What do you think?
Rate this book
A Good Hard Look
Forced by illness to leave behind a successful life in New York, literary icon Flannery O'Connor has returned to her family farm in the small town of Milledgeville, Georgia. With her health and time both limited, all she wants is to be left alone to write.
But Melvin Whiteson, a banker from Manhattan who recently married the town belle, soon upends Flannery's plans. Melvin is at loose ends with his new life; although he has every opportunity, he's not sure where to begin. Flannery knows exactly what she wants but is running out of time. Through their unusual and clandestine friendship, both will come to reflect on the decisions they have made and the paths they have chosen.
But Melvin Whiteson, a banker from Manhattan who recently married the town belle, soon upends Flannery's plans. Melvin is at loose ends with his new life; although he has every opportunity, he's not sure where to begin. Flannery knows exactly what she wants but is running out of time. Through their unusual and clandestine friendship, both will come to reflect on the decisions they have made and the paths they have chosen.
335 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
1380 people are currently reading
18039 people want to read
About the author
Ann Napolitano
7 books7,338 followersAnn Napolitano’s novel, Hello Beautiful, was published by Dial Press in March 2023 and was an instant New York Times bestseller and the 100th Oprah Book Club pick. The novel was published by Viking Penguin in the United Kingdom in July 2023, and currently has thirty-one international publishers. It was named one of the ten best books of the year by the Chicago Public Library, and one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Amazon, NPR, The Washington Post, Time, Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Post and others. Hello Beautiful has also been long-listed for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award.
Dear Edward was published by Dial Press in January 2020 and was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Read with Jenna selection, and was released as an Apple TV+ series starring Connie Britton. The novel currently has twenty-eight international publishers. It was named one of the best books of 2020 by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Real Simple, Fast Company, Women’s World, Parade, LibraryReads and Amazon.
Her other two novels are A Good Hard Look, and Napolitano’s debut novel, Within Arm’s Reach, which will be re-issued with a new cover in April 2024. She was the Associate Editor of One Story literary magazine from 2014-2020. She received an MFA from New York University; she has taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and for Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Dear Edward was published by Dial Press in January 2020 and was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Read with Jenna selection, and was released as an Apple TV+ series starring Connie Britton. The novel currently has twenty-eight international publishers. It was named one of the best books of 2020 by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Real Simple, Fast Company, Women’s World, Parade, LibraryReads and Amazon.
Her other two novels are A Good Hard Look, and Napolitano’s debut novel, Within Arm’s Reach, which will be re-issued with a new cover in April 2024. She was the Associate Editor of One Story literary magazine from 2014-2020. She received an MFA from New York University; she has taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and for Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 738 reviews
August 8, 2011
I like to read with a pen and small notebook close by, to copy a phrase or thought or question for later reflection. This book caused me to stop so often to bookmark or jot something down that it almost became a distraction. "A Good Hard Look" may be the most thought-provoking book I have read in many months.
Flannery O’Connor is an author I have read off and on throughout my life, drawn to her style and subjects at times, put off by her raw emotions at others, intrigued by the literary giants who were her peers, and saddened by her debilitating illness and early death. In this novel, she, and the fictional characters that surround her, come to life struggling with their tragic flaws.
At the beginning of this novel, O’Connor has been back in her childhood home in Georgia for 12 years, forced to move from her stimulating writing life in the North back to her childhood home where her mother could help care for her after her diagnosis with lupus. “She knew what it was like to have a life, and then lose it.” The townspeople resent her because they believe she has used them and the town in her novel, Wise Blood, and anticipate their lives could and will be used again. Meeting her face to face, hearing her searing, honest thoughts, further frightens them away.
The foreshadowing in the early pages of the novel is evident, but I was unprepared for the tsunami that occurred bringing such destruction to so many characters. Details are exquisitely drawn, almost excruciatingly, moment by moment, as one observes Flannery’s beloved peacocks and characters. The author manages to capture moments in characters’ lives that both defined them and revealed their most awful selves. The reader may also see something of himself.
Flannery O’Connor…Melvin Whiteson…Cookie Himmel…Miss Mary…Regina O’Connor…Lona, Bill, Gigi, Joe…The platonic relationship that develops between O’Connor and a recently married man whose wife has long despised O’Connor is built upon secrecy. Ironically, words connected them; Flannery “fought to make every word count” in her writing. She and Melvin Whiteson are able to converse with each other in a way that is not available elsewhere in their lives. “He knew from her writing, from the way she trapped tiny disappointments, tiny hopes, tiny frustrations and pinned them down with sentences. Flannery saw everything, and was able to translate her insights into words.” Whiteson’s wife, Cookie Himmel, is driven to carve out a life in Milledgeville that serves her self-indulgent needs, feeds her ego, and separates her from Flannery; it also reflects the socioeconomic realities of the small town. While she and an ambitious police officer are strategic about their work, other characters seem to behave more aimlessly, and yet, all are caught in the tidal wave.
“Everyone had, at best, only one big story in his or her life; a story that rendered everything else just a footnote.”
Flannery’s knowledge that death was imminent and her obsession with her writing as time was running out kept pace with the small steps being taken by others whose lives were irrevocably changed one afternoon.
In the end whose fate is worse? Who has lost more? Are there lessons of forgiveness and redemption? “There were very few guiltless people that day.” The perceptions of the characters reveal their flawed, very human thinking…that Flannery’s illness kept her “good” and now she has disappointed…that only one person survived…that Cookie has lost everything despite doing everything right, that guilt replaces grief, tethering certain people to place…”Hope. They are sustained by hope. Hope may have a positive reputation, but it has a vicious downside. If you have hope, you may be crushed”…that “Grace changes a person…And change is painful”... “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Napolitano’s research and understanding of O’Connor’s writing is demonstrated throughout the novel. However, the many passages revealing O’Connor’s deep faith and her later struggle were riveting, reflecting the connection between her faith, living with her illness and her writing…”she had used it to shape her life.”
Flannery O’Connor is an author I have read off and on throughout my life, drawn to her style and subjects at times, put off by her raw emotions at others, intrigued by the literary giants who were her peers, and saddened by her debilitating illness and early death. In this novel, she, and the fictional characters that surround her, come to life struggling with their tragic flaws.
At the beginning of this novel, O’Connor has been back in her childhood home in Georgia for 12 years, forced to move from her stimulating writing life in the North back to her childhood home where her mother could help care for her after her diagnosis with lupus. “She knew what it was like to have a life, and then lose it.” The townspeople resent her because they believe she has used them and the town in her novel, Wise Blood, and anticipate their lives could and will be used again. Meeting her face to face, hearing her searing, honest thoughts, further frightens them away.
The foreshadowing in the early pages of the novel is evident, but I was unprepared for the tsunami that occurred bringing such destruction to so many characters. Details are exquisitely drawn, almost excruciatingly, moment by moment, as one observes Flannery’s beloved peacocks and characters. The author manages to capture moments in characters’ lives that both defined them and revealed their most awful selves. The reader may also see something of himself.
Flannery O’Connor…Melvin Whiteson…Cookie Himmel…Miss Mary…Regina O’Connor…Lona, Bill, Gigi, Joe…The platonic relationship that develops between O’Connor and a recently married man whose wife has long despised O’Connor is built upon secrecy. Ironically, words connected them; Flannery “fought to make every word count” in her writing. She and Melvin Whiteson are able to converse with each other in a way that is not available elsewhere in their lives. “He knew from her writing, from the way she trapped tiny disappointments, tiny hopes, tiny frustrations and pinned them down with sentences. Flannery saw everything, and was able to translate her insights into words.” Whiteson’s wife, Cookie Himmel, is driven to carve out a life in Milledgeville that serves her self-indulgent needs, feeds her ego, and separates her from Flannery; it also reflects the socioeconomic realities of the small town. While she and an ambitious police officer are strategic about their work, other characters seem to behave more aimlessly, and yet, all are caught in the tidal wave.
“Everyone had, at best, only one big story in his or her life; a story that rendered everything else just a footnote.”
Flannery’s knowledge that death was imminent and her obsession with her writing as time was running out kept pace with the small steps being taken by others whose lives were irrevocably changed one afternoon.
In the end whose fate is worse? Who has lost more? Are there lessons of forgiveness and redemption? “There were very few guiltless people that day.” The perceptions of the characters reveal their flawed, very human thinking…that Flannery’s illness kept her “good” and now she has disappointed…that only one person survived…that Cookie has lost everything despite doing everything right, that guilt replaces grief, tethering certain people to place…”Hope. They are sustained by hope. Hope may have a positive reputation, but it has a vicious downside. If you have hope, you may be crushed”…that “Grace changes a person…And change is painful”... “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Napolitano’s research and understanding of O’Connor’s writing is demonstrated throughout the novel. However, the many passages revealing O’Connor’s deep faith and her later struggle were riveting, reflecting the connection between her faith, living with her illness and her writing…”she had used it to shape her life.”
August 7, 2024
"Hope may have a positive reputation, but it has a vicious downside. If you have hope, you can be crushed."
Writer Flannery O'Connor was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease, and moved back from New York City to her hometown in Georgia. She lived on her family farm with her mother and a multitude of peacocks. The townspeople of Milledgeville worried that the perceptive Flannery would make them characters in one of her books which were filled with strange, quirky characters. Author Ann Napolitano wrote a fictional book about Milledgeville and its most famous resident in the last few years of Flannery's life.
The book opens on the evening before the wedding of Cookie, a beautiful community organizer, and Melvin, the heir to a New York banking fortune, who were beginning their marriage in Milledgeville. Melvin starts giving Flannery driving lessons a few months later and is drawn to her vitality, intelligence, and humor. He feels like life is just passing by without any purpose. Another bored individual is Lona who makes curtains, but who comes alive when she makes a connection with her teenage assistant.
The book is about the residents of a small Southern town in the 1960s. There are many undercurrents of feeling below the calm exterior of the people. The book has a Southern Gothic feel to it with characters facing important ethical decisions while fate leaves many broken emotionally. Flannery's peacocks add to the Gothic feel with the combination of their great sapphire and emerald beauty and their otherworldly wailing and screaming.
I found the characters in this novel to be fascinating, especially Flannery and Melvin. I've read a novel and a book of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor so I've read about her previously. It was interesting to see how Ann Napolitano made this talented complex woman a character in her fictional book. The title of the book comes from a speech that Flannery made at a graduation:
"Take a good hard look at who you are and what you have . . . and then use it."
Writer Flannery O'Connor was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease, and moved back from New York City to her hometown in Georgia. She lived on her family farm with her mother and a multitude of peacocks. The townspeople of Milledgeville worried that the perceptive Flannery would make them characters in one of her books which were filled with strange, quirky characters. Author Ann Napolitano wrote a fictional book about Milledgeville and its most famous resident in the last few years of Flannery's life.
The book opens on the evening before the wedding of Cookie, a beautiful community organizer, and Melvin, the heir to a New York banking fortune, who were beginning their marriage in Milledgeville. Melvin starts giving Flannery driving lessons a few months later and is drawn to her vitality, intelligence, and humor. He feels like life is just passing by without any purpose. Another bored individual is Lona who makes curtains, but who comes alive when she makes a connection with her teenage assistant.
The book is about the residents of a small Southern town in the 1960s. There are many undercurrents of feeling below the calm exterior of the people. The book has a Southern Gothic feel to it with characters facing important ethical decisions while fate leaves many broken emotionally. Flannery's peacocks add to the Gothic feel with the combination of their great sapphire and emerald beauty and their otherworldly wailing and screaming.
I found the characters in this novel to be fascinating, especially Flannery and Melvin. I've read a novel and a book of short stories written by Flannery O'Connor so I've read about her previously. It was interesting to see how Ann Napolitano made this talented complex woman a character in her fictional book. The title of the book comes from a speech that Flannery made at a graduation:
"Take a good hard look at who you are and what you have . . . and then use it."
did-not-finish
June 22, 2024DNF at 21%. Well darn. Ms. Napolitano is the author of my 2023 book of the year Hello Beautiful. She still displays her brilliant authorship in Good Hard Look, but I just can’t connect with the characters nor the storyline. Maybe because I don’t know anything about Flannery O’Connor? I don’t know. Anyway, it has been a real slow go and is heading me towards another dreaded book slump so I have decided to call it quits. Too bad.
September 20, 2011
The novel takes place in O’Connor’s small hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia. There are three point of view characters in the book: Melvin, the wealthy New Yorker who’s relocated to marry Cookie, the town debutante, and Lona, their seamstress. Melvin, Cookie, and Lona are each stilted or stifled in some way, and are in search (consciously or unconsciously) of a way to make their lives matter.
Melvin is drawn to Flannery O’Connor for her bold honesty as an escape from the extreme state of politeness in which he lives his life. Cookie hates Flannery for this very reason–the fact that she feels Flannery has her figured out with a single, penetrating glance. Lona has allowed herself to become dulled by her household routines and the joints she smokes behind her police officer husband’s back.
As the characters’ lives are revealed in small pieces and the choices they make pull them further away from realizing their full selves, impending disaster rumbles beneath the surface. When it erupts in a scene of shocking violence and tragedy, every chance of hope seems lost. The characters must take a “good hard look” at how they’ve contributed to their own destruction and what they can do to rebuild their lives.
I had to let A GOOD HARD LOOK sit and simmer for a day after reading the last page. It is a work of literary fiction and there is a complexity of theme that is revealed subtly but satisfactorily. I reread passages from the beginning and revisited O’Connor’s works I’d read years ago, and found that though Naplitano writes in a style all her own, O’Connor’s influence can be felt in the jarring violence, insights into the human condition, and hard won redemption.
Much about A GOOD HARD LOOK reminds me of Nancy Horan’s LOVING FRANK. Both novels begin with a quiet literary style with flawed characters of great depth, and build to shocking events that lead to dramatic conclusions. If you enjoyed LOVING FRANK, you’ll also enjoy A GOOD HARD LOOK.
To me, the mark of a good book is one that keeps the reader up late at night, inspires reflection and revisiting of the prose, and sends the reader searching for more information about the characters, subjects, or settings. A GOOD HARD LOOK does all of those things, and I know it will continue to resonate within me and provoke new ideas long after I’ve finished it.
Melvin is drawn to Flannery O’Connor for her bold honesty as an escape from the extreme state of politeness in which he lives his life. Cookie hates Flannery for this very reason–the fact that she feels Flannery has her figured out with a single, penetrating glance. Lona has allowed herself to become dulled by her household routines and the joints she smokes behind her police officer husband’s back.
As the characters’ lives are revealed in small pieces and the choices they make pull them further away from realizing their full selves, impending disaster rumbles beneath the surface. When it erupts in a scene of shocking violence and tragedy, every chance of hope seems lost. The characters must take a “good hard look” at how they’ve contributed to their own destruction and what they can do to rebuild their lives.
I had to let A GOOD HARD LOOK sit and simmer for a day after reading the last page. It is a work of literary fiction and there is a complexity of theme that is revealed subtly but satisfactorily. I reread passages from the beginning and revisited O’Connor’s works I’d read years ago, and found that though Naplitano writes in a style all her own, O’Connor’s influence can be felt in the jarring violence, insights into the human condition, and hard won redemption.
Much about A GOOD HARD LOOK reminds me of Nancy Horan’s LOVING FRANK. Both novels begin with a quiet literary style with flawed characters of great depth, and build to shocking events that lead to dramatic conclusions. If you enjoyed LOVING FRANK, you’ll also enjoy A GOOD HARD LOOK.
To me, the mark of a good book is one that keeps the reader up late at night, inspires reflection and revisiting of the prose, and sends the reader searching for more information about the characters, subjects, or settings. A GOOD HARD LOOK does all of those things, and I know it will continue to resonate within me and provoke new ideas long after I’ve finished it.
September 7, 2011
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it,” is the epigraphic quote that begins Ann Napolitano’s new novel, “A Good Hard Look.” Even if you haven’t read Flannery O’Connor and experienced her unflinching characterizations and situations rendered with sharp wit, you will feel as if you know her after reading this memorable portrayal. Milledgeville, Georgia, the town in which O’Connor lived, comes to life in Napolitano’s assured hands, and its characters are just as lively and flawed as you’d expect them to be.
One of the women, a pampered belle, is terrified she’ll end up a character in Flannery’s work, an unflattering replica doused with Flannery’s acerbic humor. A boy suffers from crippling anxiety except when he’s around his summer employer. Two women take care of each other’s child and the result is that a girl gets the nurturing she needs and a boy moves too quickly into adulthood. After a wealthy, married man is asked to teach Flannery to drive, they develop a clandestine friendship, and a police man lives for earning a promotion and little else. Firmly in the center are Flannery, hindered by her illness, yet dedicated to her work, her mother Regina, whose devotion to her daughter is deeply affecting, and a flock of raucous peacocks. As in O’Connor’s work, there are larger questions of religion and grace throughout. The people in “A Good Hard Look” are leaning toward self-destruction and one irreversible, calamitous misstep will bring others down like dominoes in its wake.
Napolitano is a gifted storyteller, recreating Milledgeville and its imperfect but well-meaning people, lending a sensibility that’s arguably in keeping with O’Connor’s vision, yet grounded in her own modern voice. In this vein, Napolitano offers us a look at characters on their rough and painful journey toward redemption.
O’Connor once wrote, “I am not afraid the book will be controversial, I’m afraid it will not be controversial.” I imagine Ms. O’Connor would have approved of “A Good Hard Look.”
*Review first published in the August 14th edition of The Pilot of Southern Pines
One of the women, a pampered belle, is terrified she’ll end up a character in Flannery’s work, an unflattering replica doused with Flannery’s acerbic humor. A boy suffers from crippling anxiety except when he’s around his summer employer. Two women take care of each other’s child and the result is that a girl gets the nurturing she needs and a boy moves too quickly into adulthood. After a wealthy, married man is asked to teach Flannery to drive, they develop a clandestine friendship, and a police man lives for earning a promotion and little else. Firmly in the center are Flannery, hindered by her illness, yet dedicated to her work, her mother Regina, whose devotion to her daughter is deeply affecting, and a flock of raucous peacocks. As in O’Connor’s work, there are larger questions of religion and grace throughout. The people in “A Good Hard Look” are leaning toward self-destruction and one irreversible, calamitous misstep will bring others down like dominoes in its wake.
Napolitano is a gifted storyteller, recreating Milledgeville and its imperfect but well-meaning people, lending a sensibility that’s arguably in keeping with O’Connor’s vision, yet grounded in her own modern voice. In this vein, Napolitano offers us a look at characters on their rough and painful journey toward redemption.
O’Connor once wrote, “I am not afraid the book will be controversial, I’m afraid it will not be controversial.” I imagine Ms. O’Connor would have approved of “A Good Hard Look.”
*Review first published in the August 14th edition of The Pilot of Southern Pines
August 17, 2011
The sleepy town of Milledgeville, Georgia, circa 1960, is about to get a colossal wake-up call. Tectonic shifts in social dynamics and behavior will disrupt the civil order of its typically complacent peace. The high-pitched yowls heard at the center of town were previously the exclusive domain of author Flannery O'Connor's peacocks, housed on a 544-acre farm in Andalusia, four miles northwest of the central rural sprawl. Now the muted laments of malcontents and smug inhabitants will create vast cracks in the town's foundation and eclipse the peacock's cries.
The story opens with the shrill, plangent brays of the peacocks intruding on the serenity of Cookie Himmel and her fiancé, Melvin Whiteson, the night before their wedding. Cookie, who is Milledgeville's southern belle beauty and community organizer, met the wealthy Melvin in New York, and brought him back home to start their married life. Cookie and Flannery have a murky past that is revealed in measured increments, furnishing the story with a past that threatens to ambush the future.
The laconic O'Connor, disabled by lupus, manages to fluster Cookie at every opportunity. Complicating matters is the friendly relationship between Melvin and Flannery, commenced at the wedding and growing, despite Cookie's entreaties to her husband to stop seeing the author, her nemesis.
Lona, the compliant wife of policeman and politically aspiring Bill Waters, is a restive soul who sews curtains for the people of Milledgeville, and has recently been hired by Cookie to decorate the windows of the Whiteson mansion. Lona's friendship with the town gossip, Miss Mary, is strengthened by all the years that Mary took care of Lona's daughter, Gigi. Now Miss Mary needs a return favor--for Lona to hire Mary's son, Joe, a quietly troubled but likable high school senior. The plan is for Lona to inveigle Joe to confide his torments to her, in an effort to cure what ails him psychologically.
The first one hundred or so pages are about as bland as the town itself. In retrospect, this is obviously deliberate on Napolitano's part. There is an old-fashioned dowdiness to the language, even a few clichés--yet smartly transacted, despite her prosaicness, to lull the reader into Milledgeville's collective vanilla life. The inclusion of Flannery O'Connor was risky, of course, as an historical individual can be a distracting, dubious force in a fictional story. In this case, however, Flannery's presence is both vital and pivotal.
The stoic purr of Milledgeville cruises along, a little messiness beginning to darken the sky, and the wild grasses of the landscape, almost succumbing to ennui, start to rustle. Abruptly, the sanguinity is blind-sided, and the reader, in a crucial, irreversible moment, is hit by a two-ton truck. And then hurled through the windshield (metaphorically speaking, of course). We are seized from passive observance to pressing pain and tragic immediacy.
What is impressive about Napolitano's craftsmanship is her ability to find the domain between melodrama and verisimilitude, to captivate the reader through phenomenal events that are grounded in authenticity. She does it through the seemingly serviceable prose, her musculature residing in her story. Napolitano, in the final assessment, is a consummate storyteller. She doesn't lose control of her keenly drawn characters once they are covered with the shattered glass of events, stranded on the highway of a broken life. She continues to develop and reveal, develop and reveal, and carries the reader effectively to a genuine conclusion.
There is one crushed relationship that, towards the end, evolves in a way that may be difficult for some readers to accept. Can the shards of tragedy manifest into triumph? Napolitano succeeds in making it plausible, by committing the characters to acute self-examination and opening a valve to redemption. Take a good hard look at sleepy Milledgeville, Georgia, and find a moving, merciful salvation through catastrophic pain and suffering.
The story opens with the shrill, plangent brays of the peacocks intruding on the serenity of Cookie Himmel and her fiancé, Melvin Whiteson, the night before their wedding. Cookie, who is Milledgeville's southern belle beauty and community organizer, met the wealthy Melvin in New York, and brought him back home to start their married life. Cookie and Flannery have a murky past that is revealed in measured increments, furnishing the story with a past that threatens to ambush the future.
The laconic O'Connor, disabled by lupus, manages to fluster Cookie at every opportunity. Complicating matters is the friendly relationship between Melvin and Flannery, commenced at the wedding and growing, despite Cookie's entreaties to her husband to stop seeing the author, her nemesis.
Lona, the compliant wife of policeman and politically aspiring Bill Waters, is a restive soul who sews curtains for the people of Milledgeville, and has recently been hired by Cookie to decorate the windows of the Whiteson mansion. Lona's friendship with the town gossip, Miss Mary, is strengthened by all the years that Mary took care of Lona's daughter, Gigi. Now Miss Mary needs a return favor--for Lona to hire Mary's son, Joe, a quietly troubled but likable high school senior. The plan is for Lona to inveigle Joe to confide his torments to her, in an effort to cure what ails him psychologically.
The first one hundred or so pages are about as bland as the town itself. In retrospect, this is obviously deliberate on Napolitano's part. There is an old-fashioned dowdiness to the language, even a few clichés--yet smartly transacted, despite her prosaicness, to lull the reader into Milledgeville's collective vanilla life. The inclusion of Flannery O'Connor was risky, of course, as an historical individual can be a distracting, dubious force in a fictional story. In this case, however, Flannery's presence is both vital and pivotal.
The stoic purr of Milledgeville cruises along, a little messiness beginning to darken the sky, and the wild grasses of the landscape, almost succumbing to ennui, start to rustle. Abruptly, the sanguinity is blind-sided, and the reader, in a crucial, irreversible moment, is hit by a two-ton truck. And then hurled through the windshield (metaphorically speaking, of course). We are seized from passive observance to pressing pain and tragic immediacy.
What is impressive about Napolitano's craftsmanship is her ability to find the domain between melodrama and verisimilitude, to captivate the reader through phenomenal events that are grounded in authenticity. She does it through the seemingly serviceable prose, her musculature residing in her story. Napolitano, in the final assessment, is a consummate storyteller. She doesn't lose control of her keenly drawn characters once they are covered with the shattered glass of events, stranded on the highway of a broken life. She continues to develop and reveal, develop and reveal, and carries the reader effectively to a genuine conclusion.
There is one crushed relationship that, towards the end, evolves in a way that may be difficult for some readers to accept. Can the shards of tragedy manifest into triumph? Napolitano succeeds in making it plausible, by committing the characters to acute self-examination and opening a valve to redemption. Take a good hard look at sleepy Milledgeville, Georgia, and find a moving, merciful salvation through catastrophic pain and suffering.
July 20, 2024
This well-written historical fiction covers the last five years of Flannery O'Connor's too-short life after her return to Milledgeville, Georgia from New York. There are two story lines that segue into each other.
Cookie and Melvin are recently married. He is a New Yorker from a wealthy family who moved to Milledgeville so his wife could be close to her family. Cookie has harbored a deep resentment of Flannery since they were children, and her hatred is exacerbated when she reads one of Flannery's books and finds herself and other members of the community portrayed in unsympathetic prose under the guise of different names. She absolutely refuses to allow Melvin to have any contact with Flannery; however, he finds her brutal honesty and interesting thoughts so refreshing that he ignores Cookie. This interaction has devastating results that could not have been predicted. Lona is a seamstress married to a policeman. She has an affair with a teenager who is the same age as her daughter with stunning consequences.
Flannery's forty peacocks figure prominently in this novel, as does the small town of Milledgeville. Ann Napolitano has done a masterful job of tying these disparate lives together with Flannery, her farm and her mother at the center. My Atlanta book club was able to visit Milledgeville and the O'Connor farm some years ago, and it was like stepping back into the 1950's.
Cookie and Melvin are recently married. He is a New Yorker from a wealthy family who moved to Milledgeville so his wife could be close to her family. Cookie has harbored a deep resentment of Flannery since they were children, and her hatred is exacerbated when she reads one of Flannery's books and finds herself and other members of the community portrayed in unsympathetic prose under the guise of different names. She absolutely refuses to allow Melvin to have any contact with Flannery; however, he finds her brutal honesty and interesting thoughts so refreshing that he ignores Cookie. This interaction has devastating results that could not have been predicted. Lona is a seamstress married to a policeman. She has an affair with a teenager who is the same age as her daughter with stunning consequences.
Flannery's forty peacocks figure prominently in this novel, as does the small town of Milledgeville. Ann Napolitano has done a masterful job of tying these disparate lives together with Flannery, her farm and her mother at the center. My Atlanta book club was able to visit Milledgeville and the O'Connor farm some years ago, and it was like stepping back into the 1950's.
July 31, 2011
From the beginning of this book there is a sense of tension and forboding, a wedding and the screams of peacocks. Beautifully written love the words and this fictional portrayal of Flannery O'Conner and the twon she lived in. I have to say that I have never read anything by her but just as with The Parils Wife, everyone wanted to read Moveable Feast, I now want to read Flannery.
August 27, 2011
At the young age of 39, Flannery O'Connor's life ended when systemic lupus claimed her body. This novel weaves a tale of the last five years of Flannery's life.
A friend who shares similar reading tastes recommended this book. I owe her a big thanks! This book is brilliantly, powerfully written.
Anyone who appreciates the writings of Flannery O'Connor will find a home when reading this book. It is obvious the writer researched the life of O'Connor and, it is amazing that like O'Connor, the author fascinatingly depicts characters who make choices that set a path of destruction in motion, never able to return and resew the fabric once it is unraveled.
Set in the home town in Milledgeville, Georgia, the home of Flannery and her mother Regina, the backdrop of Flannery's beloved Peacocks provide the framework of a screaming, screeching set of 40 birds who, while fascinatingly beautiful, are disturbingly obnoxious.
On their honeymoon eve, Melvin, a NY transplant and Cookie, his society soon to be bride make frantic love while hearing the cacophony of the bellowing and hollering birds. Setting the tone for dark events to follow, Cookie falls out of bed and blackens her eye.
Pot smoking, lonely wife of the town Police Chief, Lona sews curtains for the residents of the town. When she falls in love with a 17 year old young man, her choices have grave consequences.
NY transplant Melvin soon discovers a soul mate in Flannery and, while he travels thoughout town with a lovely wife, he is drawn to Flannery and her uncompromising, blunt honesty. Against the admonitions of his wife, he continues to visit Flannery. He eventually pays a very heavy price for his emotional indiscretion.
In this stunningly beautiful book, Napolitano allows the reader to peer into the souls of complicated, anguished people who. like those in an O'Connor novel long for redemption and grace.
Highly recommended.
A friend who shares similar reading tastes recommended this book. I owe her a big thanks! This book is brilliantly, powerfully written.
Anyone who appreciates the writings of Flannery O'Connor will find a home when reading this book. It is obvious the writer researched the life of O'Connor and, it is amazing that like O'Connor, the author fascinatingly depicts characters who make choices that set a path of destruction in motion, never able to return and resew the fabric once it is unraveled.
Set in the home town in Milledgeville, Georgia, the home of Flannery and her mother Regina, the backdrop of Flannery's beloved Peacocks provide the framework of a screaming, screeching set of 40 birds who, while fascinatingly beautiful, are disturbingly obnoxious.
On their honeymoon eve, Melvin, a NY transplant and Cookie, his society soon to be bride make frantic love while hearing the cacophony of the bellowing and hollering birds. Setting the tone for dark events to follow, Cookie falls out of bed and blackens her eye.
Pot smoking, lonely wife of the town Police Chief, Lona sews curtains for the residents of the town. When she falls in love with a 17 year old young man, her choices have grave consequences.
NY transplant Melvin soon discovers a soul mate in Flannery and, while he travels thoughout town with a lovely wife, he is drawn to Flannery and her uncompromising, blunt honesty. Against the admonitions of his wife, he continues to visit Flannery. He eventually pays a very heavy price for his emotional indiscretion.
In this stunningly beautiful book, Napolitano allows the reader to peer into the souls of complicated, anguished people who. like those in an O'Connor novel long for redemption and grace.
Highly recommended.
March 29, 2015
I only give 5 stars to books worthy of a second read, and this one certainly is. This is considered historical fiction because one of the characters is the writer, Flannery O'Conner, but it is so much more. The writing is excellent with such well-developed, complex characters and a thoroughly engaging story until the very last page. I was truly touched by the vulnerability and honesty of all the characters. I will remember this book long after I return it to the library.
September 8, 2011
When I first started hearing about A good Hard Look, I thought I might not enjoy it so much since I didn't know a gosh darn thing about Flannery O'Connor. You notice I said that I "didn't know"? Well, that's because this book turned out to be a great primer on Flannery.
This story takes place in Milledgeville, Georgia, Flannery O'Connor's hometown. Flannery and her 40-some peacocks are at the center of the story throughout and, in large part, all the other relationships and stories are build around her in some way.
Flannery has returned home after a bout with Lupus that keeps her from being able to care for herself. She has recently published Wise Blood and it has created quite a stir in Milledgeville because it seems to be based on actual persons who live in that town.
At the start of the book Cookie Himmel, the town beauty, has returned home to marry Melvin Whiteson. Cookie sees Flannery at her reception and immediately we learn that Cookie is intimidated by Flannery and this remains in the forefront the entire story.
As the story unfolds, we learn that the town of Milledgeville isn't quite as sleepy as you think. Melvin cannot stay away from Flannery. His interest is platonic, but inevitably this creates problems between Cookie and himself, which climax to a degree that is shocking.
There are some other relationships that evolve and several other shocking events that take place as the story moves along, but I'm not sure how to touch on them without giving too much away. This is a new favorite and I plan on sharing it with as many people as possible. I am definitely interested in reading Wise Blood at this point-I'll have to put in on my gargantuan "to-read" list.
This story takes place in Milledgeville, Georgia, Flannery O'Connor's hometown. Flannery and her 40-some peacocks are at the center of the story throughout and, in large part, all the other relationships and stories are build around her in some way.
Flannery has returned home after a bout with Lupus that keeps her from being able to care for herself. She has recently published Wise Blood and it has created quite a stir in Milledgeville because it seems to be based on actual persons who live in that town.
At the start of the book Cookie Himmel, the town beauty, has returned home to marry Melvin Whiteson. Cookie sees Flannery at her reception and immediately we learn that Cookie is intimidated by Flannery and this remains in the forefront the entire story.
As the story unfolds, we learn that the town of Milledgeville isn't quite as sleepy as you think. Melvin cannot stay away from Flannery. His interest is platonic, but inevitably this creates problems between Cookie and himself, which climax to a degree that is shocking.
There are some other relationships that evolve and several other shocking events that take place as the story moves along, but I'm not sure how to touch on them without giving too much away. This is a new favorite and I plan on sharing it with as many people as possible. I am definitely interested in reading Wise Blood at this point-I'll have to put in on my gargantuan "to-read" list.
March 10, 2024
I loved this book, I hated this book. I almost abandoned it halfway through, because one character has an affair with a 17-year-old boy, and nobody ever seems to register it as a crime. And there were a couple disturbing, extremely unlikely plot twists. But still, I'm so glad I stuck with it, because the redemption in the end made it worth it. And because of Flannery O'Connor. And because of its achingly true portrayal of grief. And because of its truth and beauty--you'll want to read with a highlighter in hand. I think Flannery O'Connor would have been pleased with this novel, and maybe I'll go pull out my copy of her short stories now and read them with fresh eyes, looking for the painful grace.
July 9, 2019
As an ardent Flannery O'Connor fan, as someone who considers her work THE epitome of southern literature (suck it, Faulkner), this book was a huge disappointment. The author actually did the unthinkable: she made Flannery O'Connor boring. I get that this is a fictionalized version of her, but damnit, if you attach her name to anything, it better be damn good and it better deliver that Flannery feeling. This did not, at all. Not one single character was believable or likable. We were actually given very little Flannery, despite the fact that she is the central binding figure, and instead thrown a lot of awful drama. Much disappointment here.
July 22, 2023
This was a beautifully written story of loss, regret, and the aftermath of both of those things. It's not a "feel good" story, though there are happy moments. It's a cautionary tale, and I personally was left wanting something happier. And still, it's beautiful as written. Ann Napolitano is a fine author.
Recommend if you don't mind feeling heart-sick.
Recommend if you don't mind feeling heart-sick.
June 13, 2012
This book is set in Milledgeville, Georgia, the hometown of author Flannery O'Connor, in the 1960's, near the end of O'Connor's short life.
O'Connor figures as one of the central characters, and at first I wasn't sure I would like her; however by the end of the book, I found her a person I would like to learn more about. I have not read much by O'Connor, but do plan to do so. I especially liked the descriptions of Flannery's love and fascination with her peacocks. I don't know how much the rest of the story follows the truth of O'Connor's life, but Napolitano has apparently done a lot of research. Even though this book is fiction, the author has created an interesting story, and left me intrigued to learn more about Flannery O'Connor as well as read more of her work.
O'Connor figures as one of the central characters, and at first I wasn't sure I would like her; however by the end of the book, I found her a person I would like to learn more about. I have not read much by O'Connor, but do plan to do so. I especially liked the descriptions of Flannery's love and fascination with her peacocks. I don't know how much the rest of the story follows the truth of O'Connor's life, but Napolitano has apparently done a lot of research. Even though this book is fiction, the author has created an interesting story, and left me intrigued to learn more about Flannery O'Connor as well as read more of her work.
January 15, 2012
ok didn't get very far. This book peaked my interest, but when a "responsible" adult woman shares drugs with teenage boy and then decides it's a good idea to accept his romantic advances, I'm out. Call me a prude but, I'm sure I can find something better to spend my time reading. By the way it is highly rated on here and amazon, so I guess I am a prude.
July 8, 2011
Flannery O'Connor is a fairly recent historical figure with a fan base that has expanded rapidly in recent years. Using her home town as a setting and figuring her prominently in a novel is bound to raise the eyebrows of her biggest fans and some of her contemporaries in Milledgeville, Georgia. Having said that, Napolitano's novel is a good read. She is a good writer, the story is compelling, and the reader finishes the book feeling positive about O'Connor.
There are some moments in the book where I think Napolitano could have been a bit more careful to make the story more plausible. I am not referring to historical accuracy as far as O'Connor's life is concerned -- after all, this is a work of fiction, and the author should be able to weave the story as she sees fit in that regard. What seems to be out of the realm of plausibility is that a person like O'Connor would have considered asking a newly married man to give her driving lessons. There are a few other small examples that jerk the reader out of the narrative because of the inconsistency with the time and place of the novel, such as the scene where O'Connor and her mother are in the office of a Milledgeville doctor in the early 1960s and the doctor states that O'Connor's condition has "pissed" off her lupus (he uses that word twice). No small-town doctor in the early 1960s would have used such language in the presence of two women that he knew so well.
Even these points that I am bringing up will largely be ignored by the vast majority of readers, and Napolitano's novel will most likely be well accepted. In fact, it is already getting critical attention, which is good news. And considering how other writers could have been (and very likely will be eventually) very unsympathetic to Flannery O'Connor in a work of fiction, those of us who are devoted fans of this great American writer can thank Napolitano for this tribute.
There are some moments in the book where I think Napolitano could have been a bit more careful to make the story more plausible. I am not referring to historical accuracy as far as O'Connor's life is concerned -- after all, this is a work of fiction, and the author should be able to weave the story as she sees fit in that regard. What seems to be out of the realm of plausibility is that a person like O'Connor would have considered asking a newly married man to give her driving lessons. There are a few other small examples that jerk the reader out of the narrative because of the inconsistency with the time and place of the novel, such as the scene where O'Connor and her mother are in the office of a Milledgeville doctor in the early 1960s and the doctor states that O'Connor's condition has "pissed" off her lupus (he uses that word twice). No small-town doctor in the early 1960s would have used such language in the presence of two women that he knew so well.
Even these points that I am bringing up will largely be ignored by the vast majority of readers, and Napolitano's novel will most likely be well accepted. In fact, it is already getting critical attention, which is good news. And considering how other writers could have been (and very likely will be eventually) very unsympathetic to Flannery O'Connor in a work of fiction, those of us who are devoted fans of this great American writer can thank Napolitano for this tribute.
August 13, 2018
I'm so sad to finish this book. Thewriting was beautiful and it had a tremendous sense of place. Set in Georgia in the early sixties, we follow the stories of five or six characters in a small town. The writer Flannery O'Conner is a key character, but the book is really about the interactions and interplay of the various members of town. Each one has to come to terms with finding their place in this small world while wrestling with painful life challenges.
As a writer myself, who also often writes from multiple perspectives, I was blown away by the writer's ability to really place us in each character's mind and experience. And the writing! I found myself rereading certain sentences just to hear the nuanced, playful, language and rich descriptions.
As a writer myself, who also often writes from multiple perspectives, I was blown away by the writer's ability to really place us in each character's mind and experience. And the writing! I found myself rereading certain sentences just to hear the nuanced, playful, language and rich descriptions.
July 25, 2011
A gorgeous, profound book. A GOOD HARD LOOK is a book that allows us to experience lives that are deeply human and flawed and full of hope and grief and anguish and possibility. Every character confronts their best and worst selves. This is no small feat. And the fact that every character is grieving and yet we are left with a sense of hard-won hope and a sense that yes, there is reason to have faith in something deeper, something more, something indefinable and inexpressible, but no less essential for its mystery.
August 13, 2024
"A Good Hard Look" by Ann Napolitano is a novel that explores the lives of several characters in the small town of Milledgeville, Georgia, intertwining their personal struggles with the presence of the real-life author Flannery O'Connor. The novel delves into themes of love, loss, faith, and the search for meaning in life.
Ii love Ann Napolitano’s work and in "A Good Hard Look," she crafts a narrative that is both deeply character-driven and thematically rich, offering a poignant reflection on life’s complexities and the human condition. It also hits particularly close to home being a story about Georgia and featuring Flannery O’Connor.
These two facts drive the narrative in key ways. The small town setting shrinks the scope and allows all the key events and characters to stand out. The story is rich without being laden down with the bloat of too many ancillary figures and moments. Flannery O'Connor’s presence in the town, though reclusive, influences the lives of those around her. I do wonder how she have have taken to this characterization.
The other focus on the link between tragedy and romantic relationships is gripping. Napolitano uses mismatched pairings everywhere to highlight the struggle between romantic dreams and bitter realities. Small town love is under a spotlight and constraints that cannot help but to end up in devastating tragedies. As Napolitano’s second novel it was truly a brave attempt and one of my favorites of her work.
Ii love Ann Napolitano’s work and in "A Good Hard Look," she crafts a narrative that is both deeply character-driven and thematically rich, offering a poignant reflection on life’s complexities and the human condition. It also hits particularly close to home being a story about Georgia and featuring Flannery O’Connor.
These two facts drive the narrative in key ways. The small town setting shrinks the scope and allows all the key events and characters to stand out. The story is rich without being laden down with the bloat of too many ancillary figures and moments. Flannery O'Connor’s presence in the town, though reclusive, influences the lives of those around her. I do wonder how she have have taken to this characterization.
The other focus on the link between tragedy and romantic relationships is gripping. Napolitano uses mismatched pairings everywhere to highlight the struggle between romantic dreams and bitter realities. Small town love is under a spotlight and constraints that cannot help but to end up in devastating tragedies. As Napolitano’s second novel it was truly a brave attempt and one of my favorites of her work.
February 14, 2021
I have never read any of the writing of Flannery O'Connor, although now after reading this book, she will be on my list to read. In this novel, by the very talented Ann Napolitano, Flannery is at the center of the book. I was trying to read this book quickly as it was during a reading challenge on GR, but it was near impossible. There are so many beautiful sentences and paragraphs that just insist on being reread and savored. The storyline itself is compelling and held my interest. The volcano of emotions that take place were very much not expected.
At the end, I was torn on the rating, but settled on 4 stars. It would make a good book for a book discussion, although there are some very disturbing parts.
At the end, I was torn on the rating, but settled on 4 stars. It would make a good book for a book discussion, although there are some very disturbing parts.
November 13, 2019
I would have given this four stars except that I disapprove, on principle, of taking a real character & adding a major, life changing event that never happened to her life.
Novel covers the last two years of Flannery O'Connor's life in Milledgeville; adding some story lines with fictional townspeople.
There must be elements of magic realism in it also for the noises from Flannery's peacocks out at Andalusia to cause the disturbances they do in town and also for a pistol shot in town to upset them enough to cause a death.
But, aside from those complaints, it was a good story, well written and Flannery and her mother came to life. Other story lines were good, too, and I especially liked the time the other characters were in NYC, they seemed to ring truer than the Milledgeville ones.
Novel covers the last two years of Flannery O'Connor's life in Milledgeville; adding some story lines with fictional townspeople.
There must be elements of magic realism in it also for the noises from Flannery's peacocks out at Andalusia to cause the disturbances they do in town and also for a pistol shot in town to upset them enough to cause a death.
But, aside from those complaints, it was a good story, well written and Flannery and her mother came to life. Other story lines were good, too, and I especially liked the time the other characters were in NYC, they seemed to ring truer than the Milledgeville ones.
September 28, 2025
Ms. Napolitano's novel starts off a little slow, and then picks up like a race car going at 200 miles an hour and never lets up.
It mostly takes place in the small Georgia town of Milledgeville and very seldom will you get such a complete picture of any town, regardless of size, as you do in this novel.
Ms. Napolitano is a character driven storyteller and she has more characters in this novel than most authors have in three novels and each character is amazingly well defined and alive. Like a Da Vinci painting, even the dead lying in a coffin, seem to be in motion and without speaking a word tell us a story.
Even though it takes place in a small town, the author is able to give us a worldview of humanity...flawed, redeeming, and forgiven.
It took Ms. Napolitano six years to write this amazing piece of literature, and any aspiring, keen, perceptive writer or reader can understand why.
It mostly takes place in the small Georgia town of Milledgeville and very seldom will you get such a complete picture of any town, regardless of size, as you do in this novel.
Ms. Napolitano is a character driven storyteller and she has more characters in this novel than most authors have in three novels and each character is amazingly well defined and alive. Like a Da Vinci painting, even the dead lying in a coffin, seem to be in motion and without speaking a word tell us a story.
Even though it takes place in a small town, the author is able to give us a worldview of humanity...flawed, redeeming, and forgiven.
It took Ms. Napolitano six years to write this amazing piece of literature, and any aspiring, keen, perceptive writer or reader can understand why.
October 14, 2020
If the real Flannery O'Connor was anything like her character in this book I think I would have loved her.
While this book was nowhere near as dismal as the writing of F. O'Connor herself, it was still full of tragedy - and a major question here seemed to be: who is to blame?
My answer continues to be: no one. Or, fine, maybe someone. But what does it really matter?
While this book was nowhere near as dismal as the writing of F. O'Connor herself, it was still full of tragedy - and a major question here seemed to be: who is to blame?
My answer continues to be: no one. Or, fine, maybe someone. But what does it really matter?
October 8, 2022
3.5 stars - I rounded up.
Thoughtful and engaging with hard themes. Not sure I grasped the main point of the book though. I may revisit this review after more consideration. Looking forward to hearing my friends' opinions at book club.
One thing I learned from this book--I don't want to ever live near peacocks!
Thoughtful and engaging with hard themes. Not sure I grasped the main point of the book though. I may revisit this review after more consideration. Looking forward to hearing my friends' opinions at book club.
One thing I learned from this book--I don't want to ever live near peacocks!
May 7, 2024
This is a quieter novel- a lot of complicated characters living their lives and experiencing all the ebbs and flows that come with day to day. This book had a full cast of characters, but Napolitano managed to give them all a unique voice and complex back story. This was really good.
December 12, 2020
This was an interesting look at Flannery O’Connor and her relationship with her neighbors and family. Although this is a work of fiction, I imagine there is a lot of truth in her portrayal.
July 2, 2024
Though the storyline was slower than i usually like i actually enjoyed the pace of the character and relationship development. Learning about peacocks was a bonus.
August 27, 2024
All I can say is wow. I loved everything about this amazing novel. The writing was exquisite. The characters were complex and well drawn and the story was compelling. 5 * and a. ❤️
May 7, 2025
This is the most beautifully written book I’ve read in a while.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 738 reviews