The Complete Stories
by Flannery O'Connor
List Price:
Our Price: $8.57
You Save: $9.43 (52%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $3.25 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Flannery O'ConnorBrand: Spring Arbor/Ingram
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1971-01-01
ISBN: 0374515360
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780374515362
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Complete Stories
Book Review: 31 stories of violent grace, madmen, prejudice, and fierce redemption.
Summary: 5 Stars
Thirty-one stories and 550 pages rest within this collection. Each story has its own merit, but I would like to take a moment to describe the ones that have best remained powerfully glued to my mind.
Revelation - This tale deals with a smug, pious church-goer (of which many of O'Connor's find similarity). The woman is happy she is not black or white-trash, and thinks herself a candidate for the front of heaven's lines. Of course, O'Connor has a tasty ending for her in the story's last pages.
The Lame Shall Enter First - A story about loving when it's too late. The last words of this tale still haunt me.
The River - A young boy wishes to find the kingdom of God but finds tragedy instead. I think O'Connor was attacking how some things are best not taught to children because they will not be able to comprehend them.
The Peeler - A pre-teen searches for cleansing after his first experience with lust.
Wildcat - an old black man's greatest fear ominously grows closer and closer to him with each new night.
The Enduring Chill - the Holy Ghost, depicted as a purifying terror, descends madly upon a reluctant intellect as he waits for death.
A View of the Woods - an old man is not above the things he hates as he turns on the one thing in the world he swears to protect: his ten year-old granddaughter.
A Late Encounter With the Enemy - a Civil War veteran finds that his moment in the sun is actual nothing more than his first day among the devils.
Good Country People - considered a classic by most, this tale deals with the ironies of a devious mind and those who fail to recognize it.
The Comforts of Home - a female nymphomaniac is taken off the street by a kind-hearted old woman. The old woman's son, however, refuses to accept the new house guest and sets a plan in motion that will destroy everything he holds dear.
O'Connor's stories are often filled with fringe-lunatics in the raw pursuit of grace as they battle pious church-mice, the racism of the day, and their own feeble place in the world. She exposes the harsh prejudice of those who claim an outward perfection, and often times the righteous and smug are given over to the very things they claim to be above. O'Connor takes on a literary trip that features corruptive minds, freakish hermaphrodites, hopeless nymphomaniacs lurching for any form of grace, and wild-eyed country folk who doubt both faith as well as admire it from afar.
She spares us nothing and when it's all said and done, what we have witnessed are the rawest forms of grace being sprinkled on those who most would never imagine worthy, while those who seem to have it all together are thrust into their own personal hells. If you are interested in grace for the rugged, vexed, slob and slut, her tales are for you. Enter with an open mind and you will unearth something more intriguing than you can imagine.
Short Stories Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Short Stories Books
The Roald Dahl Treasuryby Roald Dahl
Jonathan Cape; Published: 1997; Hardcover; Book
The Red Pony (Twentieth-Century Classics)by John Steinbeck
Penguin Classics; Published: 1994-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.28
Price in other shops:
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountainby Robert Olen Butler
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.15
Price in other shops:
Guys and Dolls: The Stories of Damon Runyonby Damon Runyon
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1992-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $42.35
How We Are Hungryby Dave Eggers
PENGUIN; Published: 2006-02-23; Paperback; Book
Dressing Up for the Carnivalby Carol Shields
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.79
Price in other shops:
East, Westby Salman Rushdie
Vintage Books; Published: 2006-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.76
Price in other shops:
Local Girlsby Alice Hoffman
Vintage/Ebury (a Division of Random; Published: 2000-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Someone to Watch Over Me: Storiesby Richard Bausch
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
Faithless: Tales of Transgressionby Joyce Carol Oates
Ecco; Published: 2001-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Cathedralby Raymond Carver
Vintage; Published: 1989-06-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops:
Diary of a Madman, and other storiesby Lu Xun
University of Hawaii Press; Published: 1990-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Collected Stories (FSG Classics)by Grace Paley
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2007-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.12
Price in other shops:
The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activistby Dorothy Day
Harper Collins Publishers; HarperOne; Published: 1996-12-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
The Moviegoerby Walker Percy
Vintage; Published: 1998-04-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connorby Flannery O'Connor
Farrar Straus Giroux; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1988-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.93
Price in other shops:
The Violent Bear It Away: A Novelby Flannery O'Connor
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2007-06-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.55
Price in other shops:
The Stories of John Cheeverby John Cheever
Vintage; Published: 2000-05-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.70
Price in other shops:
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Proseby Flannery O'Connor
Spring Arbor/Ingram; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 1970; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.02
Price in other shops:
Wise Blood: A Novelby Flannery O'Connor
Spring Arbor/Ingram; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2007-03-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.73
Price in other shops: