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A review by tits_mcgee
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
What? A southern gothic with lashings of zany absurdity and humour?
Tis combination I wouldn’t have thought would work, but Flannery O’Connor has proved me wrong because this book was fantastic, and the audiobook narrator Bronson Pinchot was entirely complementary to O’Connor’s prose, conveying perfectly that whimsical comedic tone.
O’Connor writes with a crisp, sharp tongue, with memorable characters and location writing that is similar in mood to Faulkner’s, though with a less complex writing style, one that is more straight shooting and charismatic, less of the loooooong (though beautiful) sentences.
The atmosphere is all there, and although the book is humourous it’s still very immersive and I was addicted to her southern flavour – a flavour that I’ve become a little bit obsessed with after reading Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark.
Indeed I read Outer Dark right before reading this, and then went on to read Faulkner’s Light in August, and of the three I would say O’Connor’s is the most accessible and also the most plot oriented. Where Outer Dark might be more about the mood and cruelty of the deep south, and Light in August might be more about persistence, hysteria and racial identity in a post-war economy, Wise Blood leans more on amplifying the grotesque to elaborate on her metaphors and compel the story forward in a more palatable way, mostly themed around religion and religious identity – or rather, anti-religious identity.
“There are all kinds of truth ... but behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that there's no truth.”
Don’t let the religious themes put you off though, reading this book is fun and easy and puts me in the mind-frame of watching cinema. I recommend the audiobook on Audible.
“Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.”
9/10
Tis combination I wouldn’t have thought would work, but Flannery O’Connor has proved me wrong because this book was fantastic, and the audiobook narrator Bronson Pinchot was entirely complementary to O’Connor’s prose, conveying perfectly that whimsical comedic tone.
O’Connor writes with a crisp, sharp tongue, with memorable characters and location writing that is similar in mood to Faulkner’s, though with a less complex writing style, one that is more straight shooting and charismatic, less of the loooooong (though beautiful) sentences.
The atmosphere is all there, and although the book is humourous it’s still very immersive and I was addicted to her southern flavour – a flavour that I’ve become a little bit obsessed with after reading Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark.
Indeed I read Outer Dark right before reading this, and then went on to read Faulkner’s Light in August, and of the three I would say O’Connor’s is the most accessible and also the most plot oriented. Where Outer Dark might be more about the mood and cruelty of the deep south, and Light in August might be more about persistence, hysteria and racial identity in a post-war economy, Wise Blood leans more on amplifying the grotesque to elaborate on her metaphors and compel the story forward in a more palatable way, mostly themed around religion and religious identity – or rather, anti-religious identity.
“There are all kinds of truth ... but behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that there's no truth.”
Don’t let the religious themes put you off though, reading this book is fun and easy and puts me in the mind-frame of watching cinema. I recommend the audiobook on Audible.
“Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.”
9/10