jonathan_von 's review for:

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor

5.0

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4.5 A subtle and sometimes beautiful gothic look at the southern disease of religious psychosis. Doesn’t quite end when it should and goes on about 40 pages too long with some no-longer-subtle wages of sin stuff. But, up until the dramatic act, is a fascinating look at the struggle for intellectual identity in the sometimes tortured Bible Belt. I, myself, am an atheist and have never been to a church service, but the religious themes were still interesting and compelling. It sounds rather like the heartbreaking realization of the inability to ever truly rebel from the brainwashing of youth.