Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - A Good Man Is Hard To Find: Short Story

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

A Good Man Is Hard To Find: Short Story by Flannery O'Connor

10 reviews

thecheeseowl's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is fascinating. There could be so many angles of discussion you can have with this story. You could talk about anything from the American prison system to how being stuck in the past negatively affects your relationships.

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biobeetle's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense 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

3.25

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sandy_21's review

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adventurous fast-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

1.5

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sambora's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A customer recommended this novella to me because of our mutual adoration for Cormac McCarthy's works. I can definitely see seeds of his style here and I would recommend it likewise; if you are a fan on his it'd definitely be worth checking this out.

Originally written in the 50's, this is a southern gothic story of a family road trip gone very awry in a desperately dark way.
The clean prose, the jilted language, the characterisation of each member of the family... it is all fantastic.
The abrupt nature of the story and it's happenings fit extremely well and makes satisfying that which on paper really ought not to be. I am impressed.

I'm not sure how many more of O'Connor's stories are still in print, but I shall certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for them.

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warmrats's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read for my English course. Very interesting to analyze as a representation of Old South vs. New South and religious ideologies.

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samdalefox's review against another edition

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challenging sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Not for me. Even when I read the reviews and analyses of others I think they're reaching for a depth of meaning that just isn't present in this short story. I don't know what else to say, I've copied a review from another Storygraph member below which I agree with.

coolchick_cesc's review:

This short story (originally published in the 50s) follows a family roadtripping through the Bible Belt while a serial killer runs loose. I’m sure you can guess the rest. There are themes of Southern religion, salvation, and race, as the grandmother begs God to forgive this white serial killer while literally in a plantation. Like many short stories, I think the pacing was a bit off and suspense struggled to build. While the characterisation was good for such a short book, the story is incredibly dated and not very remarkable with a 2022 lens.

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