A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

I think I only checked out this book because of the author's cool name. For future reference, that really isn't a good reason to read anything.

A Good Man is Hard to Find is basically a collection of short stories depicting various characters in the American South during the mid-20th century. A religious vein runs through it all. From what I understand, O'Connor was a Catholic, so it makes sense. What I didn't understand was the subversive, mocking undertone that pervades the entirety of her work. Each story was sardonic, ironic, and fraught with flawed, dissatisfied people whose frustration with life was palpable. Needless to say, I did not enjoy it.

I am less than enamored with the South. I wonder if O'Connor felt the same way I do, for she mocks Southerners mercilessly. Her stories are taut flashes of Southern life, written with an undeniable skillfulness, but with a tragic disdain. I totally understand such a stance, but cannot delight in a book of such sentiments.