A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories: Amazon.ca: Flannery Oconnor: Books

Product Description

The collection that established O'Connors reputation as one of the american masters of the short story. The volume contains the celebrated title story, a tale of the murderous fugitive The Misfit, as well as The Displaced Person and eight other stories.

About the Author

Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925. When she died at the age of thirty-nine, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers. Flannery was particularly acclaimed for her stories which combined comic with tragic and brutal. Along with authors like Carson McCullers and Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor belonged to the Southern Gothic tradition that focused on the decaying South and its damned people. O'Connor's body of work was small, consisting of only thirty-one stories, two novels, and some speeches and letters.

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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read., Nov 21 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories (Paperback)

Very good group of short stories. Dark, Grotesque, great!!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Uncovers the gross underbelly of the Southern mystique, Sep 28 2002

By

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories (Paperback)

The ten short stories in this 1955 collection by Flannery O'Connor expose a grotesque underbelly of the Southern mystique that go far beyond their seemingly simple surface plots. Ms. O'Connor has a flare for dialog as well as a primal understanding of the darkness in people's souls. All her characters have a relationship with God and she combines Christian imagery, an apocalyptic vision of life and a strong element of cruelty. And yet, there is a deeply human element that gives me the shivers because it exposes truths I'd rather not see.

I could tell from the very beginning of each story that something ominous was going to happen. I didn't know when, I didn't know how, and I didn't know exactly what it would be. Always, I was surprised. And yet, when I thought of it later, each story could have gone no other way. All of them had a sad or tragic ending, although some were more awful than others. What keeps the narrative exciting though is a way she has of suddenly disappearing the storyline and taking it up in another place, leaving just enough information to spark the imagination. Then, when I think I have it all figured out, things change again.

Ms. O'Connor writes in simple startling sentences. And most of the stories are no more than 20 or 30 pages long. I found it hard to read one story right after the other however. Each one was so thought provoking that, even though I felt a great deal of discomfort, I wanted to stay with each just a little bit longer. That's because they move much too fast and are too intriguing to stop. Later, when the initial shock of the story is over, is the time to work it out philosophically. And it is then that I could appreciate the mastery of her craft.

This is a truly fine book and I unquestionably give it a high recommendation. It is certainly not for everyone however. These stories haunt uncomfortably. But those willing to explore the dark side of human nature in this small work of art will love it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book Is Hard to Find, and This Is One, Dec 17 2001

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S. Turlington (Hillsborough, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories (Paperback)

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.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Provacative yet, disturbing
In A Good Man is Hard, to Find, Flannery O'Connor proves herself as the master of the short story. Through ten provocative, delightful, and at the same time disturbing stories,... Read more

Published on Oct 31 2001 by Drew

3.0 out of 5 stars realism+literary technique = convincing judgments on society
O'Conner writes these short stories in a time of her life where she is faced with lupus, and her stories often contain themes of judgments of society and salvation. Read more

Published on Oct 25 2001 by Jason Orgill