O Gerânio - Contos Dispersos

by Flannery O'Connor, Luís Coimbra (Tradução)

There are thirty-one stories here in all, including twelve that do not appear in the only two story collections O'Connor put together in her short lifetime--Everything That Rises Must Converge and A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, Southern Gothic

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

Critics note novels Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960) and short stories, collected in such works as A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955), of American writer Mary Flannery O'Connor for their explorations of religious faith and a spare literary style.

The Georgia state college for women educated O’Connor, who then studied writing at the Iowa writers' workshop and wrote much of Wise Blood at the colony of artists at Yaddo in upstate New York. She lived most of her adult life on Andalusia, ancestral farm of her family outside Milledgeville, Georgia.

O’Connor wrote Everything That Rises Must Converge (1964). When she died at the age of 39 years, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers.

Survivors published her essays were published in Mystery and Manners (1969). Her Complete Stories , published posthumously in 1972, won the national book award for that year. Survivors published her letters in The Habit of Being (1979). In 1988, the Library of America published Collected Works of Flannery O'Connor, the first so honored postwar writer.

People in an online poll in 2009 voted her Complete Stories as the best book to win the national book award in the six-decade history of the contest.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not talked at all about the wonderful story The Geranium is, because Lloyd - as you can all see on this site - has said it all.

I’ve only written of me and Flannery.

Flannery O’Connor died young, in the bitter twisting pain of lupus, like her Dad.

I don’t have lupus, but I know whereof she writes.

The grotesque and painful contortions of life up-close, as she depicts them, are so much like my own - twisted and contorted by the psychological scars of my now-recessive bipolar disorder.

The physical effects of this disorder as they are constrained by the logical mindset of current-generation neuroleptics will some day be physically linked to lupus, I believe, and a common gene may one day be found.

Maybe?

And Flannery’s absurdly mordant experience may stem from the same root gene.

It bears much thought, that.

Look at her life…

She retains all the prim and proper youthful spark of a white Southern landowner, but writes like the very devil.

She scalds practitioners of some fringe evangelistic sects with scathing irony in her first novel, Wise Blood. But she attends church every day of her life till she dies.

She believes in the physical form of the devil, but is driven by him - identically, Harold Bloom would say, with all great US writers - and grapples with him on her deathbed.

Good and Evil attempt to silence one another throughout her works and her life.

Did she have a nice life?

Hardly.

Well then, did she at least have a fulfilling life?

Now and then.

But she wrote life as it is for a person in pain:

As a bitter pill to swallow.

But as the Book of Revelation illustrates -

The Scroll of Life, though harshly astringent in taste, is Sweet to our Stomachs!

Just like Flannery’s stories and novels, in the sense of her sound and sustaining moral values.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

São 10 contos, mas há um que vale por todos.

O Gerânio

Um conto que começa com a melancolia da velhice e termina com um racismo incurável.

[João Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flannery O´Connor (1925 – 1964)

”O Gerânio – Contos Dispersos” é uma colectânea de dez contos da escritora Flannery O´Connor (1925 – 1964), unanimemente reconhecida como um dos expoentes máximos da literatura norte-americana do século XX, particularmente aclamada pela genialidade dos seus trinta e dois contos, coligidos em dois volumes: “Um Bom Homem É Difícil de Encontrar” e “Tudo o Que Sobe Deve Convergir”, que combinam o cómico, o violento, o trágico e o brutal – e, pelos seus dois únicos romances publicados “Sangue Sábio” (5*) (1952) e o “Céu É dos Violentos” (5*) (1960), que se inserem na tradição Gótica Sulista, focada na religiosidade, na decadência do Sul e nas suas gentes malditas.
Dos dez contos coligidos em ”O Gerânio – Contos Dispersos”:
a)”O Comboio”, ”O Descascador” e ”O Coração do Parque” foram, posteriormente, revistos, reeditados e reescritos, integrando o magnífico romance ”Sangue Sábio"(5*). A leitura – de uma forma “separada” - destes três contos acaba por ficar muito aquém da qualidade narrativa e da originalidade temática de ”Sangue Sábio", nomeadamente, na interligação entre as personagens principais, nos relacionamentos entre si, associados a comportamentos extremos, dominados pelo fanatismo religioso.
b) Dos restantes sete contos: ”O Gerânio”, ”O Barbeiro”, ”Puma”, ”A Colheita”, ”O Perú”, ”O Festival de Partridge” e ”Por Que Motivo Se Rebelam Os Pagãos?”, apenas “fogem” à mediania ”A Colheita” (4*) e ”O Festival de Partridge” (4*).
4 – “A Colheita”: 4*
Um conto dentro de um conto, uma história dentro de uma história. Miss Willerton tem quarenta e quatro anos, uma escritora que pretende escrever um conto: ”Primeiro, tinha que pensar num assunto ao qual dedicar o conto. Havia tantos assuntos sobre os quais podia escrever contos (…) Dizia sempre que era essa a parte mais difícil na escrita de um conto. Passava mais tempo a matutar sobre o que podia escrever do que a escrever de facto.”
9 – “O Festival de Partridge”: 4*
Calhoun é um jovem aspirante a escritor de vinte e três anos de idade que vai visitar as suas tias-avós – Bessie e Mattie - ”- Chegou o nosso menino! - “em Partridge por alturas do Festival da Azálea”.
A vizinha das tias-avós é a jovem Mary Elizabeth, leitora inveterada e uma “grande intelectual”.
Um acontecimento inesperado, perpetrado por Singleton, que ”abatera cinco dos dignatários que ali se encontravam sentados, e, por engano, também um membro do público.”, e que acaba por “unir” os dois jovens numa viagem a um hospital psiquiátrico.
”O Gerânio – Contos Dispersos” é uma colectânea de dez contos, que não acrescenta absolutamente nada à magnífica obra literária de Flannery O´Connor.
Pelo que aconselhamos vivamente a leitura - imprescindível e prioritária - de os dois livros de contos: “Um Bom Homem É Difícil de Encontrar” e “Tudo o Que Sobe Deve Convergir”.

[João Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flannery O´Connor (1925 – 1964)

”O Gerânio – Contos Dispersos” é uma colectânea de dez contos da escritora Flannery O´Connor (1925 – 1964), unanimemente reconhecida como um dos expoentes máximos da literatura norte-americana do século XX, particularmente aclamada pela genialidade dos seus trinta e dois contos, coligidos em dois volumes: “Um Bom Homem É Difícil de Encontrar” e “Tudo o Que Sobe Deve Convergir”, que combinam o cómico, o violento, o trágico e o brutal – e, pelos seus dois únicos romances publicados “Sangue Sábio” (5*) (1952) e o “Céu É dos Violentos” (5*) (1960), que se inserem na tradição Gótica Sulista, focada na religiosidade, na decadência do Sul e nas suas gentes malditas.
Dos dez contos coligidos em ”O Gerânio – Contos Dispersos”:
a)”O Comboio”, ”O Descascador” e ”O Coração do Parque” foram, posteriormente, revistos, reeditados e reescritos, integrando o magnífico romance ”Sangue Sábio"(5*). A leitura – de uma forma “separada” - destes três contos acaba por ficar muito aquém da qualidade narrativa e da originalidade temática de ”Sangue Sábio", nomeadamente, na interligação entre as personagens principais, nos relacionamentos entre si, associados a comportamentos extremos, dominados pelo fanatismo religioso.
b) Dos restantes sete contos: ”O Gerânio”, ”O Barbeiro”, ”Puma”, ”A Colheita”, ”O Perú”, ”O Festival de Partridge” e ”Por Que Motivo Se Rebelam Os Pagãos?”, apenas “fogem” à mediania ”A Colheita” (4*) e ”O Festival de Partridge” (4*).
4 – “A Colheita”: 4*
Um conto dentro de um conto, uma história dentro de uma história. Miss Willerton tem quarenta e quatro anos, uma escritora que pretende escrever um conto: ”Primeiro, tinha que pensar num assunto ao qual dedicar o conto. Havia tantos assuntos sobre os quais podia escrever contos (…) Dizia sempre que era essa a parte mais difícil na escrita de um conto. Passava mais tempo a matutar sobre o que podia escrever do que a escrever de facto.”
9 – “O Festival de Partridge”: 4*
Calhoun é um jovem aspirante a escritor de vinte e três anos de idade que vai visitar as suas tias-avós – Bessie e Mattie - ”- Chegou o nosso menino! - “em Partridge por alturas do Festival da Azálea”.
A vizinha das tias-avós é a jovem Mary Elizabeth, leitora inveterada e uma “grande intelectual”.
Um acontecimento inesperado, perpetrado por Singleton, que ”abatera cinco dos dignatários que ali se encontravam sentados, e, por engano, também um membro do público.”, e que acaba por “unir” os dois jovens numa viagem a um hospital psiquiátrico.
”O Gerânio – Contos Dispersos” é uma colectânea de dez contos, que não acrescenta absolutamente nada à magnífica obra literária de Flannery O´Connor.
Pelo que aconselhamos vivamente a leitura - imprescindível e prioritária - de os dois livros de contos: “Um Bom Homem É Difícil de Encontrar” e “Tudo o Que Sobe Deve Convergir”.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided on Flannery O'Connor's The Geranium because it was the first short story in my Kindle collection of her works. It was a sad story of an older man uprooted from his home in the south, to live with his daughter and her family in NYC in a small apartment, showing him a changed world which brings him limited happiness and that happiness comes from looking at a geranium in the windowsill of the apartment across the way. I read a lot of older books that use words derogatory to different races, so if that would upset you, you better not read this short story. What I liked about this story was the reality of this man's feeling in being uprooted to a place he had never been but viewed differently until he finally experienced himself. The sad reality of the younger generation looking at the older without the respect and care that they deserve.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

You may read "The Geranium" online at Working in Progress - Farrar,Straus&Giroux

Opening lines:
Old Dudley folded into the chair he was gradually molding to his own shape and looked out the window fifteen feet away into another window framed by blackened red brick.

3* The Geranium and Other Stories
TR A Good Man Is Hard To Find
TR Wise Blood
TR The Violent Bear it Away
TR Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories

[Lloyd Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old Dudley was an elderly heavy-set widower from the rural south with the requisite views of his era and life experience. He now lives with his daughter on the sixth floor of an apartment house somewhere in New York City. Everyday he sits in his chair looking out his window, fifteen feet across the alley and takes in the simple beauty and grace of a geranium perched on a window sill. One day it wasn’t there; he waited and waited but it never appeared, his routine interrupted, his mood perplexed. His daughter sent him on an errand that required him to negotiate three-flights of stairs—down and then back up—a daunting task. The trek back up was too much that day, given his mood and all: he slipped; he fell; he was assisted by his new neighbor— a ‘black man’, unsettling—but they had something in common: guns! Old Dudley was a hunter, the neighbor didn’t like the killing that hunting provoked, but he was enthralled with guns. Old Dudley’s mind wandered to a previous quail hunt where he had slipped on pine needles and fallen down a small slope just as he raised his gun hoping to get three or four birds in the covey whereupon his hired man who was black helped him regain his feet and negotiate the steep slope covered with slippery pine needles.

When Old Dudley got back to his chair and looked out for the geranium, it wasn’t in the window, but the tenant was, conversation ensued. It seems the geranium had fallen off the ledge and was scattered on the ground six floors below. The tenant was not shy, in fact he was rather blunt in expressing displeasure that Old Dudley stared at his window all day, every day. He warned him not to in a most bombastic manner. The contrast in the two neighbors was pronounced, their attitude unexpected. A fine little story: it’s difficult not to judge a book by its cover or a story by its title, and there is much to be gained even by the

[Carlos Natálio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um dos primeiros contos que Flannery O' Connor escreveu é sobre um gerânio e uma cidade com pessoas umas a olhar para as outras através das janelas dos prédios. O gerânio parte-se e com ele o passado: de uma pensão de velhas e caves definidas (sem corredores infinitos na horizontal ou escadas intermináveis como cavernas), de uma escravatura de caçadas mas sem palmadinhas nas costas do branco.

O presente surge assim já na velhice das flores partidas (que não são flores mas o rosto dos doentes ou a roupa alegre das velhas), das armas imaginárias e do ganhar alento para descer os degraus até à rua. Não se lá vai para reconstituir o gerânio despedaçado que caiu do parapeito da janela (vizinho descuidado) "with the roots in the air", mas para deixar que as costas sejas tapeadas pelo Outro subserviente, pela multidão de uma Nova Iorque acabada de sair de um postal.

[Allana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geranium is an interesting exploration of migration, race and aging in America. This was an earlier work from O’Connor and while I found it thoughtful and poignant there was more potential than true brilliance. 3.5 stars rounded down.

[Scassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“L’unica virtù della mia generazione”, disse, “è che non si vergogna di dire la verità su se stessa”.

[Anatoly · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the short story "Geranium" O'Connor addressed to the readers several important issues:

One of them is longing for the native land. The story talks about an elder man who has moved from a small village into a big city and he can’t find a place for himself. The city is too big for him, everything here is different;from the trees to the greenery.

The familiar world is lost forever. There is no river here, and he doesn’t notice the smell of the earth and warmth of the sun.

Everyone seems like a stranger to him. The only thing that reminds him of his native South is a pot of geraniums, which stands by the window of the house across.

This is a link to the text of the story:
https://biblioklept.org/2014/02/24/th...

[cdpc44 · Rating 3 out of 5]

diferente do "tudo o que sobe deve convergir" mas mesmo assim cheio de suspense, drama e revelador do carácter humano. os diálogos são bastante reais e o ambiente em que decorre a acção tem sempre um papel fundamental.

continuo a procura d'"um bom homem é difícil de encontrar"

[Tania · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read "The Geranium" for book club. The racism just makes me so sad. Not my pick of reading material. We had a good talk about the story, but, ugh. Two stars because the quality of writing is there.

[SoulSurvivor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much racially charged language , and I'm not politically correct .

[Alessia Rella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flannery, sei veramente una scrittrice pazzesca.
Raramente ho letto descrizioni a un tempo così precise e liriche, chirurgiche e acrobatiche.
Di seguito alcune delle similitudini più interessanti, che solo una mente così brillante avrebbe potuto partorire:

IL TRENO
- Era spaventosa, con i capelli tirati all'indietro e i nodi simili a funghi velenosi che le incorniciavano il viso.
- Aveva qualcosa in gola, come una spugna che sapeva di uovo.
- Aveva capelli talmente sottili da sembrare lardo sciolto che le gocciolava sul cranio.

IL PELAPATATE
- La folla si muoveva in fretta. Era come un'enorme coperta che si sfilacciava e i fili separati scomparivano per le strade buie [...]
- La gola gli si fece più secca e il cuore cominciò a stringerlo in una morsa, come uno scimmiotto che si aggrappa alle sbarre della gabbia.

IL CUORE DEL PARCO
- [...] il cuore che batteva così forte da sembrare una di quelle motociclette dei luna park che il centauro lancia intorno alle mura di un fosso.
- Il viso dietro il parabrezza era acido e simile a quello di un rospo; sembrava che ci fosse chiuso dentro un urlo; sembrava la porta di un ripostiglio nei film di gangster dietro cui c'è qualcuno legato a una sedia con un fazzoletto in bocca.
- Il pendio era ripido, pieno di alberi verniciati di bianco dalla base fino a circa un metro d'altezza. Sembrava che avessero i calzini corti.
- Le facce dei bambini erano due tegami posti ai lati della madre per raccogliere i sogghigni che ne traboccavano.

NON SI PUÒ ESSERE PIÙ POVERI CHE DA MORTI
- Era un vecchio [...] con occhi sporgenti e argentati come due pesci che tentassero di liberarsi da una rete di fili rossi.
- Una striscia gibbosa di nebbia avanzava lentamente in quella direzione come un segugio bianco pronto ad accovacciarsi, a strisciarvi silenziosamente sotto e a passare nel cortile.
- Il sole era come una vescica bianca e furibonda in mezzo al cielo.
- [...] emise un sospiro stanco simile a una folata di sabbia sollevata e poi lasciata cadere di colpo dal vento.

LA FESTA DELLE AZALEE
- Un gruppo di edifici bassi sorgeva sulla collina alla loro destra come un intenso sfogo di foruncoli.

AMORE E RABBIA
- Lui rimase lì, con il suo mezzo sorriso [...]. Come un assorbente, incamera tutto e non butta fuori niente.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first story I have read by Flannery O'Connor and one of the first she wrote. She is a highly sensitive and observant person who wrote this at a very young age. Not only that, but she is a white person writing about the inner life of black people.

One could think of it as a study in contrast. Old Dudley is contrasted with his daughter who has encouraged him to move from rural Georgia to live with her and her husband in their New York city walk-up flat. The daughter is the only one of her siblings who has made such an offer. Old Dudley had to choose between living alone and probably dying alone versus moving to NYC which he really did not want to do.

Old Dudley reflects back on his life living in the Georgia countryside. He goes fishing with a younger friend who is capable of rowing the boat while Old Dudley is good at catching the fish. So it is a good deal for both of them.

Back in NYC a younger well-dressed black man moves in to the apartment next door. Old Dudley has never seen that type of black person before and he is suspicious of him. But it comes to pass that one day this younger black man helps Dudley up the stairs to the sixth floor apartment. He is a considerate young man and could potentially be a friend if Old Dudley can overcome his initial suspicion of him.

The character development is very rich here. And I haven't even got to the geranium! You'll need to read the story for that part. So I would say that this is a beautiful story about contrasts and choices.

[Agostinho Barros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flannery O'Connor destaca-se por ser uma escritora que descreve com lividez os espaços e acontecimentos, que prende o leitor em cada um dos dez contos que nos apresenta nesta obra. Reflectindo para histórias de Barbeiros, homens de fé, histórias de corrupção e criminalidade, histórias de suspense e igualmente momentos de comédia social, "O Gerânio - Contos Dispersos" apresenta-nos casos particulares de pessoas, criando por vezes ligações entre dois ou mais contos, de modo a explicar melhor a história e dando protagonismo a mais do que uma personagem. Explorando igualmente a vertente religiosa, muitas das personagens seguiam a palavra de Deus como forma de vida, e fugir ao que ele defendia era visto como um atentado à vida humana. Faz-se igualmente flashbacks a épocas retrogradas, explorando o estilo de vida familiar, no qual as mulheres só se dedicavam às lidas de casa, não podendo ser inteligentes ou cultas, os maridos que traziam o sustento para casa e os filhos que ajudavam os pais. Trata-se de uma obra de leitura acessível, repleta de descrições pormenorizadas que fazem o leitor sentir-se parte da narração.

[Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I'm not sure why the GoodReads description says this is a complete anthology of O'Connor's stories; it's not. This is an early collection of stories written as her Masters thesis.

Although these stories never quite reach the levels of O'Connor's later, better known work, they make it quite obvious that even early in her writing career she understood the craft of the short story. "The Train" was my least favorite story here and by far the weakest; it serves as an introduction to Hazel Motes, later the protagonist of O'Connor's novel Wise Blood, but it's easy to see why this portion of the story was excluded from the manuscript.

I've included in my rating two stories not anthologized (as far as I can tell) but grouped in for simplicity's sake – "The Partridge Festival" (my favorite of the collection) and "Why Do the Heathen Rage?" (another strong story, and by far the shortest of them.)

Standouts: "The Partridge Festival", "The Barber", and "The Crop"

[Caterina · Rating 3 out of 5]

La raccolta vale la pena anche solo per lo straziante racconto de Il geranio. come specificato dall' editore la raccolta è composta da 6 racconti a cui si aggiungono racconti che in seguito sono diventati capitoli dei suoi romanzi. siccome io non lo avevo capito sono rimasta un po' delusa e disorientata a ritrovarmi a leggere pagine di romanzi già letti. immagino che questa raccolta vada bene per completisti e curiosi. sicuramente l'autrice è più che meritevole e troppo poco nota. però avrei preferito la raccolta completa dei racconti.

[Dorian · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are going to review a book from a different time period, either don’t read it if you are offended by language, or if you are, take the story as it was to be read back then.

Obviously from a time period where the n word was okay to be used, so keep that in mind as in most if not all her works, it is used commonly.

A short story telling a sad tale of a man who left the south and wound up in a disparingly bad part of NYC.

[Carlos Arellano · Rating 4 out of 5]

For being her first short stories, one can guess that the person who wrote them had a brilliant future ahead. The voices of each character, as well as the oddity they face each other in weird, yet, seemingly daily life situations, give a unique and uncomfortable atmosphere that we sure will encounter in her future works.

[Jensen Kirkendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This earlier collection of stories by O'Connor is definitely not as compelling or interesting as her later stories. However, they do still bear her characteristic style. She depicts despicable and disappointing protagonists in their struggle to pay attention and take the opportunities that are presented to them for grace and growth.

[Laura Massa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vroeg kortverhaal over een oude, gefrustreerde man die elke dag de verhuis van de plant van zijn onderburen volgt. Op vaste uren wordt de geranium buiten gezet, tot een nieuwe zwarte buur, de bloemenpracht tegen de stenen keilt. Over samenlevingsproblemen en Sisyfus, dus.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story particularly shows the racist attitude many in the South had at this time, and some still do. That has to be kept in mind but it is also very psychologically rich dealing with clashes of culture of the South vs. the North, race, open spaces vs. crowded cities, a meaningful life vs. not.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of six stories represents O'Connor's earliest published work, written while she was in college. She already has a stark, insightful prose which she went on to become famous for. Some contemporary readers may find the use of racial slurs distressing.

[Peter Willoughby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was effectively her masters thesis and shows some rough edges but I liked it

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha dado lástima este relato y me ha parecido muy interesante la diferencia de puntos de vista respecto a una simple planta, lo que puede representar una cosa tan nimia para una persona

[Daniel Macias · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Once she took him shopping with her but he was too slow. They went in a 'subway' - a railroad underneath the ground like a big cave. People boiled out of trains and up steps and over into the streets. They rolled off the street and down steps and into trains - black and white and yellow all mixed up like vegetables in soup. Everything was boiling. The trains swished in from tunnels, up canals, and all of a sudden stopped. The people coming out pushed through the people coming in and a noise rang and the train swooped off again. Old Dudley and the daughter had to go in three different ones before they got where they were going. He wondered why people ever went out of their houses. He felt like his tongue had slipped down in his stomach. She held him by the coat sleeve and pulled him through the people.

They went on an overhead train too. She called it an 'El.' They had to go up on a high platform to catch it. Old Dudley looked over the rail and could see the people rushing and the automobiles rushing under him. He felt sick. He put one hand on the rail and sank down on the wooden floor of the platform. The daughter screamed and pulled him over from the edge. 'Do you want to fall off and kill yourself?' she shouted.

Through a crack in the boards he could see the cars swimming in the street. 'I don't care,' he murmured, 'I don't care if I do or not.'

'Come on,' she said, 'you'll feel better when we get home.'

'Home?' he repeated. The cars moved in a rhythm below him."

5/5:
1. The Geranium
2. The Crop
3. Wildcat
4. The Barber

4/5:
5. The Turkey

2/5:
6. The Train

[Vel Veeter]

This short collection of stories by Flannery O’Connor represents her earliest works. These stories are focused on a few issues and a couple of them were even revised later on to be more complete versions in later publications. They do offer a glimpse into those concerns.

Her biggest concerns throughout all her career are people who choose cruelty and decorum instead of kindness. She also loves to write about hypocrisy. In these stories, all of these different themes show up mostly in dealing with the incredibly messed relationship that white “society” people have with their black neighbors in the South.

The result of course like most young writers’ work is a lack of nuance in the matter. It’s not that Black characters are wholly virtuous and white characters are wholly venal, but there is some of that. Her sense of self as a writer is already too strong to be that black and white with the issues. Instead, she is incredibly harsh toward those figures who exist the margins between goodness and fake goodness, the hypocrites. Flannery O’Connor doesn’t spend a whole lot of time with the abjectly cruel because they are lost, instead she spends her time with those who have a foot too comfortably in the sinful while maintaining the illusion (self-illusion or public illusion) of virtue. It’s liberals who really need to look out for her. It makes for really interesting and really murky reading at times, but it’s something to behold. I just don’t think you get stories like hers as much any more.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I'm a completest with regard to Flannery O'Conner. I spent the summer of 2002 inhaling all of her major works (in the most excellent Collected Works edition from Library of America) and felt it was time to go back and pick up her earlier short stories, some of which she retooled for later works.

This collection is not nearly as powerful as "A Good Man is Hard to Find" or "Everything that Rises Must Converge" but still satisfies; I should say satisfies those of us who enjoy churnings of the inner life as opposed to tightly woven plots. Many of these stories just end...pretty much unresolved, but with all of the quiet desperation of the protagonist fully realized - a lot like Chekhov. Most of the essential O'Connor ingredients are present: religion, obsession, grotesque characters, bigotry, injustice. The Partridge Festival is the best of the lot being one of her last works (an add on to this collection) and full of her quirks.

If you haven't read any Flannery O'Connor start with "A Good Man is Hard to Find". If you're not emotionally shaken by the end of the first story you probably should stop. I got hooked.