Well, in this context, it's because it's a great example of what you call a very deep internal darkness. That's probably not very compelling to everybody, so I will also say: it's extremely well-written and extremely absorbing. Once I got past the first couple sections I had to read it through all the way to the end, and I don't usually say that about books. The Amazon cover, which is on the copy I own, is a great illustration of the book - the burning tree, abstract, symbolic, mythical. It's one of those books that wields the word like a sword. It's almost like reading it you can feel O'Connor's eyes burning through the pages at you. Which sounds really trippy, haha.
The story itself is about a kid who feels that he's destined to be a prophet - when his father dies, his uncle tries to civilize him since he's not educated, from an extremely rural and poor environment, etc. And bringing this kid to the town - the modern world, the uncle's world, where everything passionately felt has been blanketed over and clamped down upon - is basically a complete disaster for the kid, the uncle, and the uncle's kid. I honestly need to read it several more times to be able to offer anything more comprehensible than that.
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Date: 2011-06-13 09:00 pm (UTC)Well, in this context, it's because it's a great example of what you call a very deep internal darkness. That's probably not very compelling to everybody, so I will also say: it's extremely well-written and extremely absorbing. Once I got past the first couple sections I had to read it through all the way to the end, and I don't usually say that about books. The Amazon cover, which is on the copy I own, is a great illustration of the book - the burning tree, abstract, symbolic, mythical. It's one of those books that wields the word like a sword. It's almost like reading it you can feel O'Connor's eyes burning through the pages at you. Which sounds really trippy, haha.
The story itself is about a kid who feels that he's destined to be a prophet - when his father dies, his uncle tries to civilize him since he's not educated, from an extremely rural and poor environment, etc. And bringing this kid to the town - the modern world, the uncle's world, where everything passionately felt has been blanketed over and clamped down upon - is basically a complete disaster for the kid, the uncle, and the uncle's kid. I honestly need to read it several more times to be able to offer anything more comprehensible than that.