Rating: 
Summary: Not O'Connor's best work, but better than most novels
Review: The "official"... review by Mary... has it all wrong. "Flannery O'Connor has no truck with such newfangled notions as psychology." On the contrary: O'Connor was versed in psychology and expressed in her letters a preference for, of all people, Freud (over Jung)--she suggested that Freud had a good deal in common with St. Thomas Aquinas. Now, in terms of the novel, O'Connor (rightly) believed that the problem with the modern novel is that it's too psychological. Aristotle said that we see character through plot. And that's all we ever really know-the external. The psychological novel grows out of Manicheeism--or, more precisely, Cartesian Dualism--that separates the soul from the body. As a Catholic (and moreover a Thomist), O'Connor understood the direct connection between body and soul. Parks continues, "her characters are as one-dimensional--and mysterious--as figures on a frieze. Hazel Motes, for instance, has the temperament of a martyr[. . .]"Apparently Parks lacks an understanding of the Saints, a subject of which O'Connor had a deep understanding. Furthermore, O'Connor expressed a distaste for standard hagiography, preferring to see the real depth and personality in the Saints--a depth of understanding she reflects in her characters. The happy ending of _Wise Blood_ is Haze Motes' discovery of how the only way to true happiness is asceticism and self-mortification. "Who else could offer an allegory about free will, redemption, and original sin right alongside the more elemental pleasure of witnessing Enoch Emery dress up in a gorilla suit?" Besides being an "elemental pleasure," Enoch Emery's descent into bestiality is the natural conclusion of his Manicheeism (in a letter, O'Connor dismisses him as a fool). The term allegory is vastly misapplied here. A novel cannot be an allegory. In an allegory, the characters _represent_ ideas. Of all Christian literature, Flannery O'Connor comes perhaps the farthest from allegory. One can't sit down and match up her characters to concepts. The lessons of the novels are learned through experiencing the story--not analyzing it. As T. S. Eliot said, the function of all art and literature is first and foremost to give us experiences (or, as he put it, "feelings"). "Nobody else, that's who. And that's okay. More than one Flannery O'Connor in this world might show us more truth than we could bear." Speaking of Eliot, "Humankind cannot bear much reality." Actually, Parks came closest to the truth about O'Connor here--her stories are about people who can't bear the Truth--the Truth of Christ--and who either know the implications of Christ (like Haze Motes) and try to escape Him; or their minds are clouded (like the grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find") and they need to be awakened to the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: I just couldn't relate
Review: The meaning of "Wise Blood" is hard to discern, since O'Connor writes with such magnificent economy and simplicity. She etches out a dismal picture-full of gray and rain and pain and indifference. I'm not sure exactly what she had in mind, but this is how it struck me...I think Hazel Motes is already dead when the story begins, killed in the war after enduring great physical and emotional pain. He never talks about his combat experiences, and from his bitter silence we can infer his overwhelming sense of guilt and disillusion. He cannot reconcile the inhumanity he's experienced with a notion of Jesus that is just words to him. So when his train reaches Taulkinham, the scene of his cleansing, he preaches the Church Without Christ. He proclaims Jesus to be a liar. Man has not been redeemed. If we were redeemed, there would be some evidence somewhere-but there isn't. And indeed, the townsfolk make his case. Asa Hawks is a loathsome fraud. His daughter, Sabbath, luxuriates in her moral corruption. Enoch Emory-the outsider with "wise blood"-laments that nobody in town will shake his hand. People stare at the street in somber silence as they go through the motions of life. Taulkinham is all hate and crass self-interest, literally a town bereft of redemption. Taulkinham is a dirty reflection of Haze's own soul: his accusatory preaching bounces indifferently off his few pitiful listeners and back into him, driving him to greater exasperation and violence. The more he rails against judgment, the more surely he feels himself judged. The more he feels himself judged, the more he denies his judge. Finally, after a crowning act of defiance, he tries to leave town, but is rebuffed by a policeman who pushes his car off a cliff with the coolness of a man buttering toast. At this point Haze moves from defiance to acceptance, and undertakes to cleanse himself. He subjects himself to every form of pain and torment he can devise, and waits patiently for salvation. Eventually, his landlady, Mrs. Flood, attempts to ease his pain for mainly selfish motives. Haze sees through her easily despite his blindness. He suddenly knows it is time to go; his blood is now "wise"-it tells him what to do without him needing to think it. Go where?, Mrs. Flood asks. He goes off to escape his purgatory, of course, and after a few days wandering around in the freezing cold, he winds up near death, seemingly nowhere. But a policeman's billy club bashed upon his semi-conscious head punctuates his victory. Dead to the world at last, he can live. Jesus has taken him home.
Rating:
Summary: Adventure in Purgatory
Review: The meaning of "Wise Blood" is hard to discern, since O'Connor writes with such magnificent economy and simplicity. She etches out a dismal picture-full of gray and rain and pain and indifference. I'm not sure exactly what she had in mind, but this is how it struck me...I think Hazel Motes is already dead when the story begins, killed in the war after enduring great physical and emotional pain. He never talks about his combat experiences, and from his bitter silence we can infer his overwhelming sense of guilt and disillusion. He cannot reconcile the inhumanity he's experienced with a notion of Jesus that is just words to him. So when his train reaches Taulkinham, the scene of his cleansing, he preaches the Church Without Christ. He proclaims Jesus to be a liar. Man has not been redeemed. If we were redeemed, there would be some evidence somewhere-but there isn't. And indeed, the townsfolk make his case. Asa Hawks is a loathsome fraud. His daughter, Sabbath, luxuriates in her moral corruption. Enoch Emory-the outsider with "wise blood"-laments that nobody in town will shake his hand. People stare at the street in somber silence as they go through the motions of life. Taulkinham is all hate and crass self-interest, literally a town bereft of redemption. Taulkinham is a dirty reflection of Haze's own soul: his accusatory preaching bounces indifferently off his few pitiful listeners and back into him, driving him to greater exasperation and violence. The more he rails against judgment, the more surely he feels himself judged. The more he feels himself judged, the more he denies his judge. Finally, after a crowning act of defiance, he tries to leave town, but is rebuffed by a policeman who pushes his car off a cliff with the coolness of a man buttering toast. At this point Haze moves from defiance to acceptance, and undertakes to cleanse himself. He subjects himself to every form of pain and torment he can devise, and waits patiently for salvation. Eventually, his landlady, Mrs. Flood, attempts to ease his pain for mainly selfish motives. Haze sees through her easily despite his blindness. He suddenly knows it is time to go; his blood is now "wise"-it tells him what to do without him needing to think it. Go where?, Mrs. Flood asks. He goes off to escape his purgatory, of course, and after a few days wandering around in the freezing cold, he winds up near death, seemingly nowhere. But a policeman's billy club bashed upon his semi-conscious head punctuates his victory. Dead to the world at last, he can live. Jesus has taken him home.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book
Review: This book was very deep and made you read it twice. It was full of references to many thing religious and not. I would suggest it to anyone who has a reading level above a 7th grader.
Rating:
Summary: The World for Our Prison Framed
Review: This first novel by Flannery O'Connor gives a dramatic, vivid etc picture of a young man entering strange territory. The author's vision of our society is violent, but not bleak. The novel is a Greek tragedy with a hilarious streak. All about entrapment, compulsion and religious obsession. It is impossible to remain exactly the same reader afterwards. It is not a really great novel, "perhaps", but one that you will savour with a particular fondness.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Literature at it's best
Review: This has to be one of the top 10 books that I've read. It starts off a little slow and may come off as boring, but for some reason, these characters grew on me and I just had to find out what happened to Hazel, Enoch, Sabbath, and all those other people. I don't know what Hoover Shoats' problem was - jealousy? He reminds me quite a bit of some girl in school! In fact, the description of him is almost identical to her!!! I thought of her the whole time I read of him! (heh, heh!) These characters were freaks. They were extraordinary. They are almost too hard to understand to describe! What made Hazel tick? I wondered once finishing the book. I suggest that everyone should read this book and see what I mean by weird books that are hard to understand, hard to describe, but too interesting to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Truth or Consequences
Review: Though familiar with her name, I only just "discovered" the genius of Flannery O'Connor this year when I read "The River" for a literature class. I was so moved and disturbed and inspired that I decided to follow up with Wise Blood. I must say it is one of the finest pieces of American lit I've encountered. I have never read a voice like O'Connor's. Her slick ability to puppeteer my imagination is nothing short of genius. With themes of moral absolutes, sin and redemption, delicately interwoven in a rich tapestry of symbol, Wise Blood left me drunk, spent and aching for more.
Rating: 
Summary: not bad
Review: three and a half stars...o'connor is probably the only religious writer i have ever liked as opposed to walker percy ( his stories come off too dry for my taste ) you can count on her for to find the macabre in the unlikeliest places... the characters make this story. she seems to be sending up hucksters and organnized religion. plus it's short, you can finish it in an evening...and it's wholly quotable...make me wonder if tarantino might've read this before filming pulp fiction. it's got that same weird quirky energy
Rating:
Summary: Crazy.
Review: What an insane book. It's really quite incredible. Flannery O'Connor found all the problems of society, injected them into absurdly weird yet decidedly realistic scenarios and made a book about it. This book deals with obsession, self worth, and generally a whole bunch of people trying to escape themselves, or at least what they think defines themselves. And to boot, it can be terribly funny in a twisted way. Flannery O' Connor rocks. It's about Hazel Motes and the various well defined characters that ram into his life, and he doesn't even notice them. There's the ... blind preacher's daughter, and the suburban washup teenager, and the blind preacher, who all play pivotal roles in Motes' existence, though again, he doesn't realize it. Hazel pretty much goes through the book living in his own world, even though he hates his head also. Motes, after all, is a strange character who is desperately seeking peace with himself, and as you'll see he never fails in punishing himself. He's obsessed with Christ and purity, yet he loathes Christianity and purity. So he creates the Church of Christ Without Christ, and as he tries to promote it, a series of terrifying and subtle events occur that will make you bugeyed with wonder and horror and disgust. He descends from what you would think is a good proper religious fanatic, to a degraded near maniacal individual, and that's what really captivates you, though O'Connor provides ample sideshows. And then, the end is as strange and satisfying as the rest of the book. This is a strange crazy incredibly captivating and overwhelmingly intense book that only lasts a hundred or so pages, but after you'll probably run to Jane Austen. But then in their own funny ways, both Pride and Prejudice and Wise Blood are full of that irony that makes us think about what a bunch of hypocrites we can be to ourselves sometimes.
Rating:
Summary: David Lynch Meets John Kennedy Toole
Review: Wise Blood is at once engaging, provocative, and wildly funny. The author's gift for describing people and events of dark comic outrageousness will cause the story to stick in your head for a long time. It packs Hunter Thmopson's comtempt for authority into the perspective of a fly on the wall, watching an absurd circus of misguided faith. READ IT!
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