Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

Hazel Motes is a young preacher's son recently discharged from the army and with no surviving family. He heads to the city where he develops his own form of religion and preaches on street corners attempting to attract followers. His church is "The Church Without Christ". It's the basic what you see is what you get doctrine, denying that there is any mystery behind the madness of life.

In spite of my literary minded nature, I must admit I had a hard time following the illustrious Flannery O'Connor on this one. This seems to be a recurring theme with me. Another problem of proximity to the lives of the characters described? I don't seem to have a problem with other writers, such as Oates, whose characters are also worlds apart from me.

I have enjoyed other things by O'Connor in the past. "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is a good collection of short stories that I would recommend. And who knows, I might change my tune about Wise Blood after reading a few critical articles about it and talking to a friend who is a Southern Writer nut.