"In Heaven, Everything is Fine. . ."

For me, reading Flannery O'Connor has always been the literary equivalent to watching a David Lynch movie. I'm not speaking from an abundance of experience because as a rule, I don't read. . .fiction, non-fiction, or labels. I can't seem to concentrate long enough to remember what the beginning of a paragraph was like by the time I get to the end of it. (Why do you think I like jangly guitar pop music?.) But I have managed to slog my way through a few Flannery O'Connor short stories, mainly because I heard her name mentioned by Bill Mallonee as the inspiration for a song of his. A few years back I got all the way through one of O'Connor's stories, called The Peeler. After finishing it, I felt as though I had been dropped off in Henry's (Jack Nance) neighborhood from Eraserhead. I was messed up. I kept humming, "In heaven, everything is fine." I did eventually recover, but you can imagine my delight when I found a tourguide for The Peeler in the guise of Fr. Joseph on his blog, Orthodixie (sic). If you've experienced any of the psychological trauma I have from reading O'Connor, do yourself a favor and read Fr. Joseph's post called, The Peeler, the Hound & the Addict. Life may return to normal for you as well.