text: I am thilled to see this book being available in hardcover and paperback as well.  I read this book about ten years ago and I read it regularly every couple of years.  The story is very compelling and the scene of the protagonist walking home through a run-down community is a classic of American literature.  
  
  What this book and O'Connor's other novel, The Last Hurrah, apart is the writing. In an era where writers seem to challenge one another to be more like Faukner and less comprehensible to the average man, O'Connor wrote very well and his language is beautiful.  From this fine prose arises really deep characters which are flawed and so easily identifiable to us all.
  