after reading it, I was so emotionally bewildered, I wasn't sure I wanted to read anything else by O'Connor again.
But for the sake of art, I decided to try again. This was before, of course, I realized this volume was so long.
It took me about 600 pages to finally realize that I need to buy this book. I NEED TO BUY THIS BOOK AND HIGHLIGHT THE HECK OUT OF IT. O'Connor's novels and short stories have a common element of Southern backwoods faith coming against the expectations of mid-century culture, Southern gentility and various forms of post-modern enlightenment. Her characters, especially the eaters of fat back and habitual church goers who speak more than they think, could have come right out of my childhood. The smug sons and daughters who return home (or who have never left) and argue with their parents over higher thought and reason and what they learned in college could have been me between the ages of fifteen and twenty-seven. The underlying themes of salvation and justice and redemption are all themes that I love and that I would hope to be able to communicate in my stories as well as she does. I am convinced that in the culture war we are now fighting in our churches and on the local news, Flannery O'Connor is still very relevant and I am not only going to make my children read her when they are old enough, but they are also going to savor her work, not just for the artistry (oh my, there is so much artistry!) but also for the hard questions it asks and the willingness to conclude that the answers are not easy.
If that weren't enough, at the back of this volume are 400 pages of her letters to friends and colleagues. Her humor and faith comes through in such grace -- in an entirely different way than it does in her stories -- and I want to invite her over for lunch and talk to her about her peacocks, her health and why she hates talking about writing. Maybe i"m a little star struck, but I think O'Connor would have made a great mentor or big sister.
Here are some of my favorites lines of hers from her letters:
"I am mighty tired of reading reviews that call "A Good Man" brutal and sarcastic. The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian sentimentalism."
"My audience are the people who think God is dead. At least these are the people I am conscious of writing for."
"There is a question whether faith can or is supposed to be emotionally satisfying. I must say that the thought of everyone lolling about in an emotionally satisfying faith is repugnant to me. I believe we are ultimately directed Godward but that this journey is often impeded by emotion."
"You ask God to let you see straight and write straight. I read somewhere that the more you asked God, the more impossible what you asked, the greater glory you were giving Him. This is something I don't fail to practice, although not without the right motives."
"When you write a novel, if you have been honest about it and if your conscience is clear, the it seems to me that you have to leave the rest in God's hands. When the book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry about this is to take over God's business."
"Fiction is supposed to represent life, and the fiction writer has to use as many aspects of life as are necessary to make his total picture convincing. THe fiction writer doesn't state, he shows, renders. It's the nature of fiction and it can't be helped. If you're writing about the vulgar, you have to prove that they're vulgar by showing them at it. The two worst sins of bad taste in ficton are p**nography and sentimentality. One is too much s*x and the other too much sentiment. You have to have enough of either to prove your point but no more. Of course there are some fiction writers who feel they have to retire to the bathroom or the bed with every character every time he takes himself to either place. Unless such a trip is used to further the story, I feel it is in bad taste."
This was only at the halfway point. I'm sure I could collect more and more passages that I loved, not only from her letters but from all the stories and essays that were in this volume. I loved this volume so much, I came up with three or four research papers I would write on her if I were taking a college course. Fortunately for you, I won't use my review space for such things.
This post is pretty much a Flannery O'Connor gush fest. It's been said that we write what we read. I'd be happy to have my writing reflect more of her wit, her honesty and her faith anytime. Hey Goodreads! You should have more than five stars. Flannery O'Connor gets ten.
sabregirl's review
3.0
I've been reading her since high school and in college I actually took an entire class on her. Even after the semester class of her I really don't like any of her work. There are some I will give her praise for. Especially View of the Woods and Everything that Rises Must Converge. But having read most of the stories in this book I really don't get her appeal what so ever. I know it was in the times but there is too much deep beded racism within the stories. Plus most of the stories had the same characteristics. A lot of the main characters in all of her stories are a lot a like and loose their uniqueness after having to read the same person over and over again throughout all of the books. Hulga from Good Country people especially has a lot of the charactisitics from many of the other characters in all of the books. It grew frustrating after a while.
charityjohnson's review
2.0
Right now I am dithering on her writing...She's got only two stars because her subject matter is akin to lifting boxes filled with lead: they're heavy and there is something in them, but you're not sure you need it. 5 stars for writing, 2 for content.
menshouldread's review
dark
funny
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
5.0
debbiecuddy's review
4.0
BOTNS bingo-10 short stories- I read more than 10. I read the collection "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and re-read most of the stories in "A Good Man is Hard to Find". These stories are dark and grotesque and yet there is something compelling about them that makes one want to keep reading. Flannery O'Connor was a devout Catholic and I found it difficult to see how her writing fit in with her faith. Reading some of her essays and letters has given me some insight on this, particularly "The Church & the Fiction Writer" and "The Grotesque in Southern Fiction". Overall, her stories give one a lot to ponder.
samsonian's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
i hate this book but its well written. My favorite story would have to be the river or circle in the fire.