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Flannery O'Connor
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Wise Blood Paperback – 1 Aug. 1996

by Flannery O'Connor (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 1,741 ratings
Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor's astonishing and haunting first novel, is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is the story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a "blind" street preacher names Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter, Lily Sabbath. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawks, Hazel Motes founds the The Church Without Christ, but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God. He meets Enoch Emery, a young man with "wise blood," who leads him to a mummified holy child, and whose crazy maneuvers are a manifestation of Hazel's existential struggles. This tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindness, blindings, and wisdom gives us one of the most consuming characters in modern fiction.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Farrar Straus & Giroux
  3. Publication date
    1 Aug. 1996
  4. Dimensions
    13.87 x 1.64 x 20.96 cm
  5. ISBN-10
    0374505845
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0374505844
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Product description

About the Author

Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925. When she died at the age of thirty-nine, America lost one of its most gifted writers at the height of her powers.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar Straus & Giroux
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 Aug. 1996
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374505845
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374505844
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 222 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.87 x 1.64 x 20.96 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 8,006 in Literary Fiction (Books)
  • Customer reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 1,741 ratings

About the author

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Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor

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Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925, the only child of Catholic parents. In 1945 she enrolled at the Georgia State College for Women. After earning her degree she continued her studies on the University of Iowa's writing program, and her first published story, 'The Geranium', was written while she was still a student. Her writing is best-known for its explorations of religious themes and southern racial issues, and for combining the comic with the tragic. After university, she moved to New York where she continued to write. In 1952 she learned that she was dying of lupus, a disease which had afflicted her father. For the rest of her life, she and her mother lived on the family dairy farm, Andalusia, outside Millidgeville, Georgia. For pleasure she raised peacocks, pheasants, swans, geese, chickens and Muscovy ducks. She was a good amateur painter. She died in the summer of 1964.

Photo by Cmacauley [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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4.1 out of 5 stars
1,741 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book beautifully written and fascinating, with one review noting its rich religious symbolism. The narrative style receives mixed reactions, with one customer describing it as spellbinding while another finds it unnerving. Customers appreciate the darkly comedic tone and consider it a short read, with one review highlighting its thought-provoking characters.

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ReadabilityWriting qualityEnlightenednessComedyShortnessCharacter developmentNarrative styleDark tone
10 customers mention ‘Readability’10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable, with one describing it as a page-turner.

"Dark and disturbing, but really powerful. This is a great book, and an author I will be happy to return to, though she didn't write many books..." Read more

"...Great book by the way, unnerving, odd and pretty bleak. Characters are drawn beautifully and the writing is great...." Read more

"I read this in half a day, was engrossed and found the whole book "page turning" good...." Read more

"Not a bad book, and not badly written, but I cannot see what the fuss is about with O'Connor." Read more

10 customers mention ‘Writing quality’10 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, describing it as beautifully written, with one customer noting its stripped-back style and another mentioning how it paints a vivid picture.

"...Kind of reminds me of Cormic McCarthy, in that the writing is stripped back and not a word is wasted...." Read more

"...The story is rich in religious symbolism and fine detail, and paints a world that will be unfamiliar to most readers but one that was very real to..." Read more

"The depth of detail available in O'Connor's writing is amazing...." Read more

"...If you enjoyed Steinbeck, try this; it paints a vivid picture using a different style...." Read more

8 customers mention ‘Enlightenedness’8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enlightening, describing it as fascinating and rich in religious symbolism, with one customer noting its profound message.

"...The story is rich in religious symbolism and fine detail, and paints a world that will be unfamiliar to most readers but one that was very real to..." Read more

"An impulse buy that was a sheer delight. This book is fascinating. It contains a spellbinding tale - immersed in the gothic style of 'the south'...." Read more

"...Yet, on a symbolic level, it possesses a profound message...." Read more

"...However, it is still a book that everybody should read as it contains insights that one will not easily find anywhere else." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Comedy’5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's darkly comedic tone, with one noting how it blends wit with woe.

"...The writing is sharp, often cutting, and blends wit with woe...." Read more

"...characters were all thought provoking and there was a large amount of black comedy throughout...." Read more

"...His self created myth turns to dust. Southern gothic, darkly comedic, grips like an alligator and shakes you until you choose a side to..." Read more

"...However, I did find it funny in places and sad at it's end. A man's search for truth after a war." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Shortness’4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate that the book is short.

"...It is short, perfect for a short flight or train journey somewhere. It is truly well written, weird but a satisfying story and journey." Read more

"...The novel is short and episodic, having been assembled from a number of short stories and sketches that O'Connor had written for magazines...." Read more

"...Well written though quite a short book. I learned a bit more about the human condition from this book." Read more

"A short and absorbing story...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Character development’3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, with one review noting that the characters are thought-provoking and beautifully drawn.

"...There is no judgement on the characters actions, those actions are just described. Loved it." Read more

"...I am glad I read it, the characters were all thought provoking and there was a large amount of black comedy throughout...." Read more

"...Great book by the way, unnerving, odd and pretty bleak. Characters are drawn beautifully and the writing is great...." Read more

12 customers mention ‘Narrative style’7 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the narrative style of the book, with one describing it as a spellbinding tale with surreal and absurd tones, while another finds it disturbing.

"...The novel is short and episodic, having been assembled from a number of short stories and sketches that O'Connor had written for magazines...." Read more

"Dark and disturbing, but really powerful...." Read more

"...placed in front of the reader in unavoidable reality, compelling you to watch like a voyeur." Read more

"...It's a strange strange book which brings in one grotesque character in after another and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it all...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Dark tone’0 positive3 negative

Customers find the tone of the book quite dark.

"Dark and disturbing, but really powerful...." Read more

"Beautifully written, quite dark" Read more

"...All protagonists unappealing. All seem delusional or exceedingly dim. Void of humour. Implausible...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • G Godmon
    5.0 out of 5 stars A short and absorbing story.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Dark and disturbing, but really powerful. This is a great book, and an author I will be happy to return to, though she didn't write many books before her early death. Kind of reminds me of Cormic McCarthy, in that the writing is stripped back and not a word is wasted. There is no judgement on the characters actions, those actions are just described. Loved it.
    One person found this helpful
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  • MR M H NUTT
    4.0 out of 5 stars A book like no other I have read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I came to Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood' through my admiration of John Huston's 1979 film adaptation of the novel: the film is now neglected and little seen, but in my opinion remains on of the best examples of the independent, adventurous American cinema that flourished in the 1970s. I recall the bizarre, almost surreal narrative of Huston's film and was interested to find out how it compared to the source novel. O'Connor's book did not disappoint. I am not sure that I like it as much as the film, but it is certainly like no other book I have read.

    The novel was published in 1952 and describes small town America in its Southern state of Tennessee. It has been described as a work of the 'Southern Gothic' genre, drawing on the religious eccentricities and superstitions that persist in the relatively backward rural communities of the Old South.

    The novel is short and episodic, having been assembled from a number of short stories and sketches that O'Connor had written for magazines. We discover the central figure of Hazel Motes aboard a homebound train as he returns from World War 2 nursing psychological as well as physical damage. He finds his old house deserted, his community dispersed, and on impulse he boards the next train to the town of Taulkinham harbouring some strange notion of founding his own church there. We learn that Motes' grandfather had been a travelling preacher and it seems that Motes shares his oratorial ambitions.

    However, scarred by his experience of war, Motes has lost whatever faith he may have had, and he is intent on spreading his vision of a religion without a saviour: the Church Without Christ. The story is rich in religious symbolism and fine detail, and paints a world that will be unfamiliar to most readers but one that was very real to the author. The writing is sharp, often cutting, and blends wit with woe. I found myself grinning on many occasions at the black humour that runs throughout the story. It is a comedy as much as it is a tragedy, as it mocks human vanity and ambition.

    Every character in the story appears to be twisted and self-interested, with few if any redeeming features. Motes does, at least, seem to be seeking some sort of truth and spiritual direction, however bleak and negative his vision becomes, and the manic zookeeper Enoch Emery - who sees Motes as some kind of a messiah - believes that Motes shares the "wise blood" that he, Emery, inherited from his father. This wise blood manifests itself as an intuitive knowledge, independent of any rational or theological direction, that guides the bearer through life. However, everyone that Motes encounters in Taulkinham seeks to use him for their own ends. The populace remains disinterested in his preachings, although willing to listen and engage with the fraudsters and conmen there that preach their own promises of salvation.

    There is a streak of human cruelty running through the story, which turns shockingly brutal on one casual occasion. At other points the narrative takes on surreal and absurd tones (there are men dressed in gorilla suits, a mummified dwarf ...), particularly when we follow Enoch Emery on his personal quest to find whatever it is that he must find. This tangential story of Emery (a reworked version of O'Connor's short story 'Enoch and the Gorilla' incorporated into the novel) leaves Motes' disciple isolated, outside the community, as he sat on a rock and "stared over the valley at the uneven skyline of the city."

    I am not sure that I really understood the character of Motes or what he was seeking, nor am I clear as to what O'Connor was trying to say in the novel. What she wrote in a foreword to the 1962 edition suggests that she adhered to her strict Catholic upbringing, and that the moral of the story lies in Motes' failure to cast off his need for religious belief, for some kind of redemption: "That belief in Christ is to some a matter of life and death has been a stumbling block for readers who would prefer to think it a matter of no great consequence. For them Hazel Motes’ integrity lies in his trying with such vigor to get rid of the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of his mind. For the author Hazel’s integrity lies in his not being able to."

    Nevertheless, I feel that there is much more than this going on here. O'Connor lost her father to the degenerative disease lupus when she was just 15 and was diagnosed as having lupus herself when 26 years old, with a prognosis that she would live no longer than 5 years more. Thus when she wrote 'Wise Blood' she must have been struggling to reconcile the loss of her father and her own brief mortality with her devout Catholic belief in a benevolent deity. I think that when Motes rails against religion and calls into question its fundamental belief in salvation, O'Connor may have been testing her own religious integrity. It is certainly a work that is open to both religious and atheistic interpretation.
    16 people found this helpful
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  • J. Willis
    3.0 out of 5 stars Full of interesting ideas
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2011
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    The story opens with Hazel Motes, a man recently discharged from the Army, on the train to the fictional town of Taulkinham, Tennessee, where he's "...going to do some things I never have done before." Hazel has never been to Taulkinham and once he does get there and has sorted out his lodging, he goes about trying to start `the church without Christ' by street preaching.

    Hazel believes that he can be saved from evil by believing in nothing. If he has no soul to save then there is no such thing as sin and therefore he can do whatever the hell he likes. By avoiding sin this way he will get to meet Jesus (or something like that).Of course in doing this, Hazel just proves himself as a believer and other characters are used to argue different aspects of theology.

    Other characters in the book include a preacher who may or may not have blinded himself with acid, his daughter who only believes in self-gratification and Hazel's follower Enoch who is trying to find the new physical Jesus. It's a strange strange book which brings in one grotesque character in after another and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it all.

    I am glad I read it, the characters were all thought provoking and there was a large amount of black comedy throughout. However I don't think I really connected at all with the story and found the narrative quite strange and out of place in parts.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Bird Freemanson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2018
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    The depth of detail available in O'Connor's writing is amazing. The characters and their circumstances are placed in front of the reader in unavoidable reality, compelling you to watch like a voyeur.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Norseman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very gothic!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 January 2013
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    An impulse buy that was a sheer delight. This book is fascinating. It contains a spellbinding tale - immersed in the gothic style of 'the south'. I loved All the King's Men (Penguin Modern Classics) and decided to expand my reading of that genre and time. Flannery O'Connor writes 'hard' and 'sparse' but she never wastes a word. You can feel the poverty and the despair of the times. If you enjoyed Steinbeck, try this; it paints a vivid picture using a different style. To those who love the written word and appreciate the craft of writing - please add this to your reading list.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Manbearpig
    4.0 out of 5 stars DO NOT READ THE INTRODUCTION BEFORE THE MAIN STORY
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Yet another publisher thinks it's a good idea to include an introduction that completely ruins the story, including key and arresting details affecting the main character. Thankfully I've gotten used to this stupid practice and skipped the introduction until I'd finished the book. Has no-one heard of an afterword? Or give a warning? If I'd read the intro it would have completely spoiled the full effect of the book.

    Great book by the way, unnerving, odd and pretty bleak. Characters are drawn beautifully and the writing is great. I heard about it through an interview with Buzz Osborne of the Melvins who recommended the film adaptation by John Huston which I'm planning to watch after enjoying the book.
    12 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • ひげバス
    1.0 out of 5 stars 欠陥エディション
    Reviewed in Japan on 24 January 2025
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    作品としての価値は置いておいて、このエディションは最悪。表紙の題名が間違っていることに気づかず、買ってしまったのが運の尽き。前書きと本文は全ての単語がハイパーテキストになっており、大変に読みづらい。
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  • MJN Air
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is a brilliant novel written by a Catholic writer who thoroughly understood ...
    Reviewed in Canada on 11 August 2015
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    This is a brilliant novel written by a Catholic writer who thoroughly understood her craft! I was glad when it arrived on time and in such good shape.
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  • Psychefolkfreak58
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great book about South
    Reviewed in Australia on 11 November 2024
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    Very interesting book about South in (1950s?)
    Fascinating characters and quirky relationships.
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  • plantagenet
    1.0 out of 5 stars uninteresting to me
    Reviewed in France on 4 September 2018
    Verified Purchase
    a story about a returning soldier aiming at creating his own church (a church of christ without the christ). it all sounded absurd and non-sensical to me. note that john houston has made a film in the late 1970s. i watched the film on you tube; it is very faithful to the book; the prospective reader may consider seeing the film before purchasing the book.
    i am not saying it is a bad book; but it was totally uninteresting to me
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  • bookscdsdvdsandcoolstuff
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
    Reviewed in the United States on 18 January 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Flannery O'Connor was, first and foremost, a Catholic. She made this plain in how she lived her life, and in her letters her deep commitment to the faith of her fathers becomes very evident. It is impossible to correctly understand her work from any other paradigm.

    In one letter she writes that she feels most people who read Wise Blood see her as a "hillbilly nihilist." Rather, she would hope, they would see her as a "hillbilly Thomist." Her references to the work of Jacques Maritain (combined with the fact that she read the Summa as a youngster) give proof to her mindset.

    With this backdrop in mind, reading O'Connor's work becomes an exercise in the best sort of exegesis. Her use of symbol, the grotesque, and even violence, as ways to talk about and analyze Grace and God's actions in our lives (usually soteriological) are profound.

    Wise Blood is no exception. Her brilliance is on full display here. Haze's commitment to nihilism as a philosophy, and the rejection of Christ that is at its core, is clear. Utilizing this rejection (and employing symbol and imagery) O'Connor shows Haze's denial of Christ, and Christ's constant outpouring of love and grace in pursuit of Haze. Ultimately, Haze is saved, although given O'Connor's brilliant writing, it is hardly sappy or obvious.

    The characters are rich, interesting, and yes, grotesque. These characters are classic O'Connor, and one does not struggle to find empathy for them, even in their brokenness. We find a "blind preacher" who is not blind, who had resolved to blind himself as a witness to Christ's passion and justification of his sins, but lost his nerve and his faith. Enoch Emory is a fascinating and sympathetic character. It is crushing what rejection by one's father can (but not necessarily will) to do a soul. Yet there is hope for him still.

    This is a book that I finished a week ago, but has been "with me" constantly since. The writing is absolutely amazing, deep and polished. O'Connor did not write quickly. She wrote, re-wrote, crafted, and re-crafted. Every word that is there is there for a reason, and one must read carefully to get at it all.

    O'Connor, in all her Scholastic brilliance, is on full display here. This is probably one of the greatest novels I have ever read. Coming to grips with Flannery O'Connor will enrich your life. Don't wait. Read this author now.
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