Book Review: A Good Man Is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories - Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor ranks among my favorite authors and rereading her collection of short stories A Good Man is Hard to Find was a great pleasure. O'Connor manages to be both profound and shocking with every story. Some of the turns the stories take seem almost cliche now because of how often they are cited and reused. Still, it remains a requirement to study the craft and skill in these stories.

I do not see O'Connor, though, as a Christian writer. Much is made over the moments of grace in her stories. I understand it, but I think they are as common as the epiphanies in Joyce's stories. Each story has a moment where things turn, where a character has an opportunity to change, to react, to accept. These moments of realization and their aftermath are usually what make a story resonate with a reader. We wonder, maybe only subconsciously, if we would have reacted the same. Would we, as the grandmother in the title story, sought some sort of redemption from the man we know is going to kill us? Would we have the same prejudices as Hulga in "Good Country People" that allow her to fall victim to the bible salesman? What persists for the reader are the wrong choices, the opportunities missed. Each character is complicit in his or her fate.

I don't see this as Christian. I might, instead, argue that its existential, It is through one's actions that he or she exists. The decisions these characters make make them who they are and lead them to their fate.

You should know I love these stories. And if you care a lick about the craft of fiction, your copy should be as well worn as mine.

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

There is a long list of books weighing on my conscience. That list of books that I should have read by now. And after the enjoyment I got out Jane Eyre, I thought Pride and Prejudice should be the next to cross off that list. And, though I'm happy to have removed another from that long list, the experience was far from pleasurable.

Pride and Prejudice is the superficial tale of Lizzie Bennet's quest to be married to the abominable Mr. Darcy. She resists, she is willful, but Jane Austen shows us that this was a mistake of prejudice. She was mistaken in her judgement and should, therefore, accept her suitor.

There are a slew of other marriages in the book, some more appropriate and fortuitous than others. But have no doubt, Pride and Prejudice is centered around the marriage plot. Sure, there is critique of the "condescension" of the upper classes, as there is of the pride there is in all of us that allows us to form unfounded judgments of others. Subject matter aside, there is nothing to make this book enjoyable.

The writing itself is dull and without any discernible style. Where Austen does exhibit skill is in characterization. She draws her characters distinctively, even if much of that distinctiveness comes from the prejudicial perspective of other characters.  Lizzie's father is a distinctive, though secondary character. He is used to deliver some of the novel's best critiques, all with a point of view belonging to the character.

Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence had vanished for ever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown.... To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her ignorance and folly contributed to his amusement. This is not the sort of happiness which a man would in general wish to owe his wife; but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given.

I cannot see what has forced Pride and Prejudice to persist on these lists of classic novels. I'd have been happy to skip it. But I can at least take pleasure in the bold line that crosses out the title.

20 Essential Albums: The Winners and the Runners-Up

My life has been changed by many, many great albums. Some have found a special place because of the memories associated with them, the particular time in my life they became important. Others are just so musically brilliant and honest that they deserve as much attention as as they can get. To recap, here's the full list of my 20 essential albums, plus more that nearly made the cut.

The Winners
The Head on the Door - The Cure
Shabooh Shoobah - INXS
The Nymphs - The Nymphs
OK Computer - Radiohead
Bakesale - Sebadoh
Goat - The Jesus Lizard
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
In the Flat Field - Bauhaus
Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
Bone Machine - Tom Waits
Bleach - Nirvana
Rid of Me - PJ Harvey
Either/Or- Elliott Smith
First and Last and Always - The Sisters of Mercy

Way to Blue - Nick Drake
Surfer Rosa/Come on Pilgrim - The Pixies
The Smiths - The Smiths
The Vortex Flower - Space Team Electra
Love - The Cult
Nothing's Shocking - Jane's Addiction

The Runners-Up

There are many albums that probably deserved to be on this list.  Here are some of them:

13 Songs - Fugazi
Are You Experienced? - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Check Your Head - Beastie Boys
Closer - Joy Division
Darklands - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Disintegration - The Cure
The Doors - The Doors
Dry - PJ Harvey
Elastica - Elastica
Express - Love and Rockets
Facelift - Alice in Chains
Gish - Smashing Pumpkins
Goo - Sonic Youth
Hee-Haw - The Birthday Party
I Think I’m Gonna Be Sick - Dandelion
Junk Culture - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - The Cure
ListenLike Thieves - INXS
Low-Life - New Order
Louder than Love - Soundgarden
The Man Who Sold the World - David Bowie
Nocturne - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution
Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
Reckoning - REM
Revolver - The Beatles
Some Great Reward - Depeche Mode
Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
XO - Elliott Smith

20 Essential Albums: Nothing's Shocking

Nothing’s Shocking - Jane’s Addiction

Jane’s Addiction’s second album Nothing's Shocking may have been released in 1988, but it didn’t come to my attention until sometime in 1990.  The flamboyance of singer Perry Ferrell and of the guitar playing of Dave Navarro was perfect for the times. I played the record frequently for several years, each of the songs encouraging the brashness required to rebel against conformity, an enticement to live life outside the standards.

Of course, anything this good is somewhat diminished when everyone seems to like it. But it doesn’t stop songs like “Mountain Song” from being phenomenal.  Like most good alt-rock, the bass plays a central role, the guitar rolls and slides over the top, and the vocals sound like a full-throated provocation. And we can’t ignore the ever-present “Jane Says”. An acoustic stand-alone, the song sounded like something different, like life in another town, where people are more laid-back, and there’s no such thing as convention.

Jane’s followed this up with Ritual de lo Habitual, another great album with perfect singles and even better epics, like the masterpiece “Three Days.” For me, Nothing's Shocking  lasts; it was the one that carried me through three or more residences and in and out and back into the same relationship in the early 1990’s.  A great album today, it will still take me back to those days when the weather’s hot and I want to have a few choice words with the rest of society.