Discussion Notes: Everything That Rises Must Converge
Next week’s story Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami
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I am glad we had Jocelyn Johnson as our first guest. The sound quality is lower than usual, but she was a wonderful guest and added a lot to the discussion. Jocelyn and Maya found the story well crafted with a few key places where something felt off. Gerald enjoyed it as well and we had an interesting exchange on Class in the US verses the UK. As usual, Kenechi did not disappoint with a strong divergence of opinion. I hope you enjoy the episode. You can find the Author Spotlight for Flannery O’Connor here.
Yes, we do have a rating scale based on Bradberries! For the history of this goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. Anais has the urge to create a Bradberry collage… Imagine, Bradberries on your desktop! You gave last week’s story, “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” by Gabriel García Márquez, 5.5 Bradberries.
On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge‘? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give you the final tally on the next episode.
Next week we are reading be reading Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami. I hope you enjoy it!
I liked the story, I agree that the story was more about the characters and their struggle to integrate to a changing society.
The story makes us think about our own attitudes towards the challenges we face in a constantly evolving society.
4 Bradberries from me.
As this story was published in Jan of 1965 (almost exactly 100 yrs. after the abolition of slavery in the US) I wonder if O’Connor intended it as a “where are we now?” style piece.
I found this story to be a great study of what happens when people are forced to tolerate one another. Although each character seemed unlikable, I could empathize with the difficulty each character had in accepting the new, integrated society, especially Julian’s mother. Modern thought makes her out to be the villain but I see her more as a victim of the future; actually all the characters are but we don’t get to see the background of the black woman and can’t actually see how her prejudice developed.
3.5 Bradberries for me.
That’s a very interesting thought, Todd, about the “where are we now?” at 100 years post-abolition.
This was a story that I appreciated, but did not like. I could see the merit, but did not enjoy the reading experience. That happens sometimes — all good!