Book Review : The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor

I struggled through this book.

It’s a Southern Gothic novel, a dark story full of Catholic themes and images that tells the story of Francis Marion Tarwater, a fourteen-year-old boy who is trying to escape the destiny his uncle has prescribed for him: the life of a prophet.

Rayber, a schoolteacher, has a child called Bishop and Tarwater’s uncle has indicated that Tarwater will baptise Bishop. He does do this but in a tragic manner.

The blurb on the back of the book indicates there’s satire, humour, and irony in the story. I didn’t find this at all and I wonder (again) whether I should ever read the marketing for a book before I read that book. Form me, reading a book and not encountering the themes indicated in the marketing can be disconcerting.