Flannery O'Connor Scares the Crap Out of Me

Flannery O'Connor is such a good writer. Some people say that she was the best short story writer ever, in the English language.

I know that every time I sit down with a book of her stories, though, I'm afraid to open it.

The first time I read one of her stories was a few years ago. I think it was "A Good Man is Hard to Find", and it started so nice. Family in the car, and Grandma is kind of a handful. At some point, Grandma acts like a childish ass, and this small tiny act snowballs, before you know it, (spoiler) into everybody being murdered horrifically. Completely terrifying.

So my first experience with this magnificent writer, and she goes all "Monkey's Paw" on me.

I still read her stories, because they are magnificent. But now I go in with my extra layer of protection on.

Today, I was reading her stories by the pool at the leisure centre as Sprout went down the giant inflatable waterslide over and over and over and over. Just to add a little extra anxiety to the situation of watching my firstborn swim in the deep end.