I thought I should read more short stories if I'm trying to write them lol! This is proving to be a great start.

Flannery O’Connor never ceases to amaze me, and her last collection of stories, Everything That Rises Must Converge is a masterpiece. I always feel giddy when I run into a good short story collection, especially when I find one where I ended up enjoying every single story. O’Connor has a knack for writing about really horrible people and situations, but she does so in a way where it’s fascinating, and you can’t look away even if you want to.

If you’re familiar with her past works, then you should know what to expect. Most of her stories deal with faith and race, and also a great deal of irony. Take for instance the son in the title story, where his mother’s outright racist views offend him so much that he craves to make connections with black people to enrage her, not realizing that his own motives are in fact racist since he looks at these people as an opportunity to anger his mother, and not as fellow human beings. A father in “The Lame Shall Enter First” is so determined to do good in the eyes of others and even dedicates himself to a troubled youth—failing to show that same amount of care and understanding to his very own son. These are just a few examples, but you get the point. O’Connor’s stories are filled with dark humor, tragedy, and chilling surprises. Very few of these stories end happily.

Many times I laughed. Many times I gasped. I loathed these characters, yet I still needed to find out everything about them through the eyes of O’Connor. Each story was engaging and awesome. This is a very solid and tightly constructed collection. One of the best I’ve read in a while.

I enjoyed every story, but I have my favorites:

Everything That Rises Must Converge

A View of the Woods

The Comforts of Home

The Lame Shall Enter First (my overall favorite)

Revelation

The audiobook is great, too. It’s read by Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, and Lorna Rayer. I was familiar with Rayer and Bramhall from the audiobook versions of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood and Stone Mattress: Nine Tales. I was also familiar with Pinchot, as he gave a flawless reading of O’Connor’s Wise Blood (he may be my favorite in the bunch). Every reader does a fantastic job.

Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor is a masterpiece, and has now joined my list of favorite short story collections. It’s way up there, in fact. Be warned, O’Connor won’t please everybody. Her subject matter can be cruel and unapologetic, the language harsh and even at times infuriating. But that’s the power of O’Connor. You’re outraged, shocked, and in awe. All at the same time. Very few authors can do that to me. I will definitely revisit this collection many times over.

5 stars

Dammit, only two more stories. I don't want this to end. :(

I've loved every story so far, as ugly as they can be at times--but I expect no less from a master like O'Connor. She was one of the best when it comes to writing ugly and disturbing stories filled with nasty people you would never want to share a room with. Yet you can't stop yourself from reading because it's all so fascinating and extremely well executed.

And I love the way she ends her stories. Not many others who can pull it off like she can. Especially in the world of short fiction.

Man... Flannery O'Connor is not a fan of happy endings. And I love her for that. I actually gasped at the ending of the last story I finished. That dread was building throughout the entire story and I was waiting...just waiting. But I still gasped.

This will definitely rank up there as one of my favorite short story collections.

Only 3 stories left to go.

It's absolutely frightening how flawless this collection has been so far. I'm really enjoying the audiobook, too.