A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: Not entertaining so much as disturbing
Review: A collection of the following short stories:
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" is about a family, including a grandmother, who go on a road trip only to find themselves at the mercy of a famous outlaw and his murderous gang.
"The River" is about an unpleasant young boy who is baptized by a babysitter, and who then heads back to the river and drowns himself.
"The Life You Save May be Your Own" is about a woman who marries her simple-minded daughter off to a drifter, which seems to be a matter of convenience for both of them.
"A Stroke of Good Fortune" is about a woman who has always considered herself better than the other members of her family, but whose pregnancy lowers her self-esteem.
"A Temple of the Holy ghost" is about a pair of girls visiting a family, and the youngest daughter of that family. The young daughter interacts with them as they hang out with boys their age and go to a fair, and then the daughter goes to a religious institution and finds it lacking.
"The Artificial Nigger" is about a country bumpkin and his bumpkin son traveling to the city for the son's first time, and the two of them try to outdo each other in terms of knowledge of the city. Eventually, the father forsakes the son when the son is threatened by a city woman with arrest, and the two smooth over their feelings near the end of their disastrous trip.
"A Circle in the Fire" is about a trio of young teens who visit a farm that their father used to work at and spoke glowingly of. They eventually assert their capacity for chaos and violence while the woman who runs the farm tries to get them away from her property.
"A Late Encounter With the Enemy" is about a 104 year old man who dies while on stage at his daughter's graduation ceremony.
"Good Country People" is about a bright philosophy student with an unpleasant haughtiness who has to put up with her even less pleasant ignorant mother. A simple bible salesman elicits mixed emotions in her, and when she lures him to the loft of a barn to make out, he steals her wooden leg and abandons her there.
"The Displaced Person" is about a hardworking Polish war-refugee who brings a woman's farm back to life from the brink of bankruptcy. But the other workers are jealous and suspicious, and attempt to engineer the Pole's downfall. They eventually murder him, even though it means that none of them can live on the farm anymore.
The Good and the Bad:
What can I say about one of the most famous collections of short stories from modern times?
As a whole, they have a view of humanity that is so unflattering that it's disturbing. Among all of the stories, there are only a handful of characters who are even remotely sympathetic, and none of them are good enough to get the reader to pull for their good fortunes. As a whole, they are ignorant, painfully close-minded, and recklessly immoral. The young, the old, men and women, blacks and whites are all portrayed in this way. The stories themselves, which I understand are credited with heavily influencing the modern short story, generally contain interesting plot elements that allow the nastiness of the characters full display. My favorites are "Good Country People," "The Artificial Nigger," "A Good Man is Hard to Find," and "The Displaced Person." But my enjoyment of all of them is tempered by the sense of hopelessness that they close with, especially the latter two. My least favorites were "A Stroke of Good Fortune," "The River," and "A Temple of the Holy Ghost," which were all far too much investment for too little return.
What I learned: The ignorance of Depression era rural southerners seems to have been amazing. Judging from yesterday's election, today's Southerners may not be much better.

Rating:
Summary: A good short story writer is hard to find...
Review: And Flannery O'Connor is definitely one of the best. You'll find out why in this, her definitive collection, which features dark, pessimistic stories about Southern life, often with an ironic twist in the gut at the end. My favorite is still the title story, about a family on vacation that meets up with a very bad man. I don't advise reading these stories if you're feeling depressed, though. Their bleak outlook on life and human nature, while powerful, cannot be categorized as uplifting.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: As I first started this book, I was a little confused. Luckily I tried to read the stories by attempting to read deeper into what the author really meant, or by what the author was trying to convey. I think that O'Connor defiantly uses a lot of symbolism, and tries to convey a message that is not seen on the surface. If you simply read this book on a superficial level you will probably not like it, but if you read it to find the deeper meaning, I think that you will thoroughly enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Flannery O'Connor
Review: Each of the short stories in Flannery O'Connor's collection describes a religious theme through a cast of arrogant, ignorant, and foolish characters. My favorite story was "The Displaced Person", a story in which Mrs. McIntyre, a proud, controlling, and frugal woman hires a Displaced Person- a Polish refugee- with his family, to work on her farm. This story was my favorite because of its complexity and artful use of imagery througout the work.
One of the most prominent ideas in this story is Mrs. McIntyre's rejection of Christ in her life, which is visible to the reader through her careless atttitude towards the peacock and the Displaced Person. The story begins with the peacock, a bird oddly out of place, wandering in its beauty on the otherwise barren farm. Mrs. McIntyre ignores the bird's splendor and mocks the priest's fascination with the creature. She sees no use for the bird and has allowed the others to die out, keeping this one only out of a sense of obligation to her late husband, just as she only continues to practice religion out of a feeling of obligation. She has no real faith in Christ and no use for His mercy, as she says, "'I'm a logical practical woman and there [is] no . . . Christ Our Lord.'" Mrs. McIntyre considers Christ to be "'just another'" Displaced Person, who like the peacock is in a strange land where his beauty goes unappreciated, and who is worthy of suspicion because of his uncommon nature. O'Connor uses the image of the peacock as Christ particularly effectively in a conversation between Mrs. McIntyre and a priest when the peacock opens its tail. In this instance, neither person listens to the other, continuing their own thoughts aloud. The priest compares the peacock's tail's sudden appearance to the Second Coming of the Lord, following which Mrs. McIntyre, speaking of the Displaced Person, says, "'He didn't have to come in the first place.'" She chooses not to find any use for Christ in her life. Because Mrs. McIntyre decides to remain self-sufficient rather than rely on the mercy of Christ to save her, she is ultimately destroyed. After her fall the priest continues to visit her, but the primary concern of his visits is the peacock, just as Christ remains his central concern. Though she rejects Christ and his mercy along with the Poles whose thrift, energy, and unconcern for racial distinctions make them undesirable characters, as displaced strangers to her world, Mrs. McIntyre ultimately finds that she is the one who is a displaced stranger. The Dispalced People she has always excluded ultimately exclude her from their religious sacraments, and thus Christ, too, seems to leave her.
This idea is common to all of the short stories in which the main characters reject salvation in favor of pride in their own ability, and choose to ignore the facts of their existence. Ultimately, it is what they choose to ignore that overcomes them.
Flannery O'Connor's comments on the need for religion provide the foundation of these stories, which she conveys through descriptions of the fate of those who reject salvation.

Rating:
Summary: Hurrah for O'Connor
Review: Each of these stories will take your breath away and leave you something to think about. O'Connor is a master at distracting the reader with humor so that the point of the story can almost be subverted to it. In the title story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find" the change in tone is as startling as a slap on the face. So beware! My favorite stories are "The River" and "Temple of the Holy Ghost." The protagonists in both are children, and O'Connor delves into the way they interpret the world (and beyond) in a most surprising manner. It will knock your socks off!

Rating:
Summary: "Good Man is Hard to Find" is one of a kind
Review: Flannery O'Conner's ten short stories each offer a unique perspective on southern life during the mid Twentieth Century. Her strong Catholic beliefs are obvious through the reoccurring theme of being saved by grace. Whether she shares this idea through a grandmother reaching out to the murderer of her child, or a new groom trying to help a young runaway, the concept of charity is continually displayed.
However, don't be deceived by the religious themes. This book is not gently written. Many of the stories have violent or disturbing endings that are vital to the understanding of the story. The violence would probably distract a young audience and shield them from the deeper meaning O'Conner tries to convey. Her message would be completely misunderstood.
At first, O'Conner's seriousness took me off guard. Only in a second review did I realize that the stories are excellent works to analyze, and I began to really enjoy them.

Rating:
Summary: Flannery O'Connor: A Master of the Short Story
Review: Flannery O'Connor is often referred to as a master of the short story. At first glance and speedy reading of her stories in this book I was confused as to why she had earned such a lofty title. Strangely, after a day or so of reading her book I couldn't stop thinking about the different stories (character's, plot, etc). I then decided to giver her book (and title) a fair chance by reading the stories again, this time thoughtfully. I thorougly enjoyed the result and discovery of doing so.
O'Connor masterfully capitvaters her readers from the start with a subtle voice that becons and lures the readerinto her web of a story. After weaving the character's and their nunances, along with the different symbolic activities that occur cleverly together, she adds the clingher to the story--a bizzarre twist that leaves the reader to onder the sometimes disturbing events that previoulsly passed.
While I was in my phase of pondering, I was shocked to realize that I could relate to some of her characters in some way or another, and after discussing the book with my peers, they all came to the same conclusion as well. O'Connor seems to capture the different struggles that life brings and her readers relate to the characters (regaurdless of the story) or will know people like unto those that she describes.
Her short stories touch the core of people and their lives. Not only that, but her stories are a perfect balance of description,tone and voice, action, dialogue and such that leave the reader in their own pondering stage, and affect the reader for much longer than the initial reading. Flanner O'Connor is an excellent story teller, and definitley deserving of the title "master of the short story". This book is an excellent choice for people everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Flannery O'Connor - Nathan Dunford
Review: Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find is a well-written series of stories all set in the Southern States. Her writing is very descriptive and she uses many rhetorical devices in her stories. She uses numerous simile phrases; "clinging like a catipillar", "eyes like nails", are just a few. Occasionally alliteration arises in her writing; "colored customers", "lost the lunch." These techniques make her writing much more enjoyable to read. Her overall writing is very clean and very descriptive. Nothing goes unnoticed. The dialogue in the stories is very realistic. It might be hard to read or understand sometimes but after reading over the difficult line several times, one can get the general idea or purpose of it.
This compilation of short stories has many recurring themes. Some of them include the family, marraige, loyalty, religion, and grace. Marraige is portrayed very interestingly. In "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", Mr. Shiftlet simply marries the poor, deaf girl and then leaves her. Flannery O'Connor seems to have some sort of bitterness towards the male gender. Almost all of the men that she has in her stories have underlying and even misleading motives. The young man in "Good Country People" is a Bible salesman but uses his persona to dupe unsuspecting females and then take trophies of his conquests. The father in "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is shown to be an impatient, grumpy father with little intimate interaction with anyone. The only males in the stories that do not have some major character flaw are the grandfather and grandson in "The Artificial Nigger."
I did enjoy some parts of these stories. All too often, they were depressing and morose. The murder of the D.P. is so evily undertaken. I do see her overall purpose for these stories. The religious themes always have something to do with the story. It was an interesting book to read.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Book Is Hard to Find, and This Is One
Review: Flannery O'Connor's classic short-story collection, featuring dark, pessimistic stories about Southern life, often with ironic twists at the end, really needs no introduction. My favorite is still the title story, about a family on vacation who meets with a very bad man. I don't advise reading these stories if you're feeling depressed, though. Their bleak outlook on life and human nature can leave you feeling positively suicidal.

Rating:
Summary: Flannery O'Connor is an Inspiration
Review: For aspiring female writers, O'Connor is a prime example to follow. Her strong surrealist style is a great example of fine literature. A Good Man is Hard to Find (and other stories) is an excellent collection, which I would highly recommend.