Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor BOOK REVIEW

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"SOME ASPECTS OF THE GROTESQUE IN SOUTHERN FICTION"
Essay by Flannery O'Connor:
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[@palodine1]

I've read this twice and ready for a third. Seen the John Houston film adaptation twice, ready for a third. Flannery is the cream of the crop of southern gothic.

[@rustyshackelford934]

I've only read it the once, but I definitely need to go in for a second. I loved it, but was just absolutely baffled at times lol. It went every direction I didn't expect it too. O'Connor was a genius author, particular of southern gothic, which is some of my favorite. Truly one of a kind. It's such a shame her life was cut so early, just when she was really getting going. But it's impressive the impact she left on literature, with how little she had published.

[@Zen_Ali_123]

Flannery is in my pantheon. "When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville."

[@Zen_Ali_123]

Now you gotta reread The Violent Bear It Away

[@theangryambisextress]

ik this comment is directed toward the creator but everyone who reads it better do this too. (fortunately i’m already in the middle of it lmaoo also that “when in rome” has me dead as a not so great uncle)

[@mudgetheexpendable]

The thumbnail on this review is PITCH-PERFECT! That expression.... I loved this book so very much and am glad you did too.

[@salliesones9506]

I am experiencing this book for the first time. Actually, listening to it on Audible and the narrator is amazing! I have caught the humor due to the narrator...so engaging...there are parts that annoyed me but that is due to emotions as a reader (hopefully everyone can understand that). Thank you for this review because you shed some light on some aspects of the story that I was missing or needed more info on.

[@hsialakas]

John Kennedy Toole’s, who wrote A Confederacy of Dunces (which I highly recommend), favourite author. I think I read somewhere he went to go visit her home before he killed himself.

[@benjaminkennedy5083]

I really liked The Violent Bear It Away

[@FisherKing9633]

Similar ideas appear in The Violent Bear It Away, but to my opinion, in a much darker fashion. Both are excellent, but I read Violent Bear it Away at a time in my life where I was sliding definitively into atheism. And I found it, and Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock to be very startling, very dark and said more profound truths about faith than anything by any saint.

[@charlestaylor8624]

My former, southern writer Pat Little dog, said it's too bad she never had children. It would have changed her and mitigated the darkness.

[@charlestaylor8624]

You have helped me understand Flannery. She seems to put the Christian message in the most unchristian people.

[@473mishke]

I'm reading Wise Blood right now after years of not reading Flannery. Her writing is as bright and vibrant as religious iconography and lurks with mystery . I love her. And yes, she is hilarious!

[@pelodelperro]

Thank you for this! Spot on review on one of my favorite books and authors. I still think her masterpiece is The Violent Bear It Away, but Wise Blood is certainly a profoundly engaging and disturbing read. Keep up the good work, you channel is a gem.

[@juanpisukan]

Maan, you have such a good channel, keep going.

[@Amanda-yo2cd]

Thank you. Brilliant as always.

[@MagnumInnominandum]

Thank you for another fascinating read I should get to. I really enjoy you verbal style in your video review if these works. For the average monolog your speech is definitely too fast, but the passion, the rhythm of your adlib narrative drives me. I feel your enthusiasm for these books. Makes me want to partake of these victuals. Thx

[@allesvergaengliche]

Looking forward to your review of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Blew me away when I read it a couple months back.

[@thebooknitter]

I loved The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter so I know this is for me. great review Cliff

[@timkjazz]

Great review, great, great review, one of your very best and that's saying a lot because you are the premier book reviewer online or in print.

[@rishabhaniket1952]

I read this far too early in my life to fully comprehend it's themes and was left pretty depressed and horrified by the last page. I might give this another go after all.

[@tbw6652]

Everything in me is hoping you'll redo your review of Blood Meridian. I know this will very likely never happen, or at least if it does, not any time soon. But I'm in the middle of copying out the book by hand, and it's something that's crossed my mind a few times while doing so.

[@turk-money]

hey man thanks for posting

[@CrazyKrafty]

I discovered O'Connor after learning of the "Southern Gothic" genre after reading McCarthy and Faulkner and fell in love instantly. It's a shame her body of work is relatively small but all of it is brilliant. Hazel Motes is possibly my favorite fiction character of all time.

[@ronaldwilliams2456]

Great review! Read this years ago and it blew my mind. She does indeed put me in mind of a Southern Nathanael West.

[@jojohairee9987]

Nice review! Are you planning on reading haruki murakami soon?

[@ss-gr8lt]

good review man

[@jonathangomez5131]

Read Wise Blood last year from here, my Argentinian Patagonia, and loved it. It's fresh to read a Catholic author from a country distant from that tradition.

[@SerWhiskeyfeet]

My favorite book. I know some are better but this one is my favorite.

[@Thomasfboyle]

Word on Fire ministries just put out a new Flannery O’Connor collection!

[@franciscprager2425]

Great Review!

[@thJune-ze7dn]

I loved The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, and I'm ashamed to realise that I haven't explored the rest of her work yet. This sounds terrific, thank you so much for the video.

[@zorothe9th]

That was written by Carson McCullers

[@thJune-ze7dn]

@@zorothe9th Ahhh frick, you're completely right, I must have mixed them up in my brain. Thank you for the correction.

[@TheMikenanners]

One of the best. Her second book is even better.

[@Szeth_]

Literally just finished reading Wise Blood yesterday and I’m currently about 40 pages into The Violent Bear It Away. This is so bizarre, but yes great video as always! Hazel’s neurotic character sort of reminds me of an MC from Dostoyevsky. The book is absolutely enjoyable

[@domvrazel1171]

The Violent Bear It Away is stunning. Absolutely in my top ten.

[@Szeth_]

@@domvrazel1171 Yea i’m loving it so far, i think i’ll like it slightly more than wise blood. i’m eager to see where this gothic classic leads me

[@jacquesciesla2550]

Ironically, just finished reading this myself about a week or two ago. Truly brilliant writing from O’Conner. To my mind, she is one of the very few American authors whom tackle religion and religious devotion with a seriousness, darkness, and honesty that I think is worthy of the subject. Brilliant review as always!!

[@KSilvaB]

Min 14:04 - "The book is a haunting nightmare comedy, like life." - LOVE THIS!!!

[@geronimo8159]

A very contemporary horror is Cliff losing his mustache.

[@rishabhaniket1952]

Und-uh-rated

[@kurtfox4944]

The Violent Bore It Away.

[@Calcprof]

A great favorite of mine.There is a wonderful John Huston verion of this. Not exactly the novel, but wonderful in its own way.

[@SerWhiskeyfeet]

10:37 very nicely said

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

A huge thanks to Ridge for sending me these wallets and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you want to check them out! > ridge.com/BETTERTHANFOOD

[@zetsub0u115]

Found your channel since I started 2666 by Bolano recently and fell in love with your content 🙏

[@fourtreemouths]

what’d you think of 2666? that whole middle section is brutal(ly long)

[@Ozgipsy]

At cool, I have this. I must’ve seen this review before. I look forward to it. 👍

[@navsquid32]

Just read it, and was floored.

[@zenape619]

Good lord I love O'Connor. Her house Andalusia is a cool place to tour if you ever get a chance. I used to go out drinking and shooting guns in the woods nearby. I feel like she's the Georgia Lovecraft: misanthropic, funny, obsessed with the dark, alien forces that would fry our minds if we ever tried to comprehend them. Did you see the Mercer House in Savannah?

[@zitrandy]

A good man is hard to find?! A hard man is good to find!!

[@davidaasen5192]

Great review 👌🏻 And if you’ve only seen the movie The Night of the Hunter and haven’t read the original novel by Davis Grubb, you really should. It is excellent 🙏🏻

[@ashtonpaul9666]

Cliff could you do a review on Nick Land, would love to hear your thoughts!

[@danielyoung5137]

I attended an Evangelical college and read AGMIHTF in a class. The teacher asked by a show of hands how many thought it was a “Christian” story. My hand was the only one raised. The teacher turned purple, the others were aghast and l was surprised. Class was dismissed - except for me. I was given an “A”.Been a fan ever since.

[@AlecEburhard]

What’s AGMIHTF stand for?

[@danielyoung5137]

@@AlecEburhard Initials for “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”.

[@Monowhite]

Enoch’s hatred/jealousy for animals cracked me up.

[@danecobain]

I've never read Flannery O'Connor but I keep on meaning to!

[@pelodelperro]

You're in for a treat!

[@user-mf1rz9mn3l]

You are right, Flannery was humorous, also have you read the heart is a lonely hunter? Carson McCullers and Flannery hated each other

[@paranoidmyself]

Read it because of this video and oh boy I’m glad I did it!

[@szabolcsmezei4088]

Thanks, as a fan of Cave and the writing (not necessarily the stories) of McCarthy, I will give this a go.

[@thehillofbeans1981]

Is that Solenoid on your shelf? If so, would be interested in your take, Cliff. Also, is The Family of Pascual Duarte on your radar? Hard rec and, I suspect, right up your black-as-pitch alley.

[@playermartin286]

Are you ever going to read some Edward St. Aubyn?

[@bobcabot]

...is it? maybe, but Clint shoot "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" in Savannah and is about to shoot again there soon and the movie gets now a very different spin due to Spacey´s current run...

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

Hope you review Death in Venice by Thomas Mann and Knee-deep in Wonder by April Reynolds (another southern gothic)

[@martinhall932]

Great book... and great movie based on it

[@abnormaniac]

Review over. I am just gonna buy it.

[@Liisa3139]

I'm not into anything goth, but this sounded interesting. Enjoyed your commentary very much.

[@kurtfox4944]

I am not sure where "gothic" comes from in the thumbnail, Not a word I would use to describe this.

[@captain_eclectic]

One of the best.

[@AlencarFaulkner]

Fantastic review of a masterpiece of fiction. I prefer The Violent Bear it Away, a novel that almost ruined fiction for me. O'Connor's writing is better than many lauded laureates, in my opinion. She was truly special. I admire her immensely. The last great Catholic fiction writer.

[@barrymoore4470]

I think Anthony Burgess would be a contender for that last distinction. Not necessarily better than O'Connor, but great in his own right, and survived O'Connor by almost thirty years.

[@AlencarFaulkner]

@@barrymoore4470 I didn't even knew Burgess was Catholic. I assumed he was Anglican. Stylistically, I've a hard time liking first-person narratives. Burgess seems fond of the first-person mode. I just fell in love with O'Connor's style and voice and narratives. I was an adolescent New Atheist arrogantly making fun of "backward" theistic "stupidity". Even after growing out of it I would backslide into my prickly ways. Flannery O'Connor didn't make me into a devout Catholic or much of a theist. But intelligent and talented people like her help me stave off my hubris. Her patience and perseverance and humility and faith is something to admire.

[@jackpreiss1031]

Strangely she reminds me of Waugh. Funny & dark and so damn good.

[@mattmen]

Perchance do you have an account on the ex-birdie app?

[@dwightkschrute80]

I loved this novel! The characters are all wonderfully eccentric and interesting. The world lost a great literary mind when O'Connor passed away.

[@1dudeleek]

Bedankt

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Thank you very much for your kind support! 🙏

[@schumanhuman]

Her 2nd novel 'The Violent Bear It Away' is also derived from several short stories, but unlike 'Wise blood' I don't think it hangs together well at all and the best moments are best read in their original short story form. Though I do like Wise blood I'd rank at least half a dozen of her short stories above it.

[@barrymoore4470]

Yes, I think "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is likely her masterpiece, and certainly one of the great English-language short stories of the twentieth century.

[@fookyoo69]

Entering his Tim the toolman Taylor era

[@r.s.9861]

Flannery ❤

[@IndustrialBonecraft]

That book is a head trip. Just weird, but pretty cool.

[@BigPhilly15]

Solid analysis, especially regarding mankind’s religious impulse directed in sometimes perverse ways. As a Catholic, I can tell you O’Connor and Tolkien are practically canonized.

[@ichirofakename]

Not gonna watch this as I have already read the book. Just dropped in to say IMHO the movie is even better than the book, which is really something coming from this O'Connor fan.

[@kylestclair471]

Great Review! ps: I ordered your mug, they sent me the wrong one...

[@Nora_M.Byrne88]

Damn😔 sadly I just finished reading it (based on your words in the 2023 favs) and I hated every second of it😭 it was a true struggle..I don't know if it was the translation but.. quite sad

[@dennis-1983]

Springsteen loved FOC.

[@barrymoore4470]

You can discern her influence on his song "Nebraska".

[@buster9106]

I'm a third of the way through this book and I just want to throw in the towel. I just don't care about the characters or what happens to them.

[@baslielgugsa9259]

where the stache go man?

[@kurtfox4944]

I don't think I heard you mention names. Names mean a Lot: _Hazel Motes_. Haze is to see unclearly. Mote - as in the biblical reference Matthew 7:3-5 King James Version 3 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? " Q: How do you remove the mote from your eye? A: read the ending. _Blind Asa Hawkes_... well, redistribute the spacing to be 'blind as a hawk'... note the tongue-in-cheek comedy _Sabbath Lily Hawkes_ - Sabbath - as in take a day of rest from religion. Lily is a flower, symbolic meaning of fertility, purity (as in the 15 yr old virgin), Hawkes - sharp-eyed, watchful, and perhaps vicious . _Onnie Jay Holy_ - "Onnie Jay" is pig-Latin for Johnnie. is he holy? nah, but is he a "john" taking satisfaction in the prostitution (selling) of religion? sure thing. _Hoover Shoats_ - Hoover as in vacuum - it sucks. Shoats are small pigs. suckling pig. He is the 'false prophet' of the scammer OJ Holy, and siphons/sucks off some of the earnings. _Enoch Emery_ - guessing here, but Enoch is an apocryphal text of the bible which tells the story of why some angels fell from heaven (mirroring the story of Haze), an explanation of why the Genesis flood (or in this case, blinding) was morally necessary. Enoch is apocryphal or false (as in what Enoch does is false to Haze's Church Without Christ because he tries to introduce the mummified Christ substitute). Emery is a fine-grained impure corundum used for grinding and polishing; he (who is impure) that polishes Haze into who he becomes?

[@bobcabot]

shot! sry...

[@Joma93]

I'll take first.

[@majestycrush]

If you don’t review Don Quixote I’m unsubscribing.

[@billypilgrim1]

I'm going to sound incredibly ignorant but I always thought Flannery O'Connor was a man.