A Good Hard Look - A Novel of Flannery O' Connor
Jul 12, 2012
A Novel of Flannery O' Connor
Author: Ann Napolitano
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication Date: Paperback Release June 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-14-312115-2
Book Description:
Crippled by lupus at twenty-five, celebrated author Flannery O’Connor was forced to leave New York City and return home to Andalusia, her family farm in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Cookie Himmel embodies every facet of Southern womanhood that Flannery lacks: she is revered for her beauty and grace; she is at the helm of every ladies’ organization in town; and she has returned from her time in Manhattan with a rich fiancée, Melvin Whiteson. Melvin has come to Milledgeville to begin a new chapter in his life, but it is not until he meets Flannery that he starts to take a good, hard look at the choices he has made.
Melvin is not the only person in Milledgeville who starts to feel that life is passing him by. Lona Waters, the dutiful wife of a local policeman, is hired by Cookie to help create a perfect home. As Lona spends her days sewing curtains, she is given an opportunity to remember what it feels like to truly live, and she seizes it with both hands.
Read an excerpt HERE.
Idgie Says:
This is a really gripping story. The characters jump out immediately. Some you like, some you dislike, but all are fascinating.
There is of course Flannery, where the author uses descriptions and some of Flannery's own writing to bring her character to life.
Other main characters are Melvin and Cookie, Joe and Lorna, and Gigi and Ms. Mary. Notice they're all paired off? Read the story and you'll soon see why.
Then there's the town, where the people are somewhat in awe of Flannery's notoriety, fearful of the fact that she tends to put people she knows in her books - usually not in an attractive manner - and then let's not forget the fact that people are uncomfortable around someone with a life threatening illness.
This is a story of life in a small town filled with the usual Southern eccentrics and small town issues. It does take a sudden and unexpected dark turn in the middle of the book, and things go downhill from there. But through every downward turn and spin...... I was still hanging on waiting to see what happened around the next bend.
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Reviewed by Idgie. If you would like to have the Dew review a book, please contact me at dewonthekudzu@gmail.com
