Reading 1001 discussion

Southern Gothic-esque short novel from one of (in my opinion) masters of the genre. The story follows Hazel Motes- a cynical WWII vet- who has just returned to an empty family home in Tennessee. He gets into some questionable relationships and high-jinks (often against street preachers) as he sets on his quest to make “a church without Jesus”, a gospel of atheism. There’s some prostitutes, a gorilla costume and a zookeeper, a fraudulent self-blinding, a legitimate self-blinding, and a tragic ending. It’s emotionally a lot. It’s also a great exploration of the human need for belief, despair, and the con people who prey on those two needs. Even though O’Connor writes from an explicitly catholic perspective, I really enjoy her work as a nonreligious reader because despite one’s faith status, I find her stories really touch at the fundamentals of human needs and faults. I gave it 4 stars.

Hazel Motes returns from WW11 a convinced atheist but finds himself unable to escape from his upbringing. Mistaken by many as a preacher, he eventually decides to found an anti-religious church; a church "without Jesus".

He is widely misunderstood. One Shoats feels that Motes is missing the point in not making money from his venture. A follower that Motes does attract, Emery, ends up stealing a mummy and presenting it to Motes to be a "new Jesus". A horrified Motes destroys it and throws it out of the window. Yet it is perhaps the discovery that another preacher, Asa Hawks, is a con artist that is the beginning of the end.

While Motes works his way through many temptations and sins, he becomes increasingly ascetic; blinding himself, wearing rocks in his shoes and throwing away much of his pension money. He resembles more a suffering saint than an atheist.

A strange and weird book.

3 stars.