Flannery O’Connor published The Violent Bear It Away in 1960. I read a short story or two by her when I was in college and recently decided to give one of her two novels a try.
O’Connor provides much to ponder in this book that becomes a page-turner the closer you get to the end.
Her characters in this book are among the best devised I’ve ever read.
An old man who is a self-proclaimed prophet is raising his nephew Tarwater to follow in his footsteps.
A worldly-wise cousin wants to draw Tarwater into the “reasonable”, “modern” world of faithlessness.
Tarwater himself is torn between two worlds, wanting to be his own master but having to choose between what he believes his destiny is and a life of self-determination.
O’Connor was a one-of-a-kind author whose texts are satire filled with irony. You won’t read another like it.
This book has dark, but not graphic moments. So dark I couldn’t see how she would redeem them.
But she did.
A fascinating, faith-affirming book–but only if you read to the end.