kristymartino's review against another edition
3.0
I can never resist themes of secularism versus fanaticism. This novel was not quite what Wise Blood is but it's extremely vivid in it's raw and rapid pace. Plus, I love any book where Satan makes a cameo. Who doesn't.
alectastic's review against another edition
4.0
Experience is a terrible teacher,
I sense something Oedipal about this novel. When we hear a prophetic call in the dark of our hearts, we might, in a panic, flee in more directions than one, but there are ways we run from our fate that lead us straight to it.
I am prepared to maintain that this novel, whether it wants to, orbits the powerful and implicative question of whether a child can ever speak for himself. Perhaps one’s childhood is a dangerous impression.
I often wonder, when reading a work with religion braided in its veins, what truth the author unveiled inadvertently. We can do a lot with the truth: arrive at it, reveal it, or stumble upon it, we don’t know.
One’s understanding can surpass another person’s, it is true, an intuition forming deep within so crystalline and divine that the others paint you as other, impenetrable. But who knows which way to tell who knows the truth, when it comes from that voice inside, and who is that speaking to you in there, God or the devil or yourself?
How to tell God’s voice from the devil’s? (if there is a devil?)
The numinous, and there’s no denying it, has something inherently senseless about it.
At which point is a fixation insane?
A child can’t defend himself.
kalliegrace's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Fanaticism and fundamentalism do not make for good people, no matter what side of the aisle they fall. Horrible story beautifully written.
majortomwaits's review against another edition
4.0
In all honestly, it took me all the was until the final portiom of this book to even start to comprehend what was happening. This novel also made me realize why Cormac McCarthy is often compared to Flannery O'Connor, topics aside, but it took me awhile to understand what was going on on the page.
Despite my initial confusion, this one blew me away and I must reread it to properly digest it.
Despite my initial confusion, this one blew me away and I must reread it to properly digest it.
azu_rikka's review against another edition
DNF at page 74.
I just couldn't be bothered. Read the last few pages for good measure and still think that I didn't miss anything.
I just couldn't be bothered. Read the last few pages for good measure and still think that I didn't miss anything.
tsenteme's review against another edition
4.0
Εμφανείς οι επιρροές από Φώκνερ αλλά πολύ περισσότερο από τον καθολικισμό.
ricefun's review against another edition
3.0
This book is so difficult to "rate." O'Connor is a master story-weaver. But her characters are almost painful to follow as they consistently display the underbelly of humanity - sometimes intentionally and at other times unwittingly. She uses distortion to keep the reader just a bit off-balanced, and in this particular novel I had a hard time keeping track of her three male characters (so much so that I had to re-read the beginning and several passages). I will look forward to class discussion about this story.
ryanofmaryland's review against another edition
5.0
A masterpiece. O'Connor again blends horror and wonder, tragedy and grace.