Everything That Rises Must Converge

By: Flannery O’Connor

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, Lorna Raver

Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

This collection of nine short stories by Flannery O'Connor was published posthumously in 1965. The flawed characters of each story are fully revealed in apocalyptic moments of conflict and violence that are presented with comic detachment.

The title story is a tragicomedy about social pride, racial bigotry, generational conflict, false liberalism, and filial dependence. The protagonist, Julian Chestny, is hypocritically disdainful of his mother's prejudices, but his smug selfishness is replaced with childish fear when she suffers a fatal stroke after being struck by a black woman she has insulted out of oblivious ignorance rather than malice.

Similarly, “The Comforts of Home” is about an intellectual son with an Oedipus complex. Driven by the voice of his dead father, the son accidentally kills his sentimental mother in an attempt to murder a harlot.

The other stories are “A View of the Woods”, “Parker's Back”, “The Enduring Chill”, “Greenleaf”, “The Lame Shall Enter First”, “Revelation”, and “Judgment Day”.

Flannery O'Connor was working on Everything That Rises Must Converge at the time of her death. This collection is an exquisite legacy from a genius of the American short story, in which she scrutinizes territory familiar to her readers: race, faith, and morality. The stories encompass the comic and the tragic, the beautiful and the grotesque; each carries her highly individual stamp and could have been written by no one else.

©1956 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965; renewed 1993 by the Estate of Mary Flannery O’Connor (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The current volume of posthumous stories is the work of a master, a writer's writer—but a reader's too—an incomparable craftsman who wrote, let it be said, some of the finest stories in our language." ( Newsweek)

“All in all they comprise the best collection of shorter fiction to have been published in America during the past twenty years.” ( Book Week)

“When I read Flannery O'Connor, I do not think of Hemingway, or Katherine Anne Porter, or Sartre, but rather of someone like Sophocles. What more can you say for a writer? I write her name with honor, for all the truth and all the craft with which she shows man's fall and his dishonor.” (Thomas Merton)

Masterful, but difficult on many levels

Masterful storytelling by Flannery O’Connor, whether it be in creating characters with a wide spectrum of shortcomings and redeeming qualities, the tension and drama created by the situations she places them in, the language used to describe the physical features of her characters or of the Southern landscape.

O’Connor’s stories are definitely a mixed bag, however, as she doesn’t shy away from bringing out the darkness in life or even from expressing discomfort at the changing relations between white and black folks. While there definitely is the lightness of redemption in her works, they emerge only after her characters follow through on their darkest qualities and tragedy results. So yes, while there is the difficulty that arises from experiencing the dark circumstances faced by the characters, there is also the empowerment that comes from throwing light on situations that are mentioned only behind closed doors. Truth is sometimes the best antiseptic, and these stories showed this maxim sound.

An added difficulty that readers might experience is the racism that some of the white characters have toward their black counterparts. Many readers might feel the repulsion I felt when I had to step into the mindsets of these characters. I was surprised, however, to find an uncomfortable sympathy developing in me as these characters, many of whom don’t mean any harm and do have genuinely good qualities, grapple with a changing cultural landscape affecting every aspect of their identity (in how to acknowledge their family roots, in how to view fond childhood memories, in ways of forming friendships). I believe that the fact that I can have both repulsion and sympathy for these characters reflects, once again, O’Connor’s mastery in storytelling.

Brilliant Writing

Flannnery O'Connor is probably the best writer the South has ever produced. In this collection she draws unforgettable characters, with her masterful use of language and an ingenious ear for dialogue. The performances are wonderful, some of the best I've heard. This is not just entertainment, although it certainly entertains, but literature. Very much worth the listen.

Narration is a problem, stories are great

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The stories read by Karen White are unbearable, and I skipped them. The other narrators are wonderful and make the stories come to life.

Any additional comments?

Wonderful book! Stories read by Karen White are difficult to listen to.

Decent Short Stories

I must be missing what everyone else sees in these stories. They are just ok for me; it's not the dark aspect of human nature that is bothering me, but rather, the characters all seem to me to be spineless whiners. Maybe its because I'm reading the entire collection of stories at once, but it seems redundant and tiresome to me. I liked four stories more than the others: Everything That Rises Must Converge, Greenleaf, The Lame Shall Enter First and Revelation. The narration was very good; I liked having four different narrators, which was a nice change of pace between stories.

A Powerful Anthology, but No Happy Endings

There are many wonderful stories in this anthology, and the different narrators all bring something different to the table and the characters. However, on a personal note, I liked some of the stories in the collection better than others (as is almost always the way with anthologies) and certain of the narrators didn't pair as well as others with their material. The stories I remember best are "A View of the Woods" and "Revelation" as their characters felt the most realized.

As you might expect for stories in the Gothic Tradition, the endings here are not happy. The most we get is a cautious sort of optimism for the future, and those stories are far from the majority. I give this collection a cautious recommendation as overall, the stories were well written and you get a very good sense of the Gothic Tradition.

Brilliant! Outstanding prose!!!! Great stories!!!!

Just as timely as when it was written if not more so. Be sure to read them all and savour them, relish each word and character

Great way to sample Flannery O’Connor

Wonderfully narrated stories with great dialogue. Each story read by different voice and lots if different tones used for different characters. Racism and racist epithets are jarring and dated (hopefully) but Flannery’s intent likely to highlight the hateful underlining of some of the polite southern society she is a part of and is observing.

Way too much reader interpretation for me!

What did you love best about Everything That Rises Must Converge?

I read this for a class.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

joy in having finished the book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

For me, the readers included way too much arbitrary character interpretation to make this audio book useful. I was reading this book for a class on O'Connor, so I was interested in understanding what O'Connor actually wrote. The readers, in my opinion, went way overboard in "spicing up" the text by creating odd, eccentric, character voices which were not at all suggested by the text itself. Some the characters talked as if they were drugged, for example. I realize that the narrators were highly talented artists who undoubtedly enhanced the experience of many Audible listeners of this book. But for me it was a huge distraction, because I was only interested in understanding what Flannery O'Connor actually wrote, without any extrinsic, arbitrary input created independently by the narrators. As an example, I would suggest the reading of the character of Star Drake in "The comforts of home". The reader gives an extremely weird, over-the-top, drugged-sounding voice to Star, whereas nothing O'Connor wrote suggested that Star spoke unusually. In sum, I would have much preferred just a fairly "straight" reading of the words O'Connor wrote, without so much creative interpretation from the narrators.

If you could rename Everything That Rises Must Converge, what would you call it?

Add the names of the narrators as co-authors.

She's not for everybody

If you could sum up Everything That Rises Must Converge in three words, what would they be?

Know thyself; Hypocrisy

What other book might you compare Everything That Rises Must Converge to and why?

There are few books that I would compare to Flannery O'Connor because it is her purpose to ply the reader into thinking critically about oneself and about the human condition in a way that few authors do these days. You might compare her in style to Truman Capote or Hemingway.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

There are several narrators on this recording who are favorites of mine, in particular Mark Bramhall.

Any additional comments?

Remember that Flannery O'Connor spends alot of her work exploring tension in racial and inter-generational relationships and the trouble of hypocrisy, pride and prejudice. Her use of the term nigger is frequent, it gave my generally discerning teenagers almost anxious to have the narrative in the house because while they understood the period and the context the "n" word to them is like the "f" word for Grandma.

Flannery O'Connor is the best!!!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Everything That Rises Must Converge to be better than the print version?

By Far, the audio edition is so much better. The stories are so well written, but the narrators made me feel like i was acttually there

What other book might you compare Everything That Rises Must Converge to and why?

I'm not sure. Ms. O'Connor's stories are so unique in the way they are written, I don't think I've ever read a book or story quite like hers before! But they are totally worth the time to read!!!! I LOVE HER STORIES!!!!

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The narrators really brought the characters to life! Each character had their own unique personality throughout the story!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Some stories I cried, some stories I gasped, some stories I was like "WHAT!!!!"

Any additional comments?

Bravissimo