Wise Blood

Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood is one of her only two novels. Because of an illness, she was unable to publish anymore novels. But she has left us with many short stories and two great novels. O'Connor was Catholic, and her religious beliefs do make their way into her works, especially in Wise Blood.

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This is an interesting story. A man who is "haunted" or "convicted" (however you want to say it) by his grandfather preacher travels to a new city to start a new life after the war. Hazel comes to the city and immediately sees a preacher working a crowd on the streets. This man is Asa Hawks, who is blind. He is with his daughter, Sabbath handing out tracts and taking up a collection. This strikes Hazel the wrong way (reminding him of his grandfather), and he rips up the tract he receives. He proceeds to follow the two people with the help of Enoch Emery and confronts Hawks. He then starts his own church, the Church of Christ Without Christ. He is seeking a "new" kind of Jesus, apart from the Fall, Judgment, and Redemption. He does not believe in sin, or so he says. He is tired of the fakeness of the Church, and he even confronts Asa on his life. Later in the story, another preacher comes along to help Hazel with his endeavors, but when he begins to try to make money off of the deal, Hazel breaks away from him as well, still searching. Another intersting storyline is that of Enoch Emery. He is a humorous character, and I found his scenes to be some of the funniest but also the strangest. His interactions with Hazel are of importance in the novel as he is one of the characters that Hazel has the most contact with.

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The story really does follow the spiritual journey of Hazel Motes. And I really cannot say much more without giving some of the major plot points away. Christian themes and imagery are scattered throughout the novel, and one thing I picked up on was the fakeness of Christians. We say we believe one thing and live another way. And people like Hazel notice this, and it bothers them. That is one reason why Hazel's journey begins.

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I would definitely recommend this novel but with a disclaimer. There is a lot of cursing in the novel. This may bother some readers, so I want to let you know that up front. But the message in the novel is very good, and if you can get past some of the language, I think you will enjoy the novel. It is humorous, has memorable characters, has well developed themes, and is a fairly easy read. I had to read it because of school, but it is definitely a novel for any casual reader.

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Matt