Wise Blood

really not sure what to make of this book

Flannery O'Connor is a better short fiction writer than novelist. Of her two novels, “The Violent Bear It Away” is better.

“Wise Blood” is an interesting Southern Gothic novel about Hazel, a young World War II veteran who, probably because of his experiences in the war, has become a militant atheist. Everyone he meets he assumes is a Christian and feels a need to convert to a life without Jesus. He even becomes a preacher of sorts for what he calls the “Church Without Christ.” His own belief system is muddled and tenets he believes at one point he questions at another.

Along the way, he meets a number of interesting characters, such as a supposedly blind street preacher and his daughter, a prostitute who always leaves him feeling worse after their time together, and a manic zookeeper.

Hazel becomes obsessed with Jesus more so than most Christians and that leads him to an unexpected character arc.

The novel's main problem is that because all of the characters are so grotesque and exaggerated, it's hard to sympathize with any of them. The other problem is that there is minimal plot and characters develop rather slowly with a lot of repetition.

It's an interesting and thought-provoking story, but a highly flawed one.

A tormenting novel, a moral apocalypse. Simply arresting, and its hard to say why, O'Connor's hell is different from any I've seen before... Perhaps because while other hells in literature have a defined Satan there is none in Wise Blood, simply the illiterate and hateful clawing at each other. Such cruelty and evil, and yet Jesus' name is not missing from a single chapter, the destruction of morality would not be complete without the knowledge that somewhere someone is grieving it, and that shadow hangs heavy over this book.

Beautifully written, dark, and disturbing. I think I'd have to read it several times to fully grasp all the author is saying.

man this is some deep shit, the ending is morbid as fuck

I am not sure if I am going to write a full review of this on my blog or not. I am in the middle of reading a more academic book on O'Connor that I really like (Subversive Gospel). And I thought I really needed to read one of O'Connor's novels since I had only read one of her short story collections previously so that I would better understand O'Connor.

Now I think I am going to finish Subversive Gospel and then read The Violent Bear it Away and Everything that Rises Must Converge and then come back and re-read Wise Blood.

I listened to the audiobook because that is what I had (picked it up on sale a while ago.) But while the narration isn't bad, I always felt like I was missing something. I think that is more about the writing style than the audiobook.

Update: I did write up some thoughts on my blog http://bookwi.se/wise-blood/

the struggles of next generation religious post war youth and the conflict of rural vs city living. are you really an atheist if you spend all your time proclaiming your disbelief?