A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor

The very first paper I wrote in college was on the story ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’. I don’t remember what I wrote, but I do remember that I attributed the story to Eudora Welty throughout the paper, earning the wrath of my professor! Thankfully, I was able to laugh it off and he forgave me.

This time around, I know that the title story of this collection is most definitely Flannery O’Connor. There is no one who writes quite like her. The combination of her wry, matter-of-fact humor, extremely flawed and mostly unlikeable characters, and Southern darkness make her work uniquely identifiable. Most of what I’ve read about O’Connor says that these stories are about redemption and grace. I don’t know much about these topics, I guess, because to me everyone gets a strange comeuppance that seems, for the most part, cruel.

There are ten stories here which are all enjoyable (this seems the wrong word to use) but my favorites are ‘A Temple of the Holy Ghost’, ‘Good Country People’, ‘A Stroke of Good Fortune’ and ‘A Circle in the Fire’. Each of these stories features narrow minded, prejudiced, scared people who are humbled by the end of the story with great characterization, fantastic dialogue and unexpected plot turns.

My first effort to read more American women authors has been successful. I have plans to read the rest of Flannery O’ Connor’s stories this summer and am also reading her collected letters. She was a very funny, intelligent and talented woman who, unfortunately, died so young.

Have you read Flannery O’Connor?

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!