O'Connor was one of the great writers of the mid-century American South, bringing new subtlety to portraits of small-town and rural life. Narrator Marguerite Gavin captures that subtlety through tone and accent in this audiobook of O'Connor's first story collection. The offbeat characters are working out issues of God and good and evil. Gavin shares O'Connor's apparent affection for them all, no matter how peculiar, deluded, or downright murderous they are, with a strong understanding of the sounds of the South. The combination of narrator and author revitalizes an American literary icon for a new generation of listeners. The introduction (written by Lauren Groff) is long but interesting and useful to those who want to know more about this important American author. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
The 1950s saw the emergence of literary lights including J.D. Salinger and Jack Kerouac, authors whose books questioned the status quo and the midcentury preoccupation with conformity. The decade’s best books were mired in the dark realities of recent history, and looked forward to seismic social shifts to come. Novelists explored cultural norms through timeless dystopic visions, and […]
The novel is a big canvas. It allows for complexity and a deep dive into character—ample space for readers to explore and contemplate. The price for this experience is time—it can take several hours to several months to read a novel, depending on its girth. It’s easy to assume a short story would be less […]
If your baby is too young for trick-or-treating, that means your baby is still probably just the right age for you to pick out his or her costume. Revel in your moment of dictatorship: in a few years your child will be making you cough up $25 for a Minecraft box head or saying that […]