jayme 's review for:

Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories by Flannery O'Connor

4.0

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Really glad I read this so close to [b:Gone With the Wind|18405|Gone With the Wind|Margaret Mitchell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166913011s/18405.jpg|3358283]. Many of the stories were set in Georgia and dealt a lot with racism in a South vs. North way. It was interesting to see how little their views had changed between this and the Civil War. The major difference was the younger people from these stories often looked at their older relatives, and their fond remembrances of their grandparents with huge plantations, as dinosaurs, whose views were narrow-minded and prejudiced. Yet their own views can hardly be considered open-minded and the often came off as petty and mean for all their big talk.

O'Connor definitely has a depressing theme running through these stories. After the first couple, I found myself trying to guess which character was going to die, not a single story in this book went without a murder, suicide or accidental death. I'd like to read more of O'Connor's work, but only if this same formula doesn't hold true for all her writing. I don't mind seeing a theme run through a collection of short stories, but I wouldn't want to see it run through all her works. I think I'll try [b:Wise Blood|48467|Wise Blood|Flannery O'Connor|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170355801s/48467.jpg|1046530] after this.

Bookish Notes:

This was a side read. The discussion is here.