Good Things Out of Nazareth: The Uncollected Letters of Flannery O'Connor and Friends

by Flannery O'Connor, Ben Alexander (Editor, Contributor), Walker Percy (Contributor)

A literary treasure from National Book Award-winning author Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) and her circle of extraordinary friends. This compilation of more than 100 unpublished letters from the vault of the Flannery O'Connor estate offers insight into faith, religion, sex, culture, and the literary world of mid-20th-century America. A story of friendship told in letters, this book features never before seen letters from such contemporaries as Walker Percy and Caroline Gordon. Flannery O'Connor is a star of 20th-century American literature. Those familiar with her work know that her strong faith and struggle with Protestantism and Catholicism in the Deep South informed all that she wrote and did. This book is a collection of many of her unpublished letters, along with those of such literary stars as Walker Percy (author of 'The Moviegoer', Robert Giroux, Caroline Gordon, and movie critic Stanley Kauffman. Themes of creativity, faith, work, and writing emerge, forming a riveting literary portrait of these friends, artists, and thinkers. Here we find their joys and loves, as well as their trials and tribulations as they struggle with doubt and illness while championing their Christian beliefs and fighting racism in the world of Jim Crow.

©2019 Flannery O'Connor and Ben Alexander (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Biography Memoir, Religion, Catholic, History

Audible Audio

First published October 15, 2019

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

[Haley Baumeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and fun world to live in for a while. A world where Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, Walker Percy, and Karl Barth aren't dead influences on a past era, but living writers shaping current thought - along with O'Connor, unaware of the influence their work will have long after their own lives end.

The Habit of Being is also a collection of letters, though my understanding is that it consists soley of her own. This collection includes many "friends" and from what it looks like, readers have various opinions about that. Honestly, they letters from others didn't do a whole lot for me except to widen my perspective of her circles of writing, influence, and care. Some people also take issue with the editing - and perceived over explanation and prefacing - of the correspondence. (Saw a First Things review of this titled "A Good Editor Is Hard To Find" lol) But again, to me it might have seemed a bit clumsy at times... but overall I was grateful for the context of the dialogue.

The audiobook was great - different readers for different literary pals. And the southern accent they gave her was perfect.

Anyways, Flannery was a hoot. A spunky spirit with an eye for staring at life as it is - long enough to document the reality of jolting grace at work.

--------------------------

“I am making slow headway with [Karl Barth’s Evangelical Theology: An Introduction], although it is not difficult. It is a little wearin’ to read such a good man who thinks that believin’ in the Catholic Church is idolatry.”

“I told the minister I thought every mental institution ought to have a resident writer.”

“Then I had an 82 year-old cousin… and I was worried about her reading [Wise Blood] too. I thought it’s goin’ to kill her, she’ll have a heart attack or a stroke or somethin’ and I’ll go around with her on my conscience for the rest of my life. But it didn’t do anything to her either except increase her rectitude. She sat right down and wrote me a letter beginnin’ I do not like your book…”

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been one that has harshly judged the few things I have read authored by Flannery O'Connor as dark, uncomfortable and "what the hell is she saying?!." Recently a trusted reading friend earnestly encouraged me to repent and rethink my rejection of this author based on high school reads. I found a new documentary on FOC and was intrigued. Who knew she loved peacocks (like me!)? I would have, had I done one iota of research. The documentary spotlighted this book in particular, as an example of what one theory of thought is about what she was actually trying to express - her Catholic-ness and deep religiosity, right and wrong, good and evil - all done with a beckoning, persuasive voice. However, that theory continues, the culture in which she was raised, and celebrated is controversial and troubling to all who recognize the many evidences of it in her writing, life and actions.

So does the question GR asks at the start of every review: What did you think?

Hmm. What did I think? She shocks me, and as with others (including my relatives) who grew up in this milieu, I just want to shake her by her fragile shoulders and demand explanations and justifications. Yet when I hear this collection of letters, they are honest, earnest and not trying to bamboozle anyone. She's wry, funny, observant, and wickedly spot-on. By book's end I want to excuse her - every generation has its blindspot, right? Was she racist? Weren't most people in her day, her time, her place? Hadn't they been for a very long time? Doesn't make it right, but reading her work doesn't imbue complicity. Here's this reader's struggle.

I came to like her, empathize with her as a person, as a writer, and respect her choices - although I think she could have had a much happier life if she'd made different ones - however - had she done that, we never would have seen her writing, and I loved the writing in many of her letters. Some was just unfortunate social marking, I think (words instead of urine). The credibility of this collection is unquestionable as she didn't do the publishing of these letters - it was done to her after her death, so she is writing with a voice clear and free from a deeper motive than simply communicating to the letter recipient.

Therefore, I will carry forward with my reading of FOC's body of works, holding in my mind the troubling bits, to see where they pop up, and what she may have meant. Is it overwhelmed by what a present day reader (me? you?) interprets from her text or does it offer up a usable nugget of wisdom for the present? So often I find an author's work is rendered unhelpful to me if I don't fully understand the context of the time, and even if I do, I cannot move forward except for the purely academic purpose of close defining and categorization.

So there we go - a reader's journey. If you've read this far, how do you feel about Flannery O'Connor's works? Recommendations, feedback, as always are welcomed.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Things Out of Nazareth is easily the worst-edited book I’ve ever read. Alexander is forever looking for occasions to insert material of his own, however needless, prefacing most of these collected letters with the most unenlightening summaries of what is to come, as if he imagines that people may choose to read his descriptions in lieu of the letters themselves. (Just about the only thing allowed to go unexplained is the editor’s baffling arrangement of these letters, untouched, it would seem, by any sort of standard chronology or grouping of letters between given pairs of correspondents.) At all times this feels like an editor with no confidence in his contents (see also his padding of letters to and from O’Connor with those between outside parties whose refer; one quickly realizes just how inclusive the subtitle “The Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Friends” is going to be). A fun game can be made of trying to determine whether he thinks less of the authors whose writings are contained within or of the volume’s readership, given that his editorial insertions add no clarity and often reflect clear misreadings of the text, and he takes advantage of the endnotes as an opportunity for himself to step to the fore and air his unending grievances against imagined enemies. The strength of O’Connor’s voice allows hers to be the dominant one in this compendium, but only barely.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

Whew. It took me awhile to get through this due to a busy schedule, but luckily, the epistolary format makes things easy to jump right back in.

If you are a hardcore fan of Flannery O'Connor, I highly recommend this collection of letters written by, to, and about her. It is a special insight into her development as a writer and what her friends/instructors thought of her and her work.

O'Connor is a brilliant writer. If you haven't read her short stories, please give them a try.

The only thing that almost turns me off from her is her huge religious influences, but her stories are so nuanced that the religious aspect doesn't feel preachy or holier-than-thou. Her writing feels special and meaningful, yet very brutal. Of course, those things go hand in hand when you have a talent such as Flannery O'Connor. Her early death makes me wonder what more she had to say.

[Kimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

One I'd recommend to aspiring writers, which I unfortunately am not at the moment.

I had hoped to get to know Flannery O'Connor a bit better through the collection, and while I did, many of the letters are academic, many focusing on literary criticism of each other's or other contemporary work.

That said, the quips and wisdom throughout made it worth it, like:
- (To a student struggling, comparing herself to others too often): "You have something they don't; so try to deepen what you've got and don't let them bother you."
- Some of the ways she would sign off and greet other writers were delightful, e.g. "I hope you are well and merry and working just as you like." or "I am so proud of you and your work and of being a friend of yours."
- "It's something to be able to plod, and I am grateful for it."
- The entire page about Wellesley (297), lol.
- "I might be in her black books" to say someone might not like you.

Most of all, I hope to bear any challenges with half the grace and quiet strength and humor that Flannery handled her health.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!

If you are looking for a follow-up to The Habit of Being look no further than Good Things Out of Nazareth. While I prefer the former, as it focused entirely on Flannery and her letters, this was by no means unsatisfactory. Overall, the editor did a sufficient job. However, I did find a few irksome comments that extended to the realm of the tedious and irrelevant. Historical and social context for a letter's subject is just fine but tangents made on presidential golfing and the wedding of Harry and Megan were not necessary. It dates the book and introduced a slim element of the tacky in my opinion.

Not only are you reintroduced to O'Connor's wit and convictions but also privy to the thoughts and correspondence of her circle of friends, some who in their own way were making significant contributions to the literary sphere from their own unassuming backgrounds.
While O'Connor's own words may not be the sole contribution to this collection a lot of my favorite letters were those of her friends and loved ones, letters where she is the recipient or the subject. They offer more insight to her, particularly on the impact she had on those she had regular correspondence with. It was fascinating to see her receive literary advice and criticism, or to read a priest friend's own interpretation of her story. It was especially moving to read (after her passing) the words of a friend who loved her dearly. O'Connor had such vitality when it came to her words that when the letter announcing her death came up there was still a strange sense of shock and disappointment.
I recommend this collection to those like me who can't get enough of this O'Connor and need to drink up everything she had to offer to this world. My copy is tabbed up quite nicely.

"My eyes are scorched. I seem to feel seeds opening in my blood."
-Father Scott Watson to Flannery O'Connor on his thoughts about The Violent Bear it Away

"Of course the bonds of love, and knowledge are never broken and I can still say 'She means a lot to me' and not 'She meant a lot to me.' But death does take away her face, hands, the sound of her voice, things we need and miss so much."

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Things Out of Nazareth
The Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Friends

by Flannery O’Connor

Crown Publishing

Convergent Books

Biographies & Memoirs

Pub Date 15 Oct 2019

I am reviewing a copy of Good Things Come Out of Nazareth: The Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’ Connor and Friends through Crown Publishing/Convergent Books and Netgalley:

Flannery O’Connor born Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in 1925, in Savannah Georgia and Sadly died before she was forty, in 1964 she died. She was the master of twentieth century short fiction. joining, since her untimely death in 1964, the likes of Hawthorne, Hemingway, and Faulkner. Those familiar with her work know that her powerful ethical vision was rooted in a quiet, devout faith that informed all she wrote and did.

Flannery lived most of her life on a dairy farm in Milledgeville Georgia where she raised Peacocks. She practiced her craft in a modest room near an ample front porch. She received many visitors, used an old typewriter with a bookshelf full of modern books nearby, she read modern fiction, theology, philosophy! She read everything from William Faulkner to Thomas Aquinas.

In 1949 a promising writer from Georgia was residing in a sparse in New York City. In 1949 Flannery O’Connor gladly accepted Robert and Sally Fitzgerald offer to live with them so she could finish Wise Blood!

In the Uncollected Letters Of Flannery O’Connor and friends we get a better idea of how her Catholic Faith influenced her writing as well as as her opinions against Communism though she was not very vocal about it she did from time to time express those feelings in letters.

We learn by 1964 Flannery O’Connor was very aware that her time on the earth was not long, and by the winter she would loose her battle with Lupus, dying before she turned forty.

I found that Good Things Come Out of Nazareth: The Uncollected Letters Of Flannery O’Connor and Friends to be well written and researched and to be both educational and entertaining making it worthy of five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

[Peter]

Great collection. I appreciated the notes from the editor explaining who people were and O'Connor's relationship with them, filling in historical context, etc.

It would have been nice if the letters were in a clearer order. There were a couple times when a letter appeared after its response. E.g., one of O'Connor's friends asks what she means by "low blood count" and then a few pages later we read the letter where she says she has a "low blood count."

Another quibble is that the words "and Friends" are small on the front cover. A good chunk of these letters are not written by Flannery O'Connor (or even about her). I was glad to read those other letters, but when I first picked up the book I expected to read her correspondence.

Sometimes reading these collections feels a little invasive. Its closest modern equivalent would probably be a collection of emails or texts. Then again, O'Connor was in the habit of forwarding letters without the permission or knowledge of the sender, so she might not have viewed letters as that private.

The act of reading a lot of anyone's correspondence lends itself to a certain fondness and sympathy for them. You begin to feel like you know them. This made some of her last letters and the telegram from Regina O'Connor announcing her death oddly painful.

This collection inspired me to pick up her collected works again. I also want to read Caroline Gordon and more Walker Percy.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I had read 100 or 150 pages of this book, I had difficulty putting it down. Flannery had an extraordinary set of friends, and her lack of complaining about her Lupus treatments, her self-effacing humor, and the friendship that she offered her friends and received from them made the book particularly memorable and a good compendium to A Habit of Being. There was a certain drama to the book, when one considers the divorce of one character, the disappearance in Chile of one of her friends, who had converted to Catholicism, in part inspired by FOC, and other factors. To have correspondence between Walker Percy and others added more than I expected from this collection.

[Luann Ritsema · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got through about 3/4 of this - then decided I'd gotten from it what I wanted. Many of the letters are between her friends - so less direct correspondence with O'Connor than I was expecting. Could have used better editing.

I didn't dislike this - some of it is very interesting. But its not one I'd necessarily recommend.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contents: 4/Editing: 2. I wish I could give this more stars, but I'm split between the eclectic letters themselves, many more with the "friends" around Miss Flannery than you might expect, as she gets full type on the cover and spine, naturally. Yet, following her within her milieu of Caroline Gordon, Allen Tate, Fr. McCown, Walker Percy, and Katherine Anne Porter among other lesser-knowns, it's useful to combat the "backwoods Georgia" stereotype of the 1964 obit in Time Magazine, and the general condescension heaped upon the author by those ignorant of the Catholic intellectual influences which were at their most intense, tellingly, just before Vatican II rather than after, as it's all too apparent. I liked seeing how O'C praised JF Powers, who qualifies to be her peer.

The editing is perhaps the most idiosyncratic I've encountered, at least for a publisher in the major leagues; the imprint is under Penguin Random House. Prof. Alexander airs his opinions on presidential golf, the 2016 election, banter he engaged in at faculty parties, and, admittedly not always off target, the teaching of Southern literature. I get his intent to correct the stereotypes, and one might be surprised to see the Agrarians lauded or Lincoln chided, but--in hindsight maybe it's a blessing, as who knows if it'd have been issued afterward--all this appeared a few months before the summer of 2020, which saw biographer Paul Elie's New Yorker article in that same June asking if O'Connor was racist. (Yes is the consensus among those on the Hudson.) I only heard of this collection, of mostly not-published before letters (although a few were in "Habit of Being" to add continuity), and admittedly Alexander arranges them in readable sequence, rather than strict chronology, to allow one to see how correspondences played off various recipients over a few years. It's a little confusing. Nevertheless, that rationale holds, as narrative strands and overlaps emerge.

Plus, patience pays off with rewards as to the sheer amount of thought herein. Tough questions, hard-sought answers, Christian ambiguity, love or grace that can be violent. Yet if you want to know who [Sister] Mariella Gable was (mentioned twice but indexed once), Mr Santos (more than one mention, no index), or the enigmatic "Eel Lopez Hines" O'C conjures up, no dice. The quirky inconsistency between the space allowed the editor--likely a perfect guy to chat with over drinks to avoid a dull conference panel to be sure--for his musings, and the paucity or absence of thorough commentary that would inform the reader who in tarnation is being referred to, or what's such-and-such mean, is disappointing. Those of us who admire the period in which Flannery and her pals flourished deserve more. However, this got me to go re-read "Habit of Being," Percy and O'C...

[Amy Cantrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for the editing, 5 stars for the peek into Flannery’s life.

[Michaiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy everything I’ve ever read that was penned by Flannery O’Connor, even when I disagree or don’t understand. So I thoroughly enjoyed her letters in this collection and those written to or about her. But the book would’ve been much better in my opinion if the editor hadn’t inserted himself and his own opinions and commentary - often asserting that his own opinions were shared by Flannery without any support (that I could find) from the excerpts of her letters shared here. Maybe the unedited letters would have lended support to his assertions, but if so, I sure would’ve loved to have read them in their entirety.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Correspondence between Flannery O'Conner and her friends and colleagues is the best kind of memoir or biography. It's her own words, written with no thought of a lasting memorial, but opening a door into her daily life, thoughts, humor, and values. I read the complete stories a few years ago, but this collection introduced me to this brilliant young woman living in rural Georgia with her mother who ran a dairy farm. Flannery raised peacocks, was a devout Catholic, read avidly, traveled often to spend time with friends, and suffered with lupus which tragically took her life at 39. Her stories are compared to Hemingway and Faulkner. She says she wrote about "freaks." In the stories, she not only created memorable characters but delved into universal themes, faith, and cultural struggles.

She had a strong circle of literary, intellectual, and faith friends who exchanged support and criticism. I recommend reading the collection of letters with a copy of her complete short stories to fully enjoy the letters which give her criticism of a story and converse about the meaning. Doing this, I understood those particular stories in a much deeper way and also saw how seriously O'Conner took the criticism and made carefully crafted changes.

The editorial intros to each letter became a little tedious with much repetion. I hope the final edition repaired this. A list of correspondents with the necessary background at the beginning of the book would be much more practical.

Thanks to Goodreads Giveaways for the copy. I highly recommend it to all who admires Flannery O'Conner and would enjoy getting to know her, and to anyone who loves to write. The letters on technique and style are a valuable lesson in writing.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Things out of Nazareth is a lost treasure, which focuses on the writing career of Flannery O'Connor and her circle of literary friends. The book collects 100 letters written between O'Connor and between reviewers of her books, and her close circle of friends over a period of perhaps 20 years. Flannery herself is a renowned southern writer, often compared with the likes of Hemingway and Faulkner.

The book is an epistolary account, as it's told entirely within letters. Readers are let into the intimate world of O'Connor, while she writes masterpieces such as "Wise Blood" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find." It's not often that readers are allowed into such an intimate account of an author's life, criticism of her own work and feedback from editors. Writers, in particular, can learn tricks of the trade as O'Connor discusses using the environment to influence mood in her stories, and shares other tricks of the trade.

Writers and fans of Flannery O'Connor should pick up this amazing lost treasure on the life of "Connor (and perhaps a copy of Wise Blood too!)

[Alex Knipp · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I hope that when you read my stories you will let me know what you think of them. I don't require my friends to like them and am inured to the fact that most of them don't. All I hope is that all aunts who burn my books have to buy them first.”

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several other readers here have mentioned the odd, idiosyncratic editing of this book of letters. The letters are not arranged chronologically. Not only are O'Connor's letters included, but letters to her (which kind of makes sense) and letters between her associates - letters neither written by or to her. Some of the latter don't even mention O'Connor.

All of this seems odd until the reader grasps what this book really is. I suggest that it all makes sense when you realize that this book is not mainly about Flannery O'Connor. It's a book about Catholicism. I started to figure this out as I read (with an increasingly sinking feeling) the editor's preface. This book can be viewed as an extended Catholic tract.

O'Connor's Catholic faith was, of course, the driving force behind her fiction. But the depth and impact of her best writing is such that sensitive readers of her work can appreciate, "feel," and love her fiction without necessarily sharing her religious beliefs. This book is a somewhat different story. It's sometimes a hard slog for someone who doesn't share the conviction most of these letter-writers have - that they are part of The One True Religion.

That being said, many of O'Connor's letters are enlightening, amusing, and touching. Much of the rest, including many of Benjamin Alexander's editorial comments, is just annoying and exasperating - to me, anyway. Every reader will react differently, of course.

I'll end by saying that, for me, the most moving letter in the book was a short telegram from Flannery's mother to one of her daughter's friends, sent on August 3, 1964:

FLANNERY O'CONNOR PASSED AWAY EARLY THIS AM. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR KINDNESS

REGINA CLINE O'CONNOR

[Karen Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flannery O'Connor's remarkable writing, sense of humor, and lack of pity for herself shine through her letters, with gems such as:
"I don't get about much as I walk on crutches - this, thank the Lord, makes me no good around the house so most of my time is spent writing and reading and watching some peachickens I have."
"My stories are adequate, there's nothing in particular wrong with them but they sicken me when I read them in print; however, there's that money."

Flannery invites, takes, and incorporates criticism amazingly well if she feels it's warranted. She respects Caroline Gordon, for example, who writes so many comments that it seems overwhelming - but Flannery seeks out her advice and appreciates it, which isn't common with authors.

Many of the book's decisions, though, are puzzling. The letters skip around so that sometimes Flannery's alive, suddenly she's died (from lupus), then she's very sick, etc. Some letters are not to or from Flannery and have little to do with her - what the what?!? For example, on page 342 of the hardcover book, Walker Percy writes to Robert Daniel and mentions a syllabus. An author note states that "O'Connor's stories are vital in reinforcing Percy's syllabus...." but I don't find any mention of O'Connor in Percy's 2-page syllabus (why in the world is A SYLLABUS here - how unnecessary).

I'm glad to have a few more of Flannery's excellent letters - but I wish they were better ordered and the unnecessary fluff around them expunged.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed a bunch reading this, she is totally brutal in her sense of humour. I enjoyed spending time with Flannery “IRL” more than I thought I would. Especially surprised by the amount of writing process insights in this collection, which were gold dust. Loved the correspondence between her and her mentor.

Getting closer to her humanity helped temper my angry frustration with her racism after a year of reading her work. Bizarre that FOC is younger than Shirley Jackson but still objectifies and denigrates people of colour, imho, giving her farm labourers less care and empathy than her fecking peacocks, while Jackson was much more socially conscious, and practically family with Ralph Ellison. Drives home how each region of the US is its own country, culturally. This book seems at great pains to prove FOC was “only a little racist” by heavily cherry-picking extracts from letters concerning her views on race.

Another bugbear was extremely long extracts focussing on letters to and about Walker Percy with seemingly no or very tangential connection to Flannery. Fair enough, they’re interesting comparatively, but this is a book of letters on Flannery O’Connor. Surely not the scope of the book.

In any case, this is a decent chance to spend time with the woman, her genius, her struggles, her failures in empathy, her humanity.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit that I didn’t immediately take to reading the correspondences between Flannery O’Connor and her friends, mainly because I was initially lost in a web of references without much context. I guess this is to be expected since I was not the intended audience of these letters. But the more of them I read, the more I was able to grasp the weight of O’Connor’s Catholic faith in her environment and her talent as a writer for conveying it through fiction with poignant originality influenced by her Southern roots. Some of my favorite letters are from her mentors, which not only contain invaluable advice on how to hone one’s writing, but reflect the enviable frankness and mutual admiration that characterized their relationship. I was also moved by the way O’Connor thought of others and continued to ply her craft within the confines of her protracted illness without complaint or self-pity, and all the ways she was intimately remembered by her friends after she passed away too soon in the prime of her literary career.

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn't entirely make the case for its being one book — the inclusion of the Walker Percy threads is especially difficult to square in parts — but it's still enjoyable to spend time within Flannery's letters. I read The Habit of Being a few years ago and it was one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of my life. If you haven't read those letters, I simply insist that you must: they are a true delight. While Alexander does some service to some of these letters by placing them in context, he is just as often needlessly verbose and doesn't trust the letters to speak for themselves, which they do.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed account of letters between Flannery O'Connor and various writers, editors, and Catholic leaders. This book has spurred me to go back and read her two books again, with the perspective of this book. I had never realized how deeply steeped in Catholicism her books were, and how much her religion affected her writing. She lived a very short and powerful life, touching many other writers and drawing them to her tiny town in rural Georgia.
Note: This is not a light read, it is very detailed and somewhat difficult to get through.

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who savor the words of Flannery O'Connor, Crown Publishing shares this collection of letters and correspondence. Through these writings, we can gather more details about the life and views of a seminal and profound literary voice.

Having spent time with Flannery O'Connor's stories, as well as having visited her Savannah home, I found this book to be a welcome invitation back to an author I greatly enjoy and gladly share with others.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Things Out of Nazareth is an epistolary look at how O'Connor interacted with those close to her, how those people interacted with her, and how they felt about her person and talent. The social commentary observations and a real look at just how must O'Connor's religious beliefs influenced her made this read truly worthwhile. Any fan of her work and those seeking another way to study the time period will find this a great read.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher.

[Melinda M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Things Out of Nazareth: The Uncollected Letters of Flannery O'Connor and Friends
by Flannery O'Connor is a wonderful resource of information on the thinking and beliefs of Flannery O'Connor and Friends in their own words. It is interesting what the write about and how they think about events of the day. I enjoyed the insight into how Flannery O'Connor's catholic beliefs influenced her world view.

I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

You learn a lot about a person by reading their letters. She was smart but witty, and took her reading, writing, faith, and peafowl very seriously. Thriller isn’t my genre of choice but I look forward to reading her stories now having gained some insight as to how she approached it with a Catholic framework - such original thought, a true niche. I wonder how much more she could’ve done for the church if she lived longer.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - This is a fascinating collection of previously uncollected letters of Flannery O'Connor to friends, but it contains far too much commentary from the editor. Yes, some commentary is necessary to put the correspondences in context, but most readers of O'Connor's works are no doubt knowledgeable enough to pick up the context from the letters themselves.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this collection of letters was like getting more time with a friend than you planned on. However, some of the editorializing and commentary that the editor provided was more confusing than helpful. Several letters are not to/from Flannery O’Connor at all, though many mention her and her work. In the end, I’m just grateful to read more about my friend.

[Kari Cope · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good addition for those who have already read A Habit of Being. Those who haven’t, and want to familiarize themselves with O’Connor’s thought and style as revealed through her letters, should start there.

[Doris Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

NICE BOOK,