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urbanheron's review against another edition
Had no knowledge of the author before I was given this book by a friend. Would have stopped sooner If I had known that my friend hadn't read most of the stories, as after about half I was only interested in continuing to be able to discuss with them. Some of the stories I really enjoyed, others were a bit formulaic and tiresome. The stories waver in their depictions of Southern US racism and segregation: some, such as Everything That Rises Must Converge, read as (mostly) insightful breakdowns of the hypocrisy of a Christian society treating Black people as subhuman. But in most of the stories characters make racist remarks which are never addressed even tangentially and very much treated as normal.
sydtravis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sydney_jade09's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
rachelbaack's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Below are summaries of O'Connor's short stories, organized alphabetically by title. Each has been given a review using a 5-star scale:
- “The Artificial…”: An old man takes his grandson into the city to teach him a lesson, but the trip takes an unexpected turn. Rating: 4
- “The Barber”: A politically liberal professor comes into conflict with his barber, who holds different views, especially concerning race. Rating: 4.5
- “A Circle in the Fire”: A woman has some young, unexpected, and somewhat uninvited guests in this story that raises questions about the concepts of hospitality and ownership. Rating: 3.25
- “The Comforts of Home”: When a kindly woman brings a young criminal into her home, her son objects and tries to come up with a way to get rid of the girl. Rating: 3.25
- “The Crop”: A writer starts a new project and gets lost in the world of her own creation. Rating: 3
- “The Displaced Person”: A farm owner named Mrs. McIntyre hires a Polish refugee, and this decision soon causes some tensions on the farm. The story deals with issues like racial prejudice and entitlement. Rating: 4.5
- “The Enduring Chill”: A haughty twenty-five-year-old man returns to his country home from New York, expecting to die from an illness. Rating: 4
- “Enoch and the Gorilla”: An extension of the story of Enoch (from “The Peeler” and “The Heart of the Park”), this tale depicts a young man who wants to become someone and who uses unusual means involving a man in a gorilla costume to do so. Rating: 3
- “Everything That Rises Must Converge”: In this story, the reader learns about the vast differences in worldview between a mother and her son as they take a bus trip downtown. It is beautifully unsettling. Rating: 4.5
- “The Geranium”: An old man named Dudley moves to New York City to live with his daughter and immediately regrets it. He misses his life in the South and wants to return. Across the street from his daughter’s apartment, there sits a potted geranium that becomes symbolic for Dudley. Rating: 2.75
- “Good Country People”: The meeting of an atheist philosopher and a Bible salesman results in an unexpected revelation. Rating: 4.5
- “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”: A selfish grandmother tries to convince her other family members (her son, Daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, none of whom respect the grandmother) to change the destination of their family vacation from Florida to Tennessee, using the recent escape of a murderer called “the Misfit” to deter them from heading toward the place from which he escaped. The story is full of ironic twists and ends with a shocking conclusion. Rating: 4.75
- “Greenleaf”: Mrs. May, a farm-owner with two adult sons who both live at home, employs Mr. Greenleaf. Both Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf are Christians, but Mrs. May’s sense of morality comes from her success. One day, a bull gets out on Mrs. May’s property, and she asks Mr. Greenleaf to shoot it. The end of this story is both surprising and thought-provoking. Rating: 4.25
- “The Heart of the Park”: This story is a continuation of “The Peeler.” Enoch has been working at a park that has a mysterious object at its center that Enoch feels he must show someone. On the day that the story takes place, the perfect candidate to see this object arrives. Rating: 3.75
- “Judgement Day”: An old man named Tanner has been forced off of his property in Georgia where he lived with a man whom he befriended. Because of this, he moved to New York City to live with his daughter, where he met another, less friendly man who reminded him of his friend back in Georgia. He is now planning to escape New York City and head back to his home. Very reminiscent of “The Geranium” with a more violent twist. Rating: 3
- “The Lame Shall Enter First”: Determined to do a good deed, Sheppard invites a juvenile delinquent to live with him in hopes of rehabilitating the boy. He is not prepared, however, for the events that will unfold as a result of his actions. Rating: 3.5
- “A Late Encounter with the Enemy”: An old war veteran who is determined not to care about the past is forced to face reality. Rating: 3.75
- “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”: A wanderer named Tom T. Shiftlet stops at Mrs. Crater’s farm, where he sees a car that he would like to have. He offers to do work around the farm in exchange for a place to stay, and Mrs. Crater, hoping to rope Mr. Shiftlet into marrying her deaf-mute daughter, agrees to this deal. Rating: 4
- “Parker’s Back”: A tattooed, un-religious man marries a moralistic Christian woman and decides to get a tattoo on his back that his wife won’t be able to hate. Rating: 5
- “The Partridge Festival”: A self-important young man goes to his great-aunts’ hometown to gather information about a man whom he idolizes, and he learns more than he ever intended to. Rating: 4.75
- “The Peeler”: Seemingly a continuation of “The Train,” this story features a man named Hazel who has an unsettling encounter with a blind man handing out tracts and an overly friendly teenager named Enoch. Rating: 3.5
- “The River”: The reader gets to experience the thoughts of an ornery young boy about the events surrounding his trip to see a travelling preacher. Rating: 3.25
- “A Stroke of Good Fortune”: A proud woman faces a surprising medical issue. Rating: 4
- “A Temple of the Holy Ghost”: A precocious young girl is visited by her vain cousins, and they tell her a story about an experience they had that makes her reconsider her theology. Rating: 5
- “The Train”: A traveler mistakes the identity of a porter on his train and remembers his past. Rating: 3
- “The Turkey”: An eleven-year-old boy has as existential crises as he attempts to catch a wild turkey. Rating: 4.25
- “A View of the Woods”: A disagreement between a grandfather and granddaughter over a business decision escalates until it reaches a shocking conclusion. Rating: 4.5
- “Why Do the Heathen Rage?”: After Tilman has a stroke, his wife hopes that their sluggish son will take charge of the household. Rating: 4
- “Wildcat”: An old blind man, smelling a bloodthirsty wildcat approaching, recalls a similar experience from his childhood and experiences a range of emotions related to what he believes to be his impending death. Rating: 3.25
- “You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead”: A fourteen-year-old boy experiences a tumult of emotions following his great uncle’s death, and he takes extreme action. Rating: 3.75
burialshroud's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jcpinckney's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
klaws500's review against another edition
4.75
I've been reading this book for a couple of months, one story at a time every other day or so. It has been an incredible, and frankly weird, experience. O'Connor has written her way into my heart for sure, but I think she'll always remain a mystery to me.
I am fascinated by her style and choices, and it's going to be hard to say goodbye and move on. The force of her personality comes through in every story, and she demands readers meet her where she is. Her stories are incredibly uncomfortable, the status quo is challenged on every page. It's a difficult vision to sell. And yet, as I've worked my way through this collection I've found her impossible to look away from, sometimes because she's grotesque like a car wreck, and others because she's mesmerizing like a peacock displaying his feathers.
Even though I can't at all relate to her deeply felt religious beliefs, I can relate to being an outsider even among your own people. O'Connor was an iconoclast with a unique perspective that she wasn't afraid to share even though it made people uncomfortable and confused. I'm kind of in awe of her.
I am fascinated by her style and choices, and it's going to be hard to say goodbye and move on. The force of her personality comes through in every story, and she demands readers meet her where she is. Her stories are incredibly uncomfortable, the status quo is challenged on every page. It's a difficult vision to sell. And yet, as I've worked my way through this collection I've found her impossible to look away from, sometimes because she's grotesque like a car wreck, and others because she's mesmerizing like a peacock displaying his feathers.
Even though I can't at all relate to her deeply felt religious beliefs, I can relate to being an outsider even among your own people. O'Connor was an iconoclast with a unique perspective that she wasn't afraid to share even though it made people uncomfortable and confused. I'm kind of in awe of her.
dukegregory's review against another edition
4.0
Short story collections that amass an author's entire career in one compendium take me ages to get through. It has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. It's just such a heft of things to read, and I have an obsession with going through them chronologically even though that always leaves me normally bored out of my mind by the first stories, and then I also get carried away by the novels I'm reading concurrently, and it just becomes a project unintentionally. Flannery took me months, but it was a wonderful back-and-forth between myself and the Southern Gothic queen while it lasted. I'm late to the Flannery party, but her name brand, the stunning paperback cover, and the pleading of Rachel Lu got me to find some of my new favorite short pieces. I don't want to go on, because everything has seemingly been said already about these stories: grace, grotesque, racism, grotesque, she had lupus!, grace, religion, dialect, anti-intellectualism, grace. It's all about grotesque grace! I may be affected by having just watched Raging Bull last night, but I think there're tendencies that Flannery and Marty share. There's an obsession with dissecting people deemed stupid, revolting, wrong, offensive through indictments masquerading as character studies. There is a fascination with amoral people as spectacle. The characters' performances of self serve as the foci. How is a supposedly religious woman performing Christian teachings? How is an atheistic rationalist performing said atheism? Identity and the associations that characters construct with cultural touchpoints result in rigid moralism which, in turn, reveals the twisted employment of those same touchpoints to delude themselves. Self-awareness is vanquished. This then expands into a general dialogue that O'Connor engages with about hate. The grotesque nature of these stories comes from moments of utter chaos that are bred from the faux-sense of "order" that the characters curate through their immense superiority complexes, their need to indulge in hate to feel better about themselves. Echoes of the pre-Emancipation South can be heard in spades. Sexism thrives. Intellectualism is an endeavor for the oddities of the community. All of that said, so much of these stories is hysterical, melodramatic, tragic, campy, and more. Flannery really did that.
"The Geranium" - 2
"The Barber" - 3
"Wildcat" - 2
"The Crop" - 2
"The Turkey" - 2
"The Train" - 2
"The Peeler" - 2.5
"The Heart of the Park" - 2.5
"A Stroke of Good Fortune" - 3.5
"Enoch and the Gorilla" - 4
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" - 5
"A Late Encounter with the Enemy" - 4.5
"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" - 4.5
"The River" - 4
"A Circle in the Fire" - 2.5
"The Displaced Person" - 4.5
"A Temple of the Holy Ghost" - 3.5
"The Artificial Nigger" - 4
"Good Country People" - 5
"You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead" - 3
"Greenleaf" - 3.5
"A View of the Woods" - 5
"The Enduring Chill" - 5
"The Comforts of Home" - 4.5
"Everything That Rises Must Converge" - 5
"The Partridge Festival" - 5
"The Lame Shall Enter First" - 5
"Why Do the Heathen Rage?" - 2
"Revelation" - 3.5
"Parker's Back" - 3
"Judgment Day" - 3
"The Geranium" - 2
"The Barber" - 3
"Wildcat" - 2
"The Crop" - 2
"The Turkey" - 2
"The Train" - 2
"The Peeler" - 2.5
"The Heart of the Park" - 2.5
"A Stroke of Good Fortune" - 3.5
"Enoch and the Gorilla" - 4
"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" - 5
"A Late Encounter with the Enemy" - 4.5
"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" - 4.5
"The River" - 4
"A Circle in the Fire" - 2.5
"The Displaced Person" - 4.5
"A Temple of the Holy Ghost" - 3.5
"The Artificial Nigger" - 4
"Good Country People" - 5
"You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead" - 3
"Greenleaf" - 3.5
"A View of the Woods" - 5
"The Enduring Chill" - 5
"The Comforts of Home" - 4.5
"Everything That Rises Must Converge" - 5
"The Partridge Festival" - 5
"The Lame Shall Enter First" - 5
"Why Do the Heathen Rage?" - 2
"Revelation" - 3.5
"Parker's Back" - 3
"Judgment Day" - 3
corwyng's review against another edition
1.0
Lil' mini-reviews for each of the shorts; each review was written shortly after reading each one.
The Geranium
Ya never read the n-word so many times in your life. At time of reading this short & writing this review for it, dunno O'Connor's personal politics & beliefs, dunno if this character reflects her own views or not. Old country man goes to the big city, doesn't like it, typical stuff, and also big-mad about black people being there. Whether endorsement or critique of said character, not super deep or compelling stuff anyway.
The Barber
In between stories, looked her up on Wikipedia to get a sense of her views, just to make sure I was placing her fiction in the proper context and not projecting incorrectly onto them, and uh. In her words, "You know, I'm an integrationist by principle & a segregationist by taste. I don't like Negros." So. Uh. Yeah. Not just "of the times" writing, she was just an actual racist. And that racism continues in this story, which is also just... weirdly didactic? Literally just a dude arguing with his barber about who he's voting for. Not engaging in terms of drama, but also not enough depth to make the didacticism interesting. We are not starting out strong.
Wildcat
Not bad.
The Crop
Okay?
The Turkey
Funniest bit was the dude saying "hell" and immediately being like, "gasp. what if I started swearin' and blaspheming and shocking people? what if I renounced God? what if I turned to a life of crime?" before feeling bad about it and apologizing to God for saying goddammit so much.
The Train
I feel stupid because I literally don't understand what this was about at all.
The Peeler
I'm still waiting for one of these stories to really do something for me. One of the capital-G Greats; should be eliciting more from me, I think. Starting to think these reviews are going to continue being threadbare, ain't got nothin' to say.
The Heart of the Park
Sorry, I don't find Haze and Enoch to be interesting enough characters to warrant multiple short stories centered on them.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Skipped reviewing a few since I had nothing to say. This one was actually pretty decent, credit where due.
The Artificial Nigger
A heartwarming tale of an old man and his grandson overcoming their differences and finding redemption through, I guess, their united dislike of black people? Or something? He abandons the kid in the city to teach him some kind of lesson, kid hates him for it, but then they see some kind of, I don't know if it was a statue or what it was, of a black person (the titular role), and then they keep repeating "It's an artificial nigger!" and then everything is cool between them again. Yet another story about how Da City is bad, primarily because of its preponderance of black people.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Ok, so I clearly gave up on reviewing each of the stories. This is probably going to be Controversial, perhaps even Offensive, but I... really did not like this. Flannery O'Connor and me are not on the same wavelength at all.
I'm not someone who thinks characters need to be at all likable or relatable, but I was constantly amazed by how singularly unpleasant virtually all of her characters are. Even more than that, I don't think I've ever encountered an author who writes with such contempt for their characters; most of the stories just felt like hit-pieces on fictional characters in such a bizarre way. But also... neither the characters nor the stories were at all interesting. There was nothing to engage on any level. There's plenty of stories that are cynical or nihilistic or misanthropic or whatever, but they're also usually interesting in some way. I don't think she was a nihilist and maybe not a misanthrope (maybe), but she was definitely uninteresting. (Ironically, Cormac McCarthy, whose works I would definitely consider nihilistic and dour, still writes with so much more humanity than anything found here)
Also, and I don't want to harp on this again, but it really is weird how many stories she dedicated to whining about how much she didn't like black people. "Separate the art from the artist" and yadda yadda, sure, but her hating black people is literally a more prevalent theme across her stories than her Christianity. But lest someone cry about "wokeness" or whatever silly nonsense: I've still enjoyed works that are Problematic. This is still indefensibly racist to a degree that deserves to be mentioned, but also, she's just... dull. So it's just some smug Christian country girl being racist and boring.
Sorry to everyone who considers her one of the greatest literary minds of human history. I have failed you all. I shall nail myself to the cross, like Mr. The Christ.
The Geranium
Ya never read the n-word so many times in your life. At time of reading this short & writing this review for it, dunno O'Connor's personal politics & beliefs, dunno if this character reflects her own views or not. Old country man goes to the big city, doesn't like it, typical stuff, and also big-mad about black people being there. Whether endorsement or critique of said character, not super deep or compelling stuff anyway.
The Barber
In between stories, looked her up on Wikipedia to get a sense of her views, just to make sure I was placing her fiction in the proper context and not projecting incorrectly onto them, and uh. In her words, "You know, I'm an integrationist by principle & a segregationist by taste. I don't like Negros." So. Uh. Yeah. Not just "of the times" writing, she was just an actual racist. And that racism continues in this story, which is also just... weirdly didactic? Literally just a dude arguing with his barber about who he's voting for. Not engaging in terms of drama, but also not enough depth to make the didacticism interesting. We are not starting out strong.
Wildcat
Not bad.
The Crop
Okay?
The Turkey
Funniest bit was the dude saying "hell" and immediately being like, "gasp. what if I started swearin' and blaspheming and shocking people? what if I renounced God? what if I turned to a life of crime?" before feeling bad about it and apologizing to God for saying goddammit so much.
The Train
I feel stupid because I literally don't understand what this was about at all.
The Peeler
I'm still waiting for one of these stories to really do something for me. One of the capital-G Greats; should be eliciting more from me, I think. Starting to think these reviews are going to continue being threadbare, ain't got nothin' to say.
The Heart of the Park
Sorry, I don't find Haze and Enoch to be interesting enough characters to warrant multiple short stories centered on them.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Skipped reviewing a few since I had nothing to say. This one was actually pretty decent, credit where due.
The Artificial Nigger
A heartwarming tale of an old man and his grandson overcoming their differences and finding redemption through, I guess, their united dislike of black people? Or something? He abandons the kid in the city to teach him some kind of lesson, kid hates him for it, but then they see some kind of, I don't know if it was a statue or what it was, of a black person (the titular role), and then they keep repeating "It's an artificial nigger!" and then everything is cool between them again. Yet another story about how Da City is bad, primarily because of its preponderance of black people.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Ok, so I clearly gave up on reviewing each of the stories. This is probably going to be Controversial, perhaps even Offensive, but I... really did not like this. Flannery O'Connor and me are not on the same wavelength at all.
I'm not someone who thinks characters need to be at all likable or relatable, but I was constantly amazed by how singularly unpleasant virtually all of her characters are. Even more than that, I don't think I've ever encountered an author who writes with such contempt for their characters; most of the stories just felt like hit-pieces on fictional characters in such a bizarre way. But also... neither the characters nor the stories were at all interesting. There was nothing to engage on any level. There's plenty of stories that are cynical or nihilistic or misanthropic or whatever, but they're also usually interesting in some way. I don't think she was a nihilist and maybe not a misanthrope (maybe), but she was definitely uninteresting. (Ironically, Cormac McCarthy, whose works I would definitely consider nihilistic and dour, still writes with so much more humanity than anything found here)
Also, and I don't want to harp on this again, but it really is weird how many stories she dedicated to whining about how much she didn't like black people. "Separate the art from the artist" and yadda yadda, sure, but her hating black people is literally a more prevalent theme across her stories than her Christianity. But lest someone cry about "wokeness" or whatever silly nonsense: I've still enjoyed works that are Problematic. This is still indefensibly racist to a degree that deserves to be mentioned, but also, she's just... dull. So it's just some smug Christian country girl being racist and boring.
Sorry to everyone who considers her one of the greatest literary minds of human history. I have failed you all. I shall nail myself to the cross, like Mr. The Christ.