The Violent Bear It Away

Short Review: I am working through all of O'Connor's fiction this year. I have read Wise Blood and now The Violent Bear it Away so the novels are down. I will re-read A Good Man is Hard to Find and then Everything that Rises must Converge.

My very quick initial impression is that I liked this more than Wise Blood. I didn't see Violent Bear It Away as filled with the same type of characters as Wise Blood. They felt more human, flawed and traumatized humans, but humans that I could understand.

I feel like I miss 90% of the meaning of O'Connor. So I will be re-reading these and I will be seeking out some more books/podcasts/lectures that will explain them to me. But this is a classic that I understood and appreciated on my own. Some classics I appreciate as a classic, but do not particularly like as stand alone works of art. This one isn't a pretty work, but is one that I appreciate.

My not particularly insightful blog post about it is at http://bookwi.se/the-violent-bear-it-away/