A Good Man is Hard to Find - Flannery O'Connor - 3 stars

[Shelly]

Finally read this collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor, and I am not planning on reading anything else by her. These stories are filled with desperate people confronting bad people in hopeless situations. Too dark and unrealistic for my taste. But maybe I am just being naive, and poor people in the south in the mid 20th century really were living these lives. As much as these stories force you to consider religion, poverty, disabilities, and hard choices, I found it difficult to bring these stories forward to 2021. I think that is why only 3 stars for me. They didn't feel relevant.

[Sue]

I read this recently and as much as I love her writing, I agree her stories feel like travel to a heartless parallel universe. I too had the thought that surely terrible people like this couldn't exist.

I think the title story was the hardest one of all - I really expected a different ending there. But it sure sets the stage for the darkness of the whole book.

I read her book Wise Blood for the gothic tag last month and it makes A Good Man Is Hard To Find seem light and happy in comparison.

I really do love her books, but they aren't light reads.

[NancyJ]

I have the book but I've been putting it off. I should at least read the title story just to satisfy my curiosity. I'm prepared for something depressing. I almost read it for last month's gothic tag. I seem to be much tougher these days than I used to be, as long as I'm prepared.

Then I might go and read A Hard Man is Good to Find.