Every man is an arbiter of his own virtues., 15 Nov 2008
I'm not that familiar with American literature of this type,but I found it a compelling read.Although the work needs a short explanation via the introduction to set the reader on the right tracks, once you are aware of the basic timing and structure you should'nt find it that hard.It is basically a tale of a disfunctional middleclass southern American household in the 1920's and is a satisfying read.Its characters are vivid and their personnal situations are communicated in great style.

The end of an era, 18 Apr 2008
Fragments of thoughts, broken memories, lost and blurred pieces of imagination once lived and desired, are all we have to build a shattered picture of what was the tragic destiny of the Compson family.

Brief moments of the present and flashes of the past come and go constantly through the voices and thoughts of Benjy and Quentin Compson, in the first part of the novel; till here should be no worry on trying to find a common thread of speech since the spontaneous and fluent narration "comes directly" from the memories and recollections of the two brothers; in fact all the essence of the novel is here, through the form that Faulkner wisely understood that only could be told; all the weakness, fears, misconceptions, guilty and disgraces that strikes this family is all translate in matter of what in spirit was build upon a chaotic, deformed, distort and limited vision of life and its own propose. Symbolically it's in a physical and spiritual way that this concept is embodied: by Benjy that is mentally (and partially physically) disabled and by Quentin that build for himself so many moral barriers and social preconceptions that inevitably lead him to a tragic dead end. Both represent the inability (be that brought by bad fortune or by free will) to fully understand and embrace Life and all the beauty and tragedy in it, represented in the novel by their sister Caddy, that like life itself is the great secret and mystery, the driving force and the unknown voice that we only perceive and experience as a reflexion in the destiny of the others.

Unlike the first ethereal part of the book, the second one is the consistently, formal but not necessary pleasant narration of Jason, the younger of the Campson's brothers. Like the others, also Jason's obsession is centered on the figure of Caddy as a representation of reality through his eyes. Jason personifies the last and the lower level of the human spirit, in a mix of tyranny, petty, misery, villainy and foolishness, part given by heritage (his mother), part by an unstoppable ill will that its own nature and the consequences of his own acts will naturally lead him to a predictable destiny, that consolidates as well as promises, to carry on the chaotic nature of the family. And to carry all the sins and sadness of the world there is the pure and untouched soul of Benjy that cries out loud an understandable and violent sound, the ultimate glimpse of a raw fury that defies and resists all the logic, again in one more attempt to run out of time that will bring back to a place of distant and gentle old memories.

Simply wonderfull!, 03 Aug 2007
I was somewhat curious to see what the other reviewers made of this book, and I am somewhat surprised (not of the praise, that's of course expected) with comments that it isn't "enjoyable", and has to be read a number of times. Now please! I'm hardly some intellectual old English teacher unable to believe the "simple people" can't keep up, I really just scrapped through school but this book makes perfect sense, and I had no problems reading it at all. Seems a perfect beach book to me! To be honest I find someone like George Elliot more difficult!
The first part is written by a mentally handicapped man, but I found it both touching and real. The rest of the book rolls into your heart like a steam train, with an explosive climax you're never forget.
It is simply the best book ever written. Simple if you take it as it comes, don't re-read every sentence searching for the hidden meaning. Read it like a child and let the wonderful writing and story capture your imagination!


Brilliant, while not as hard a read as I expected, 14 May 2007
I wish I had studied this one at high school, its themes are so diverse and details so richly laid down. It isn't a tough book to follow if taken in over a short space of time; don't be put off by reviews that focus on complexity, Faulkner's words are never difficult to follow and the story is wonderfully human. The first chapter seems obscure on first reading and warrants a quick re-read once you're finished with the last, it is only 60 pages in length which means you're not given time to tire of the world the first narrator inhabits. By the third chapter, more becomes apparent and the story starts to make sense- I would look up a list of characters at some point, sparknotes.com or similar, to make things easier!

This edition is nicely printed, with a suitably concise introduction. Well recommended!

The structure of loss, 09 Apr 2005
"The sound and the Fury" is difficult. It can be confusing. Many essays are devoted to whether the difficulty is justified, but it is important to remember that it was not Faulkner's intention for this book to be difficult.

When interviewed about this book he explained the book's structure in terms of his attempt to try to capture Caddy's story without removing the intensity and bile from its telling by reducing her to explaining herself. This is why there are four narrative voices, each time Faulkner tried a different voice to tell his tale, and each time in his own words "failed". This is not a reflection of the skills of Faulkner as an author - the book is exceptionally well written, but rather probably has its roots in the reductive nature of language, which Faulkner found failed to capture the image he wished to pen. An appendix was added to the book in later editions and Faulkner suggested that this should be read first, as it explains the plot, the four narratives then serve to elucidate and add colour to the bare facts provided in this short "obituary" as Faulkner termed it.

Returning to the book. This is, i feel, Faulkner's most ambitious novel, and if he claimed to have failed in his telling of it, it does not show, this book is emotionally draining and moving in not only the story that is unveils, but also in the manner of its unveiling. There must be few who can fail to be moved by the pithy second narration, with its disjointed syntax which tells of its own despair, or not feel pity in the simplicity of the first.

thematically, this book is huge, covering sin, death, love, greed, envy, power.... life!

Every man is an arbiter of his own virtues., 15 Nov 2008
I'm not that familiar with American literature of this type,but I found it a compelling read.Although the work needs a short explanation via the introduction to set the reader on the right tracks, once you are aware of the basic timing and structure you should'nt find it that hard.It is basically a tale of a disfunctional middleclass southern American household in the 1920's and is a satisfying read.Its characters are vivid and their personnal situations are communicated in great style.

The end of an era, 18 Apr 2008
Fragments of thoughts, broken memories, lost and blurred pieces of imagination once lived and desired, are all we have to build a shattered picture of what was the tragic destiny of the Compson family.

Brief moments of the present and flashes of the past come and go constantly through the voices and thoughts of Benjy and Quentin Compson, in the first part of the novel; till here should be no worry on trying to find a common thread of speech since the spontaneous and fluent narration "comes directly" from the memories and recollections of the two brothers; in fact all the essence of the novel is here, through the form that Faulkner wisely understood that only could be told; all the weakness, fears, misconceptions, guilty and disgraces that strikes this family is all translate in matter of what in spirit was build upon a chaotic, deformed, distort and limited vision of life and its own propose. Symbolically it's in a physical and spiritual way that this concept is embodied: by Benjy that is mentally (and partially physically) disabled and by Quentin that build for himself so many moral barriers and social preconceptions that inevitably lead him to a tragic dead end. Both represent the inability (be that brought by bad fortune or by free will) to fully understand and embrace Life and all the beauty and tragedy in it, represented in the novel by their sister Caddy, that like life itself is the great secret and mystery, the driving force and the unknown voice that we only perceive and experience as a reflexion in the destiny of the others.

Unlike the first ethereal part of the book, the second one is the consistently, formal but not necessary pleasant narration of Jason, the younger of the Campson's brothers. Like the others, also Jason's obsession is centered on the figure of Caddy as a representation of reality through his eyes. Jason personifies the last and the lower level of the human spirit, in a mix of tyranny, petty, misery, villainy and foolishness, part given by heritage (his mother), part by an unstoppable ill will that its own nature and the consequences of his own acts will naturally lead him to a predictable destiny, that consolidates as well as promises, to carry on the chaotic nature of the family. And to carry all the sins and sadness of the world there is the pure and untouched soul of Benjy that cries out loud an understandable and violent sound, the ultimate glimpse of a raw fury that defies and resists all the logic, again in one more attempt to run out of time that will bring back to a place of distant and gentle old memories.

Simply wonderfull!, 03 Aug 2007
I was somewhat curious to see what the other reviewers made of this book, and I am somewhat surprised (not of the praise, that's of course expected) with comments that it isn't "enjoyable", and has to be read a number of times. Now please! I'm hardly some intellectual old English teacher unable to believe the "simple people" can't keep up, I really just scrapped through school but this book makes perfect sense, and I had no problems reading it at all. Seems a perfect beach book to me! To be honest I find someone like George Elliot more difficult!
The first part is written by a mentally handicapped man, but I found it both touching and real. The rest of the book rolls into your heart like a steam train, with an explosive climax you're never forget.
It is simply the best book ever written. Simple if you take it as it comes, don't re-read every sentence searching for the hidden meaning. Read it like a child and let the wonderful writing and story capture your imagination!


Brilliant, while not as hard a read as I expected, 14 May 2007
I wish I had studied this one at high school, its themes are so diverse and details so richly laid down. It isn't a tough book to follow if taken in over a short space of time; don't be put off by reviews that focus on complexity, Faulkner's words are never difficult to follow and the story is wonderfully human. The first chapter seems obscure on first reading and warrants a quick re-read once you're finished with the last, it is only 60 pages in length which means you're not given time to tire of the world the first narrator inhabits. By the third chapter, more becomes apparent and the story starts to make sense- I would look up a list of characters at some point, sparknotes.com or similar, to make things easier!

This edition is nicely printed, with a suitably concise introduction. Well recommended!

The structure of loss, 09 Apr 2005
"The sound and the Fury" is difficult. It can be confusing. Many essays are devoted to whether the difficulty is justified, but it is important to remember that it was not Faulkner's intention for this book to be difficult.

When interviewed about this book he explained the book's structure in terms of his attempt to try to capture Caddy's story without removing the intensity and bile from its telling by reducing her to explaining herself. This is why there are four narrative voices, each time Faulkner tried a different voice to tell his tale, and each time in his own words "failed". This is not a reflection of the skills of Faulkner as an author - the book is exceptionally well written, but rather probably has its roots in the reductive nature of language, which Faulkner found failed to capture the image he wished to pen. An appendix was added to the book in later editions and Faulkner suggested that this should be read first, as it explains the plot, the four narratives then serve to elucidate and add colour to the bare facts provided in this short "obituary" as Faulkner termed it.

Returning to the book. This is, i feel, Faulkner's most ambitious novel, and if he claimed to have failed in his telling of it, it does not show, this book is emotionally draining and moving in not only the story that is unveils, but also in the manner of its unveiling. There must be few who can fail to be moved by the pithy second narration, with its disjointed syntax which tells of its own despair, or not feel pity in the simplicity of the first.

thematically, this book is huge, covering sin, death, love, greed, envy, power.... life!

Of no literary worth, 17 Jun 2008
Reviews are by nature subjective. That said, their should be a common element, an underlying current that runs through all reviews which peg the book (in this instance) at a similar level. That established, here I find myself rather baffled as to how anyone can either dredge or salvage anything from this book that would elevate it beyond a three star rating at maximum; there must be an element of consensus, because this book (or indeed any) has a basic content and structure, characters and plot that are capable of evaluation and critique. Let us call a spade a spade and not a shovel, this is a shovel!

I teach literature at university level and I am astounded how this book finds its way onto numerous 'must read' lists that appear on the internet and periodically in print. I can only imagine that the editors of such list either fail to read the entire content of said list, or they are simply keen to perpetuate the tired myths that unfortunately ensure largely worthless texts like this still make college reading lists. Either that or they simply read the dust jacket and go by the advertising copy; which according to the 'Vintage Classic' version I bought, sells this book as being, 'a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the old testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn'. Categorically is not, and I defy, nay challenge the publishers or indeed anyone to substantiate such a claim.

How ever you spin it, what ultimately transpires is that for any of the above reasons or others equally illogical, perfectly good texts - especially modern ones, are constantly ignored as white elephants like this go through their umpteenth re-print.

To get down to brass tacks, this book fails for a number of reasons, but amongst those I would cite the following five as being the major points of contention:
i) It is simply VERY boring indeed. A dull tale if ever one was told.
ii) The characters are neither well-established or particularly well-drawn. Faulkner's literary skills presented herein are neither worth of his acclaim nor his many accolades and awards.
iii) Structurally it is a simple narrative (not necessarily a problem), however, his language (except the odd regional accent) is unchallenging and unprovocative.
iv) It essentially fails to offer the reader anything. No new ideas, no philosophical insights, no social observations and no historical documentary per se. I think I picked out and highlighted about four sentences in the whole book, that I felt were interesting.
v) Finally, it fails to establish a new genre, a new mode of expression. Likewise it also fails to re-establish a current mode or extend and develop a literary style. In plain terms that means it belongs nowhere, has no recognisable nor definable style and yet fails to take new steps in establish a new genre; it is amateurish and unaccomplished.

The only plus point that one can give is the use of parallel narration that is quite interesting and mildly revolutionary. That said, the characters are not well enough established, nor well enough drawn as to make full use of this technique and so it simply adds confusion to the overall structure.

I cannot see one logical or justifiable reason why anyone should waste their time or their money in reading this text. Unless it is prescribed reading, in which case I would question the teachers motivations for electing this a a core or supplementary text. I think if you are studying American Literature, literature of death and dying, family structures etc. there are MUCH better books out there than this.

Dark Comedy and Psychological Realism, 02 Nov 2007
I just got thru reading As I Lay Dying for a college class. As I have read no other Faulkner, I cannot compare this with his other works. Although it takes time to get adjusted to it, the novel itself is grand, a tour de force as Faulkner called it. The family experiences Addie's loss.
Each character is fully realized, and every last one of them (in the family, anyway) is insane. Jewel is constantly cursing and using violence to express his love and anger. This is in direct relationship with his mother, because she did so with him. The very thing that defines him is when he calls his horse "You sweet son of a b----". That he how he relates to the world. He is a very angry young man, and cannot express himself properly without resorting to foul language.

Darl is a very interesting character. Although you may not catch it less you are paying attention, he has a telepathic ability, to read into people's mind. He is very perceptive. So perceptive, in fact, that in one chapter in the first part he describes what is happening at the house as Addie Bundren dies, and he and Jewel are away from the house selling materials. His relationship with Addie is strained at best. She loves Jewel best. In manner of speech, Addie and Darl are closest, being very poetic in speech.

Cash is 28/29 and Vardaman's age isn't given. He is a little boy. Cash makes the casket for his mother. Vardaman becomes very confused during the duration of the novel, because he catches a fish in the beginning. The fish dies and they eat it (this is a correlation of the family being like buzzards during the journey). One chapter consists of a single sentence. "My mother is a fish". It is also foreshadowing of one of the more comic events in the novel. Darl says of Jewel, whose relationship with his horse is based after his relationship with his mother, that his mother is a horse, speaking metaphorically. Vardaman takes that literally also. If Jewel's mother can be a horse, he insists his mother can be a fish.

Tull is the only sane one in the story, and he is not a member of the family. He is a neighbour who is helping with the family. Cora, his wife, serves God in a cliche way, and is generally niave. Brother Whitaker, without revealing too much of the plot, is important. Anse, the father, is hilarious. He says he cannot sweat because of some illness he got when he was 20. He won't do a damn thing. He won't be "beholden" to any man, which he says all the time. But he really doesn't want to do anything, and wants others to do it for him.

Dewey Dell is a very simple creature. She gets pregnant, and wants to have an abortion. She doesn't understand morality. Her intellect pales in comparison to Darl's; however, they have a psychic link together. Someone like this God would not judge harshly, because she does not have understanding.

Addie Bundren in the single most important character in the novel. Her chapter is a little past the center of the novel. The reason, one interpretation goes, is that Addie is like the spoke of a wheel, where the spoke is in the center, and everything is connected to it and comes out of it. She is a very hateful person. Although very poetic, she hates words, thinking them meaningless.

Sex to the Bundren family is not governed by morality (or at least they don't think it is). My teacher likened it to barnyard sex: animals are not governed by morality, and they just have sex. This is much the approach of this family, although of course they are wrong. Man is above animals, and morality governs this matter. Dewey Dell, of which much of the imagery associated with her is sexual, is very simple and knows nothing of sexual morality. Her name suggests her simpleton sexuality. Dewey Dell means "Moist Valley". Not to much of a stretch of an imagination to know what that means. She gets pregnant by Lafe. Dewey Dell is such of limited intelligence that she goes to the pharmacy at the end of the novel to get an abortion. The soda jerk tells her to come back, and then he has sex with her. She curses afterward, saying that won't cure anything. Darl and Cash masturbated while growing up. Addie is still lonely even though she has sexual relations with her husband, so goes elsewhere to find it. (Her children were there to cure her loneliness. An important lesson is lurking here: sex and children are two of the most precious gifts from God: they are exactly that - gifts. One must know Christ to have a truly fulfilled life).

Dark humour is very prevalent thruout the entire novel. Everything from Addie making her water trip to Anse getting those teeth to them dragging the body, stinking up everything, the novel is hilarious. Anse says he owes it to Addie to take her there, saying he won't disgrace her. Yet the whole journey is disgraceful. It is one of the funniest books in a dark sense that I have read in a long time. To speak to much of this would ruin some of the moments; but rest assured, if you properly imagine the events, it should strike you quite funny.

In conclusion, Faulkner has created a portrait dysfunctional family. He said he wrote this, and knew if he never picked up a pen again he would live or die (reputation wise) by this book. (Quote paraphrased) He also does his stream of conscious and multiple narrators, making this foray notable because of it. Each is fully drawn, with excellent psychological realism. The characterization is excellent. Read it.

Originally issued on Amazon.com May 15, 2000



Stream of consciousness written in Deep South vernacular. Phew!, 25 Sep 2007
Novels written in the vernacular can be problematic for the outsider. When they are additionally narrated in a pre-war stream of consciousness style and by a number of different individuals the difficulties are magnified. Of course, that is the point of the book: to convey the emotions and reactions of different members of a family about the same event; the event being the death of the southern matriarch Addie Bundren whose decaying body is transported far away to her home town for burial as she had requested. The journey consists of a series of grotesque and darkly humorous mishaps as relationships, disputes and bonds between family and neighbours are gradually revealed in around sixty extremely brief chapters of narration. It takes some unravelling and is really a question as to whether or not the reader feels it is all worthwhile. Maybe it is - just.

Stunning, 26 Jun 2007
A stunning piece of literature that keeps coming back to you with new thoughts and ideas. It definitely warrants more than one reading.

Pilgrim's Progress to the Promised Land, 05 Sep 2004
Faulkner's great accomplishment in this novel is to use the most modern fiction techniques to create a timeless allegory that we would probably not accept in a different style. His other great achievement is to leave so much space in the story for us to participate in adding meaning. You have to pay attention to even notice what is going on, and then you can provide a variety of interpretations. This novel will never be the same for any two readers. It is a stunning accomplishment, as a result.

The story begins as Addie Bundren lays dying, fanned by her daughter, while her son makes her coffin. With her husband and five children, we make her acquaintance by learning about their actions and characters. Only once does she have a role as a narrator, and then, quite late in the story.

Her husband, Anse, has promised her that he will bury her with her family. Because of tremendous rains, the river has risen, knocking out bridges and making passage difficult. Despite this, the family perseveres in taking her unembalmed body to the intended burial site. Along the way, there are many mishaps and the family is burdened in many ways by keeping this promise. As the burial comes closer, new elements of the story are exposed and develop that totally recast what you have thought was going on.

The story is a difficult one to read. So read this book when you have time to pay close attention and study the text word by word. Let me explain the difficulties you will encounter. First, the voices in the book use a Southern patois that will be unfamiliar to most. This is the language of the rural poor in the 1930s, which few have heard. Second, the exposition is mostly through thoughts, often expressed in fragmentary form, rather than through action and a smooth narrative. Third, the narration is a partial mosaic of impressions of the characters, jumping back and forth in 2-4 page segments. Their perceptions are partial, and even more partially expressed. Objectivity is shunned by Faulkner. Fourth, Faulkner wants you to fill in the gaps, and the best way to do that is to expose the gaps slowly. Only after 3 or 4 narrations by characters will the gaps begin to emerge in a way you can grasp them. Then, you still have to interpret them.

Few readers will miss the references to Moses and his search for the promised land, and the Christian parable of the Pilgrim's Progress. What is unstated is the connection to reading this book. Many poor Southern people of that time were taught to read with The Pilgrim's Progress as a primer. That experience helped to shape a perception and a sensibility that would influence their actions, and thus, this tale. That connection creates a wonderful series of circles here that build on one another.

At bottom though, it is clear from this book that there are secrets of the heart that are never exposed in public. When we come close to dying (our own or someone else's), these secrets begin to rise closer to the surface where we (and sometimes others) can see them.

Faulkner has one quirk in the book that I urge you to look for. While he is often conveying the thoughts of uneducated people, he will drop in magnificent phrases that are worthy of Shakespeare. He wants you to know that he is a learned man, hiding behind his humble bards. That pride creates flaws in the book, but flaws that are a delight to the reader, nevertheless. In fact, he takes this one step further by employing many of Shakespeare's favorite techniques from foreshadowing through nature's fury through using fools.

After you have read this book, I encourage you to consider what secret desires, actions, fears, and thoughts you have which you keep buried even from yourself. Then consider the potential benefits of making these known, before you lay dying.

Also, whenever things seem confused, consider how others may be perceiving what is going on. Like Vardeman, they too may think their mother is a fish. Accept their view of reality, and communicate in terms of that perception if you want to make contact. Otherwise, you will be alone even in the middle of your family, as the Bundrens were in As I Lay Dying.

Enjoy this American masterpiece! I think you'll find it irresistible and moving.

Every man is an arbiter of his own virtues., 15 Nov 2008
I'm not that familiar with American literature of this type,but I found it a compelling read.Although the work needs a short explanation via the introduction to set the reader on the right tracks, once you are aware of the basic timing and structure you should'nt find it that hard.It is basically a tale of a disfunctional middleclass southern American household in the 1920's and is a satisfying read.Its characters are vivid and their personnal situations are communicated in great style.

The end of an era, 18 Apr 2008
Fragments of thoughts, broken memories, lost and blurred pieces of imagination once lived and desired, are all we have to build a shattered picture of what was the tragic destiny of the Compson family.

Brief moments of the present and flashes of the past come and go constantly through the voices and thoughts of Benjy and Quentin Compson, in the first part of the novel; till here should be no worry on trying to find a common thread of speech since the spontaneous and fluent narration "comes directly" from the memories and recollections of the two brothers; in fact all the essence of the novel is here, through the form that Faulkner wisely understood that only could be told; all the weakness, fears, misconceptions, guilty and disgraces that strikes this family is all translate in matter of what in spirit was build upon a chaotic, deformed, distort and limited vision of life and its own propose. Symbolically it's in a physical and spiritual way that this concept is embodied: by Benjy that is mentally (and partially physically) disabled and by Quentin that build for himself so many moral barriers and social preconceptions that inevitably lead him to a tragic dead end. Both represent the inability (be that brought by bad fortune or by free will) to fully understand and embrace Life and all the beauty and tragedy in it, represented in the novel by their sister Caddy, that like life itself is the great secret and mystery, the driving force and the unknown voice that we only perceive and experience as a reflexion in the destiny of the others.

Unlike the first ethereal part of the book, the second one is the consistently, formal but not necessary pleasant narration of Jason, the younger of the Campson's brothers. Like the others, also Jason's obsession is centered on the figure of Caddy as a representation of reality through his eyes. Jason personifies the last and the lower level of the human spirit, in a mix of tyranny, petty, misery, villainy and foolishness, part given by heritage (his mother), part by an unstoppable ill will that its own nature and the consequences of his own acts will naturally lead him to a predictable destiny, that consolidates as well as promises, to carry on the chaotic nature of the family. And to carry all the sins and sadness of the world there is the pure and untouched soul of Benjy that cries out loud an understandable and violent sound, the ultimate glimpse of a raw fury that defies and resists all the logic, again in one more attempt to run out of time that will bring back to a place of distant and gentle old memories.

Simply wonderfull!, 03 Aug 2007
I was somewhat curious to see what the other reviewers made of this book, and I am somewhat surprised (not of the praise, that's of course expected) with comments that it isn't "enjoyable", and has to be read a number of times. Now please! I'm hardly some intellectual old English teacher unable to believe the "simple people" can't keep up, I really just scrapped through school but this book makes perfect sense, and I had no problems reading it at all. Seems a perfect beach book to me! To be honest I find someone like George Elliot more difficult!
The first part is written by a mentally handicapped man, but I found it both touching and real. The rest of the book rolls into your heart like a steam train, with an explosive climax you're never forget.
It is simply the best book ever written. Simple if you take it as it comes, don't re-read every sentence searching for the hidden meaning. Read it like a child and let the wonderful writing and story capture your imagination!


Brilliant, while not as hard a read as I expected, 14 May 2007
I wish I had studied this one at high school, its themes are so diverse and details so richly laid down. It isn't a tough book to follow if taken in over a short space of time; don't be put off by reviews that focus on complexity, Faulkner's words are never difficult to follow and the story is wonderfully human. The first chapter seems obscure on first reading and warrants a quick re-read once you're finished with the last, it is only 60 pages in length which means you're not given time to tire of the world the first narrator inhabits. By the third chapter, more becomes apparent and the story starts to make sense- I would look up a list of characters at some point, sparknotes.com or similar, to make things easier!

This edition is nicely printed, with a suitably concise introduction. Well recommended!

The structure of loss, 09 Apr 2005
"The sound and the Fury" is difficult. It can be confusing. Many essays are devoted to whether the difficulty is justified, but it is important to remember that it was not Faulkner's intention for this book to be difficult.

When interviewed about this book he explained the book's structure in terms of his attempt to try to capture Caddy's story without removing the intensity and bile from its telling by reducing her to explaining herself. This is why there are four narrative voices, each time Faulkner tried a different voice to tell his tale, and each time in his own words "failed". This is not a reflection of the skills of Faulkner as an author - the book is exceptionally well written, but rather probably has its roots in the reductive nature of language, which Faulkner found failed to capture the image he wished to pen. An appendix was added to the book in later editions and Faulkner suggested that this should be read first, as it explains the plot, the four narratives then serve to elucidate and add colour to the bare facts provided in this short "obituary" as Faulkner termed it.

Returning to the book. This is, i feel, Faulkner's most ambitious novel, and if he claimed to have failed in his telling of it, it does not show, this book is emotionally draining and moving in not only the story that is unveils, but also in the manner of its unveiling. There must be few who can fail to be moved by the pithy second narration, with its disjointed syntax which tells of its own despair, or not feel pity in the simplicity of the first.

thematically, this book is huge, covering sin, death, love, greed, envy, power.... life!

Of no literary worth, 17 Jun 2008
Reviews are by nature subjective. That said, their should be a common element, an underlying current that runs through all reviews which peg the book (in this instance) at a similar level. That established, here I find myself rather baffled as to how anyone can either dredge or salvage anything from this book that would elevate it beyond a three star rating at maximum; there must be an element of consensus, because this book (or indeed any) has a basic content and structure, characters and plot that are capable of evaluation and critique. Let us call a spade a spade and not a shovel, this is a shovel!

I teach literature at university level and I am astounded how this book finds its way onto numerous 'must read' lists that appear on the internet and periodically in print. I can only imagine that the editors of such list either fail to read the entire content of said list, or they are simply keen to perpetuate the tired myths that unfortunately ensure largely worthless texts like this still make college reading lists. Either that or they simply read the dust jacket and go by the advertising copy; which according to the 'Vintage Classic' version I bought, sells this book as being, 'a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the old testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn'. Categorically is not, and I defy, nay challenge the publishers or indeed anyone to substantiate such a claim.

How ever you spin it, what ultimately transpires is that for any of the above reasons or others equally illogical, perfectly good texts - especially modern ones, are constantly ignored as white elephants like this go through their umpteenth re-print.

To get down to brass tacks, this book fails for a number of reasons, but amongst those I would cite the following five as being the major points of contention:
i) It is simply VERY boring indeed. A dull tale if ever one was told.
ii) The characters are neither well-established or particularly well-drawn. Faulkner's literary skills presented herein are neither worth of his acclaim nor his many accolades and awards.
iii) Structurally it is a simple narrative (not necessarily a problem), however, his language (except the odd regional accent) is unchallenging and unprovocative.
iv) It essentially fails to offer the reader anything. No new ideas, no philosophical insights, no social observations and no historical documentary per se. I think I picked out and highlighted about four sentences in the whole book, that I felt were interesting.
v) Finally, it fails to establish a new genre, a new mode of expression. Likewise it also fails to re-establish a current mode or extend and develop a literary style. In plain terms that means it belongs nowhere, has no recognisable nor definable style and yet fails to take new steps in establish a new genre; it is amateurish and unaccomplished.

The only plus point that one can give is the use of parallel narration that is quite interesting and mildly revolutionary. That said, the characters are not well enough established, nor well enough drawn as to make full use of this technique and so it simply adds confusion to the overall structure.

I cannot see one logical or justifiable reason why anyone should waste their time or their money in reading this text. Unless it is prescribed reading, in which case I would question the teachers motivations for electing this a a core or supplementary text. I think if you are studying American Literature, literature of death and dying, family structures etc. there are MUCH better books out there than this.

Dark Comedy and Psychological Realism, 02 Nov 2007
I just got thru reading As I Lay Dying for a college class. As I have read no other Faulkner, I cannot compare this with his other works. Although it takes time to get adjusted to it, the novel itself is grand, a tour de force as Faulkner called it. The family experiences Addie's loss.
Each character is fully realized, and every last one of them (in the family, anyway) is insane. Jewel is constantly cursing and using violence to express his love and anger. This is in direct relationship with his mother, because she did so with him. The very thing that defines him is when he calls his horse "You sweet son of a b----". That he how he relates to the world. He is a very angry young man, and cannot express himself properly without resorting to foul language.

Darl is a very interesting character. Although you may not catch it less you are paying attention, he has a telepathic ability, to read into people's mind. He is very perceptive. So perceptive, in fact, that in one chapter in the first part he describes what is happening at the house as Addie Bundren dies, and he and Jewel are away from the house selling materials. His relationship with Addie is strained at best. She loves Jewel best. In manner of speech, Addie and Darl are closest, being very poetic in speech.

Cash is 28/29 and Vardaman's age isn't given. He is a little boy. Cash makes the casket for his mother. Vardaman becomes very confused during the duration of the novel, because he catches a fish in the beginning. The fish dies and they eat it (this is a correlation of the family being like buzzards during the journey). One chapter consists of a single sentence. "My mother is a fish". It is also foreshadowing of one of the more comic events in the novel. Darl says of Jewel, whose relationship with his horse is based after his relationship with his mother, that his mother is a horse, speaking metaphorically. Vardaman takes that literally also. If Jewel's mother can be a horse, he insists his mother can be a fish.

Tull is the only sane one in the story, and he is not a member of the family. He is a neighbour who is helping with the family. Cora, his wife, serves God in a cliche way, and is generally niave. Brother Whitaker, without revealing too much of the plot, is important. Anse, the father, is hilarious. He says he cannot sweat because of some illness he got when he was 20. He won't do a damn thing. He won't be "beholden" to any man, which he says all the time. But he really doesn't want to do anything, and wants others to do it for him.

Dewey Dell is a very simple creature. She gets pregnant, and wants to have an abortion. She doesn't understand morality. Her intellect pales in comparison to Darl's; however, they have a psychic link together. Someone like this God would not judge harshly, because she does not have understanding.

Addie Bundren in the single most important character in the novel. Her chapter is a little past the center of the novel. The reason, one interpretation goes, is that Addie is like the spoke of a wheel, where the spoke is in the center, and everything is connected to it and comes out of it. She is a very hateful person. Although very poetic, she hates words, thinking them meaningless.

Sex to the Bundren family is not governed by morality (or at least they don't think it is). My teacher likened it to barnyard sex: animals are not governed by morality, and they just have sex. This is much the approach of this family, although of course they are wrong. Man is above animals, and morality governs this matter. Dewey Dell, of which much of the imagery associated with her is sexual, is very simple and knows nothing of sexual morality. Her name suggests her simpleton sexuality. Dewey Dell means "Moist Valley". Not to much of a stretch of an imagination to know what that means. She gets pregnant by Lafe. Dewey Dell is such of limited intelligence that she goes to the pharmacy at the end of the novel to get an abortion. The soda jerk tells her to come back, and then he has sex with her. She curses afterward, saying that won't cure anything. Darl and Cash masturbated while growing up. Addie is still lonely even though she has sexual relations with her husband, so goes elsewhere to find it. (Her children were there to cure her loneliness. An important lesson is lurking here: sex and children are two of the most precious gifts from God: they are exactly that - gifts. One must know Christ to have a truly fulfilled life).

Dark humour is very prevalent thruout the entire novel. Everything from Addie making her water trip to Anse getting those teeth to them dragging the body, stinking up everything, the novel is hilarious. Anse says he owes it to Addie to take her there, saying he won't disgrace her. Yet the whole journey is disgraceful. It is one of the funniest books in a dark sense that I have read in a long time. To speak to much of this would ruin some of the moments; but rest assured, if you properly imagine the events, it should strike you quite funny.

In conclusion, Faulkner has created a portrait dysfunctional family. He said he wrote this, and knew if he never picked up a pen again he would live or die (reputation wise) by this book. (Quote paraphrased) He also does his stream of conscious and multiple narrators, making this foray notable because of it. Each is fully drawn, with excellent psychological realism. The characterization is excellent. Read it.

Originally issued on Amazon.com May 15, 2000



Stream of consciousness written in Deep South vernacular. Phew!, 25 Sep 2007
Novels written in the vernacular can be problematic for the outsider. When they are additionally narrated in a pre-war stream of consciousness style and by a number of different individuals the difficulties are magnified. Of course, that is the point of the book: to convey the emotions and reactions of different members of a family about the same event; the event being the death of the southern matriarch Addie Bundren whose decaying body is transported far away to her home town for burial as she had requested. The journey consists of a series of grotesque and darkly humorous mishaps as relationships, disputes and bonds between family and neighbours are gradually revealed in around sixty extremely brief chapters of narration. It takes some unravelling and is really a question as to whether or not the reader feels it is all worthwhile. Maybe it is - just.

Stunning, 26 Jun 2007
A stunning piece of literature that keeps coming back to you with new thoughts and ideas. It definitely warrants more than one reading.

Pilgrim's Progress to the Promised Land, 05 Sep 2004
Faulkner's great accomplishment in this novel is to use the most modern fiction techniques to create a timeless allegory that we would probably not accept in a different style. His other great achievement is to leave so much space in the story for us to participate in adding meaning. You have to pay attention to even notice what is going on, and then you can provide a variety of interpretations. This novel will never be the same for any two readers. It is a stunning accomplishment, as a result.

The story begins as Addie Bundren lays dying, fanned by her daughter, while her son makes her coffin. With her husband and five children, we make her acquaintance by learning about their actions and characters. Only once does she have a role as a narrator, and then, quite late in the story.

Her husband, Anse, has promised her that he will bury her with her family. Because of tremendous rains, the river has risen, knocking out bridges and making passage difficult. Despite this, the family perseveres in taking her unembalmed body to the intended burial site. Along the way, there are many mishaps and the family is burdened in many ways by keeping this promise. As the burial comes closer, new elements of the story are exposed and develop that totally recast what you have thought was going on.

The story is a difficult one to read. So read this book when you have time to pay close attention and study the text word by word. Let me explain the difficulties you will encounter. First, the voices in the book use a Southern patois that will be unfamiliar to most. This is the language of the rural poor in the 1930s, which few have heard. Second, the exposition is mostly through thoughts, often expressed in fragmentary form, rather than through action and a smooth narrative. Third, the narration is a partial mosaic of impressions of the characters, jumping back and forth in 2-4 page segments. Their perceptions are partial, and even more partially expressed. Objectivity is shunned by Faulkner. Fourth, Faulkner wants you to fill in the gaps, and the best way to do that is to expose the gaps slowly. Only after 3 or 4 narrations by characters will the gaps begin to emerge in a way you can grasp them. Then, you still have to interpret them.

Few readers will miss the references to Moses and his search for the promised land, and the Christian parable of the Pilgrim's Progress. What is unstated is the connection to reading this book. Many poor Southern people of that time were taught to read with The Pilgrim's Progress as a primer. That experience helped to shape a perception and a sensibility that would influence their actions, and thus, this tale. That connection creates a wonderful series of circles here that build on one another.

At bottom though, it is clear from this book that there are secrets of the heart that are never exposed in public. When we come close to dying (our own or someone else's), these secrets begin to rise closer to the surface where we (and sometimes others) can see them.

Faulkner has one quirk in the book that I urge you to look for. While he is often conveying the thoughts of uneducated people, he will drop in magnificent phrases that are worthy of Shakespeare. He wants you to know that he is a learned man, hiding behind his humble bards. That pride creates flaws in the book, but flaws that are a delight to the reader, nevertheless. In fact, he takes this one step further by employing many of Shakespeare's favorite techniques from foreshadowing through nature's fury through using fools.

After you have read this book, I encourage you to consider what secret desires, actions, fears, and thoughts you have which you keep buried even from yourself. Then consider the potential benefits of making these known, before you lay dying.

Also, whenever things seem confused, consider how others may be perceiving what is going on. Like Vardeman, they too may think their mother is a fish. Accept their view of reality, and communicate in terms of that perception if you want to make contact. Otherwise, you will be alone even in the middle of your family, as the Bundrens were in As I Lay Dying.

Enjoy this American masterpiece! I think you'll find it irresistible and moving.

Of Fate, Slavery, the South, Pride, and Story-Telling, 19 Jul 2004
Review Summary: Absalom, Absalom! is a book that you can easily underestimate. Your persistence will be rewarded with pleasure if you are patient, and assume that something magnificent will appear that is different from what you expect. The story is a cross between a Greek tragedy, King Lear, and the oral tradition of story-telling. As such, it strikes the deepest chords of human connection and ambition. The primary settings are Mississippi and the West Indies from the Antebellum period through Reconstruction and into the early 20th century. The themes touch deeply on Southern tradition, slavery, and social class. This is a challenging book to read, and will appeal primarily to those who like difficult books that are full of allusions. For most, having read other Faulkner novels will make this one easier to access and understand. As I Lay Dying is a good precursor for this novel.

Reader Caution: A six-letter word beginning with "n" to describe people of Afro-American descent is used frequently in this book in ways that will offend many people. The use of the word is consistent with the beliefs and the historical moment of the characters who utter it, and does not reflect racist beliefs by the author.

Review: Absalom, Absalom! is certainly one of America's greatest tragic novels. Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi in middle age with a burning desire to establish a magnificent plantation and a dynasty with a leading role in society. To accomplish this, all he has available is his passion, a French architect, some slaves from Haiti, and a huge tract of land that he has somehow swindled out of the Native Americans. From the mud, his dream rises. But his very determination to accomplish his dream causes counterforces to rise that drag his dream into the mud again.

The story is told in a most unusual fashion. Almost every major character's perspective is captured through the device of recounting prior conversations with other major characters. Most of the characters are missing major elements of the "why" of the story, so you need to keep adding the stories together to begin to understand what was happening beneath the surface. The book eventually relies on a conversation with a nonparticipant in the events to explore why they might have occurred, where no direct evidence is available. In this last regard, the book takes on a little of the mystery-solving tradition involving logic that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This conversation-reporting story-telling device makes the book both remarkably recursive and potentially maddening. If you are like me, you will wonder at times what else could possibly be covered in the book. And then, Faulkner pulls new dimensions to his story out of the hat.

Faulkner's point is that we can almost always know "what" has happened in terms of major events, but without great investigation and thought we unlikely to ever understand the "why." You come to appreciate this point by seeing your understanding of Sutpen's life change as you learn more about him and the events that preceded his arrival in Jefferson. I ultimately came away intrigued and inspired by the book's structure. You could easily have the opposite reaction.

The book is a rich source of concepts and observations about the contradictions inherent in slavery and Southern notions of gentle behavior during the 18th and 19th centuries. You only find these contradictions as well laid out in Thomas Jefferson's writings and biographies.

After you read this book, you should be in a good position to ask yourself some basic questions about what you are trying to accomplish with your personal life and your work. Are your goals any more worthy than Sutpen's? What dangers are you exposed to as a result of having this focus? In what ways are you an innocent in your pursuits?

In seeking respect and esteem, remember to give it to others even more generously!

Of Fate, Slavery, the South, Pride, and Story-Telling, 09 May 2004
Review Summary: Absalom, Absalom! is a book that you can easily underestimate. Your persistence will be rewarded with pleasure if you are patient, and assume that something magnificent will appear that is different from what you expect. The story is a cross between a Greek tragedy, King Lear, and the oral tradition of story-telling. As such, it strikes the deepest chords of human connection and ambition. The primary settings are Mississippi and the West Indies from the Antebellum period through Reconstruction and into the early 20th century. The themes touch deeply on Southern tradition, slavery, and social class. This is a challenging book to read, and will appeal primarily to those who like difficult books that are full of allusions. For most, having read other Faulkner novels will make this one easier to access and understand. As I Lay Dying is a good precursor for this novel.

Reader Caution: A six-letter word beginning with "n" to describe people of African-American descent is used frequently in this book in ways that will offend many people. The use of the word is consistent with the beliefs and the historical moment of the characters who utter it, and does not reflect racist beliefs by the author.

Review: Absalom, Absalom! is certainly one of America's greatest tragic novels. Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi in middle age with a burning desire to establish a magnificent plantation and a dynasty with a leading role in society. To accomplish this, all he has available is his passion, a French architect, some slaves from Haiti, and a huge tract of land that he has somehow swindled out of the Native Americans. From the mud, his dream rises. But his very determination to accomplish his dream causes counterforces to rise that drag his dream into the mud again.

The story is told in a most unusual fashion. Almost every major character's perspective is captured through the device of recounting prior conversations with other major characters. Most of the characters are missing major elements of the "why" of the story, so you need to keep adding the stories together to begin to understand what was happening beneath the surface. The book eventually relies on a conversation with a nonparticipant in the events to explore why they might have occurred, where no direct evidence is available. In this last regard, the book takes on a little of the mystery-solving tradition involving logic that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This conversation-reporting story-telling device makes the book both remarkably recursive and potentially maddening. If you are like me, you will wonder at times what else could possibly be covered in the book. And then, Faulkner pulls new dimensions to his story out of the hat.

Faulkner's point is that we can almost always know "what" has happened in terms of major events, but without great investigation and thought we unlikely to ever understand the "why." You come to appreciate this point by seeing your understanding of Sutpen's life change as you learn more about him and the events that preceded his arrival in Jefferson. I ultimately came away intrigued and inspired by the book's structure. You could easily have the opposite reaction.

The book is a rich source of concepts and observations about the contradictions inherent in slavery and Southern notions of gentle behavior during the 18th and 19th centuries. You only find these contradictions as well laid out in Thomas Jefferson's writings and biographies.

After you read this book, you should be in a good position to ask yourself some basic questions about what you are trying to accomplish with your personal life and your work. Are your goals any more worthy than Sutpen's? What dangers are you exposed to as a result of having this focus? In what ways are you an innocent in your pursuits?

In seeking respect and esteem, remember to give it to others even more generously!

marvellous, 29 Oct 2003
The damage a faulkner novel is likely to inflict on your brain is almost incomparable. Somewhere between Job and King Lear imagine your nostril being caught on barb-wire, peasants stabbing you repeatedly with pikes while laughing and a pigmy slashing away at your nether regions with a bayonet and you're approaching the regions this superb artist traverses. This novel is one of the best. Perhaps one of its qualities when compared with his other masterpieces is that you can 'gulp' it moreso than the others. Although As I Lay dying is perhaps the best, it uses a more staccato style in which one is constantly punctured by poison-arrows -more like a storm- whereas Absalom is more akin to plunging into the depths of a lake on a dark secret forgotten hauntingly empty night. When finally you surface you'll most probably be shaking and have a headache. And you will remember and long to revisit the bit in the middle as much as Molly Bloom.

my favourite faulkner and the bible, 11 Aug 2003
O.K., so this is not exactly easy to read. At the beginning you have to constantly deduce who is narrating. But once you have learnt that the whole story of the Sutpen family is going to be told through a series of interviews between Quentin and several witnesses of the facts related, you can relax and really enjoy it. For me, one of the greatest wonders and sources of joy in this novel was to find the paralelisms between the story of the Sutpen family and that of king David of the Bible. And even though we know what is going to happen with Colonel Sutpen and his offspring (especially the one who stands for Absalom), Faulkner's chilling solution for the conlfict is inevitably amazing. Do I need to add that the paralelism does not only work at the level of the Sutpen family tragedy, but also with the historical setting --the heroic times of the American Civil War in the South?. One of the jewels of universal literature.

Patience, the greatest virtue, 30 Aug 1999
This book -is- a difficult undertaking, but it's not meant to be that way. The key is patience. Some things aren't meant to be understood until maybe 200 pages after they're first mentioned. If you don't understand something when you first read it, don't think it's -your- fault, you're probably not meant to understand it just yet. This really is a fantastic book, different from any other book I've ever read. It totally changed my view on writing, and what quality writing is.

Every man is an arbiter of his own virtues., 15 Nov 2008
I'm not that familiar with American literature of this type,but I found it a compelling read.Although the work needs a short explanation via the introduction to set the reader on the right tracks, once you are aware of the basic timing and structure you should'nt find it that hard.It is basically a tale of a disfunctional middleclass southern American household in the 1920's and is a satisfying read.Its characters are vivid and their personnal situations are communicated in great style.

The end of an era, 18 Apr 2008
Fragments of thoughts, broken memories, lost and blurred pieces of imagination once lived and desired, are all we have to build a shattered picture of what was the tragic destiny of the Compson family.

Brief moments of the present and flashes of the past come and go constantly through the voices and thoughts of Benjy and Quentin Compson, in the first part of the novel; till here should be no worry on trying to find a common thread of speech since the spontaneous and fluent narration "comes directly" from the memories and recollections of the two brothers; in fact all the essence of the novel is here, through the form that Faulkner wisely understood that only could be told; all the weakness, fears, misconceptions, guilty and disgraces that strikes this family is all translate in matter of what in spirit was build upon a chaotic, deformed, distort and limited vision of life and its own propose. Symbolically it's in a physical and spiritual way that this concept is embodied: by Benjy that is mentally (and partially physically) disabled and by Quentin that build for himself so many moral barriers and social preconceptions that inevitably lead him to a tragic dead end. Both represent the inability (be that brought by bad fortune or by free will) to fully understand and embrace Life and all the beauty and tragedy in it, represented in the novel by their sister Caddy, that like life itself is the great secret and mystery, the driving force and the unknown voice that we only perceive and experience as a reflexion in the destiny of the others.

Unlike the first ethereal part of the book, the second one is the consistently, formal but not necessary pleasant narration of Jason, the younger of the Campson's brothers. Like the others, also Jason's obsession is centered on the figure of Caddy as a representation of reality through his eyes. Jason personifies the last and the lower level of the human spirit, in a mix of tyranny, petty, misery, villainy and foolishness, part given by heritage (his mother), part by an unstoppable ill will that its own nature and the consequences of his own acts will naturally lead him to a predictable destiny, that consolidates as well as promises, to carry on the chaotic nature of the family. And to carry all the sins and sadness of the world there is the pure and untouched soul of Benjy that cries out loud an understandable and violent sound, the ultimate glimpse of a raw fury that defies and resists all the logic, again in one more attempt to run out of time that will bring back to a place of distant and gentle old memories.

Simply wonderfull!, 03 Aug 2007
I was somewhat curious to see what the other reviewers made of this book, and I am somewhat surprised (not of the praise, that's of course expected) with comments that it isn't "enjoyable", and has to be read a number of times. Now please! I'm hardly some intellectual old English teacher unable to believe the "simple people" can't keep up, I really just scrapped through school but this book makes perfect sense, and I had no problems reading it at all. Seems a perfect beach book to me! To be honest I find someone like George Elliot more difficult!
The first part is written by a mentally handicapped man, but I found it both touching and real. The rest of the book rolls into your heart like a steam train, with an explosive climax you're never forget.
It is simply the best book ever written. Simple if you take it as it comes, don't re-read every sentence searching for the hidden meaning. Read it like a child and let the wonderful writing and story capture your imagination!


Brilliant, while not as hard a read as I expected, 14 May 2007
I wish I had studied this one at high school, its themes are so diverse and details so richly laid down. It isn't a tough book to follow if taken in over a short space of time; don't be put off by reviews that focus on complexity, Faulkner's words are never difficult to follow and the story is wonderfully human. The first chapter seems obscure on first reading and warrants a quick re-read once you're finished with the last, it is only 60 pages in length which means you're not given time to tire of the world the first narrator inhabits. By the third chapter, more becomes apparent and the story starts to make sense- I would look up a list of characters at some point, sparknotes.com or similar, to make things easier!

This edition is nicely printed, with a suitably concise introduction. Well recommended!

The structure of loss, 09 Apr 2005
"The sound and the Fury" is difficult. It can be confusing. Many essays are devoted to whether the difficulty is justified, but it is important to remember that it was not Faulkner's intention for this book to be difficult.

When interviewed about this book he explained the book's structure in terms of his attempt to try to capture Caddy's story without removing the intensity and bile from its telling by reducing her to explaining herself. This is why there are four narrative voices, each time Faulkner tried a different voice to tell his tale, and each time in his own words "failed". This is not a reflection of the skills of Faulkner as an author - the book is exceptionally well written, but rather probably has its roots in the reductive nature of language, which Faulkner found failed to capture the image he wished to pen. An appendix was added to the book in later editions and Faulkner suggested that this should be read first, as it explains the plot, the four narratives then serve to elucidate and add colour to the bare facts provided in this short "obituary" as Faulkner termed it.

Returning to the book. This is, i feel, Faulkner's most ambitious novel, and if he claimed to have failed in his telling of it, it does not show, this book is emotionally draining and moving in not only the story that is unveils, but also in the manner of its unveiling. There must be few who can fail to be moved by the pithy second narration, with its disjointed syntax which tells of its own despair, or not feel pity in the simplicity of the first.

thematically, this book is huge, covering sin, death, love, greed, envy, power.... life!

Of no literary worth, 17 Jun 2008
Reviews are by nature subjective. That said, their should be a common element, an underlying current that runs through all reviews which peg the book (in this instance) at a similar level. That established, here I find myself rather baffled as to how anyone can either dredge or salvage anything from this book that would elevate it beyond a three star rating at maximum; there must be an element of consensus, because this book (or indeed any) has a basic content and structure, characters and plot that are capable of evaluation and critique. Let us call a spade a spade and not a shovel, this is a shovel!

I teach literature at university level and I am astounded how this book finds its way onto numerous 'must read' lists that appear on the internet and periodically in print. I can only imagine that the editors of such list either fail to read the entire content of said list, or they are simply keen to perpetuate the tired myths that unfortunately ensure largely worthless texts like this still make college reading lists. Either that or they simply read the dust jacket and go by the advertising copy; which according to the 'Vintage Classic' version I bought, sells this book as being, 'a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the old testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn'. Categorically is not, and I defy, nay challenge the publishers or indeed anyone to substantiate such a claim.

How ever you spin it, what ultimately transpires is that for any of the above reasons or others equally illogical, perfectly good texts - especially modern ones, are constantly ignored as white elephants like this go through their umpteenth re-print.

To get down to brass tacks, this book fails for a number of reasons, but amongst those I would cite the following five as being the major points of contention:
i) It is simply VERY boring indeed. A dull tale if ever one was told.
ii) The characters are neither well-established or particularly well-drawn. Faulkner's literary skills presented herein are neither worth of his acclaim nor his many accolades and awards.
iii) Structurally it is a simple narrative (not necessarily a problem), however, his language (except the odd regional accent) is unchallenging and unprovocative.
iv) It essentially fails to offer the reader anything. No new ideas, no philosophical insights, no social observations and no historical documentary per se. I think I picked out and highlighted about four sentences in the whole book, that I felt were interesting.
v) Finally, it fails to establish a new genre, a new mode of expression. Likewise it also fails to re-establish a current mode or extend and develop a literary style. In plain terms that means it belongs nowhere, has no recognisable nor definable style and yet fails to take new steps in establish a new genre; it is amateurish and unaccomplished.

The only plus point that one can give is the use of parallel narration that is quite interesting and mildly revolutionary. That said, the characters are not well enough established, nor well enough drawn as to make full use of this technique and so it simply adds confusion to the overall structure.

I cannot see one logical or justifiable reason why anyone should waste their time or their money in reading this text. Unless it is prescribed reading, in which case I would question the teachers motivations for electing this a a core or supplementary text. I think if you are studying American Literature, literature of death and dying, family structures etc. there are MUCH better books out there than this.

Dark Comedy and Psychological Realism, 02 Nov 2007
I just got thru reading As I Lay Dying for a college class. As I have read no other Faulkner, I cannot compare this with his other works. Although it takes time to get adjusted to it, the novel itself is grand, a tour de force as Faulkner called it. The family experiences Addie's loss.
Each character is fully realized, and every last one of them (in the family, anyway) is insane. Jewel is constantly cursing and using violence to express his love and anger. This is in direct relationship with his mother, because she did so with him. The very thing that defines him is when he calls his horse "You sweet son of a b----". That he how he relates to the world. He is a very angry young man, and cannot express himself properly without resorting to foul language.

Darl is a very interesting character. Although you may not catch it less you are paying attention, he has a telepathic ability, to read into people's mind. He is very perceptive. So perceptive, in fact, that in one chapter in the first part he describes what is happening at the house as Addie Bundren dies, and he and Jewel are away from the house selling materials. His relationship with Addie is strained at best. She loves Jewel best. In manner of speech, Addie and Darl are closest, being very poetic in speech.

Cash is 28/29 and Vardaman's age isn't given. He is a little boy. Cash makes the casket for his mother. Vardaman becomes very confused during the duration of the novel, because he catches a fish in the beginning. The fish dies and they eat it (this is a correlation of the family being like buzzards during the journey). One chapter consists of a single sentence. "My mother is a fish". It is also foreshadowing of one of the more comic events in the novel. Darl says of Jewel, whose relationship with his horse is based after his relationship with his mother, that his mother is a horse, speaking metaphorically. Vardaman takes that literally also. If Jewel's mother can be a horse, he insists his mother can be a fish.

Tull is the only sane one in the story, and he is not a member of the family. He is a neighbour who is helping with the family. Cora, his wife, serves God in a cliche way, and is generally niave. Brother Whitaker, without revealing too much of the plot, is important. Anse, the father, is hilarious. He says he cannot sweat because of some illness he got when he was 20. He won't do a damn thing. He won't be "beholden" to any man, which he says all the time. But he really doesn't want to do anything, and wants others to do it for him.

Dewey Dell is a very simple creature. She gets pregnant, and wants to have an abortion. She doesn't understand morality. Her intellect pales in comparison to Darl's; however, they have a psychic link together. Someone like this God would not judge harshly, because she does not have understanding.

Addie Bundren in the single most important character in the novel. Her chapter is a little past the center of the novel. The reason, one interpretation goes, is that Addie is like the spoke of a wheel, where the spoke is in the center, and everything is connected to it and comes out of it. She is a very hateful person. Although very poetic, she hates words, thinking them meaningless.

Sex to the Bundren family is not governed by morality (or at least they don't think it is). My teacher likened it to barnyard sex: animals are not governed by morality, and they just have sex. This is much the approach of this family, although of course they are wrong. Man is above animals, and morality governs this matter. Dewey Dell, of which much of the imagery associated with her is sexual, is very simple and knows nothing of sexual morality. Her name suggests her simpleton sexuality. Dewey Dell means "Moist Valley". Not to much of a stretch of an imagination to know what that means. She gets pregnant by Lafe. Dewey Dell is such of limited intelligence that she goes to the pharmacy at the end of the novel to get an abortion. The soda jerk tells her to come back, and then he has sex with her. She curses afterward, saying that won't cure anything. Darl and Cash masturbated while growing up. Addie is still lonely even though she has sexual relations with her husband, so goes elsewhere to find it. (Her children were there to cure her loneliness. An important lesson is lurking here: sex and children are two of the most precious gifts from God: they are exactly that - gifts. One must know Christ to have a truly fulfilled life).

Dark humour is very prevalent thruout the entire novel. Everything from Addie making her water trip to Anse getting those teeth to them dragging the body, stinking up everything, the novel is hilarious. Anse says he owes it to Addie to take her there, saying he won't disgrace her. Yet the whole journey is disgraceful. It is one of the funniest books in a dark sense that I have read in a long time. To speak to much of this would ruin some of the moments; but rest assured, if you properly imagine the events, it should strike you quite funny.

In conclusion, Faulkner has created a portrait dysfunctional family. He said he wrote this, and knew if he never picked up a pen again he would live or die (reputation wise) by this book. (Quote paraphrased) He also does his stream of conscious and multiple narrators, making this foray notable because of it. Each is fully drawn, with excellent psychological realism. The characterization is excellent. Read it.

Originally issued on Amazon.com May 15, 2000



Stream of consciousness written in Deep South vernacular. Phew!, 25 Sep 2007
Novels written in the vernacular can be problematic for the outsider. When they are additionally narrated in a pre-war stream of consciousness style and by a number of different individuals the difficulties are magnified. Of course, that is the point of the book: to convey the emotions and reactions of different members of a family about the same event; the event being the death of the southern matriarch Addie Bundren whose decaying body is transported far away to her home town for burial as she had requested. The journey consists of a series of grotesque and darkly humorous mishaps as relationships, disputes and bonds between family and neighbours are gradually revealed in around sixty extremely brief chapters of narration. It takes some unravelling and is really a question as to whether or not the reader feels it is all worthwhile. Maybe it is - just.

Stunning, 26 Jun 2007
A stunning piece of literature that keeps coming back to you with new thoughts and ideas. It definitely warrants more than one reading.

Pilgrim's Progress to the Promised Land, 05 Sep 2004
Faulkner's great accomplishment in this novel is to use the most modern fiction techniques to create a timeless allegory that we would probably not accept in a different style. His other great achievement is to leave so much space in the story for us to participate in adding meaning. You have to pay attention to even notice what is going on, and then you can provide a variety of interpretations. This novel will never be the same for any two readers. It is a stunning accomplishment, as a result.

The story begins as Addie Bundren lays dying, fanned by her daughter, while her son makes her coffin. With her husband and five children, we make her acquaintance by learning about their actions and characters. Only once does she have a role as a narrator, and then, quite late in the story.

Her husband, Anse, has promised her that he will bury her with her family. Because of tremendous rains, the river has risen, knocking out bridges and making passage difficult. Despite this, the family perseveres in taking her unembalmed body to the intended burial site. Along the way, there are many mishaps and the family is burdened in many ways by keeping this promise. As the burial comes closer, new elements of the story are exposed and develop that totally recast what you have thought was going on.

The story is a difficult one to read. So read this book when you have time to pay close attention and study the text word by word. Let me explain the difficulties you will encounter. First, the voices in the book use a Southern patois that will be unfamiliar to most. This is the language of the rural poor in the 1930s, which few have heard. Second, the exposition is mostly through thoughts, often expressed in fragmentary form, rather than through action and a smooth narrative. Third, the narration is a partial mosaic of impressions of the characters, jumping back and forth in 2-4 page segments. Their perceptions are partial, and even more partially expressed. Objectivity is shunned by Faulkner. Fourth, Faulkner wants you to fill in the gaps, and the best way to do that is to expose the gaps slowly. Only after 3 or 4 narrations by characters will the gaps begin to emerge in a way you can grasp them. Then, you still have to interpret them.

Few readers will miss the references to Moses and his search for the promised land, and the Christian parable of the Pilgrim's Progress. What is unstated is the connection to reading this book. Many poor Southern people of that time were taught to read with The Pilgrim's Progress as a primer. That experience helped to shape a perception and a sensibility that would influence their actions, and thus, this tale. That connection creates a wonderful series of circles here that build on one another.

At bottom though, it is clear from this book that there are secrets of the heart that are never exposed in public. When we come close to dying (our own or someone else's), these secrets begin to rise closer to the surface where we (and sometimes others) can see them.

Faulkner has one quirk in the book that I urge you to look for. While he is often conveying the thoughts of uneducated people, he will drop in magnificent phrases that are worthy of Shakespeare. He wants you to know that he is a learned man, hiding behind his humble bards. That pride creates flaws in the book, but flaws that are a delight to the reader, nevertheless. In fact, he takes this one step further by employing many of Shakespeare's favorite techniques from foreshadowing through nature's fury through using fools.

After you have read this book, I encourage you to consider what secret desires, actions, fears, and thoughts you have which you keep buried even from yourself. Then consider the potential benefits of making these known, before you lay dying.

Also, whenever things seem confused, consider how others may be perceiving what is going on. Like Vardeman, they too may think their mother is a fish. Accept their view of reality, and communicate in terms of that perception if you want to make contact. Otherwise, you will be alone even in the middle of your family, as the Bundrens were in As I Lay Dying.

Enjoy this American masterpiece! I think you'll find it irresistible and moving.

Of Fate, Slavery, the South, Pride, and Story-Telling, 19 Jul 2004
Review Summary: Absalom, Absalom! is a book that you can easily underestimate. Your persistence will be rewarded with pleasure if you are patient, and assume that something magnificent will appear that is different from what you expect. The story is a cross between a Greek tragedy, King Lear, and the oral tradition of story-telling. As such, it strikes the deepest chords of human connection and ambition. The primary settings are Mississippi and the West Indies from the Antebellum period through Reconstruction and into the early 20th century. The themes touch deeply on Southern tradition, slavery, and social class. This is a challenging book to read, and will appeal primarily to those who like difficult books that are full of allusions. For most, having read other Faulkner novels will make this one easier to access and understand. As I Lay Dying is a good precursor for this novel.

Reader Caution: A six-letter word beginning with "n" to describe people of Afro-American descent is used frequently in this book in ways that will offend many people. The use of the word is consistent with the beliefs and the historical moment of the characters who utter it, and does not reflect racist beliefs by the author.

Review: Absalom, Absalom! is certainly one of America's greatest tragic novels. Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi in middle age with a burning desire to establish a magnificent plantation and a dynasty with a leading role in society. To accomplish this, all he has available is his passion, a French architect, some slaves from Haiti, and a huge tract of land that he has somehow swindled out of the Native Americans. From the mud, his dream rises. But his very determination to accomplish his dream causes counterforces to rise that drag his dream into the mud again.

The story is told in a most unusual fashion. Almost every major character's perspective is captured through the device of recounting prior conversations with other major characters. Most of the characters are missing major elements of the "why" of the story, so you need to keep adding the stories together to begin to understand what was happening beneath the surface. The book eventually relies on a conversation with a nonparticipant in the events to explore why they might have occurred, where no direct evidence is available. In this last regard, the book takes on a little of the mystery-solving tradition involving logic that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This conversation-reporting story-telling device makes the book both remarkably recursive and potentially maddening. If you are like me, you will wonder at times what else could possibly be covered in the book. And then, Faulkner pulls new dimensions to his story out of the hat.

Faulkner's point is that we can almost always know "what" has happened in terms of major events, but without great investigation and thought we unlikely to ever understand the "why." You come to appreciate this point by seeing your understanding of Sutpen's life change as you learn more about him and the events that preceded his arrival in Jefferson. I ultimately came away intrigued and inspired by the book's structure. You could easily have the opposite reaction.

The book is a rich source of concepts and observations about the contradictions inherent in slavery and Southern notions of gentle behavior during the 18th and 19th centuries. You only find these contradictions as well laid out in Thomas Jefferson's writings and biographies.

After you read this book, you should be in a good position to ask yourself some basic questions about what you are trying to accomplish with your personal life and your work. Are your goals any more worthy than Sutpen's? What dangers are you exposed to as a result of having this focus? In what ways are you an innocent in your pursuits?

In seeking respect and esteem, remember to give it to others even more generously!

Of Fate, Slavery, the South, Pride, and Story-Telling, 09 May 2004
Review Summary: Absalom, Absalom! is a book that you can easily underestimate. Your persistence will be rewarded with pleasure if you are patient, and assume that something magnificent will appear that is different from what you expect. The story is a cross between a Greek tragedy, King Lear, and the oral tradition of story-telling. As such, it strikes the deepest chords of human connection and ambition. The primary settings are Mississippi and the West Indies from the Antebellum period through Reconstruction and into the early 20th century. The themes touch deeply on Southern tradition, slavery, and social class. This is a challenging book to read, and will appeal primarily to those who like difficult books that are full of allusions. For most, having read other Faulkner novels will make this one easier to access and understand. As I Lay Dying is a good precursor for this novel.

Reader Caution: A six-letter word beginning with "n" to describe people of African-American descent is used frequently in this book in ways that will offend many people. The use of the word is consistent with the beliefs and the historical moment of the characters who utter it, and does not reflect racist beliefs by the author.

Review: Absalom, Absalom! is certainly one of America's greatest tragic novels. Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi in middle age with a burning desire to establish a magnificent plantation and a dynasty with a leading role in society. To accomplish this, all he has available is his passion, a French architect, some slaves from Haiti, and a huge tract of land that he has somehow swindled out of the Native Americans. From the mud, his dream rises. But his very determination to accomplish his dream causes counterforces to rise that drag his dream into the mud again.

The story is told in a most unusual fashion. Almost every major character's perspective is captured through the device of recounting prior conversations with other major characters. Most of the characters are missing major elements of the "why" of the story, so you need to keep adding the stories together to begin to understand what was happening beneath the surface. The book eventually relies on a conversation with a nonparticipant in the events to explore why they might have occurred, where no direct evidence is available. In this last regard, the book takes on a little of the mystery-solving tradition involving logic that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This conversation-reporting story-telling device makes the book both remarkably recursive and potentially maddening. If you are like me, you will wonder at times what else could possibly be covered in the book. And then, Faulkner pulls new dimensions to his story out of the hat.

Faulkner's point is that we can almost always know "what" has happened in terms of major events, but without great investigation and thought we unlikely to ever understand the "why." You come to appreciate this point by seeing your understanding of Sutpen's life change as you learn more about him and the events that preceded his arrival in Jefferson. I ultimately came away intrigued and inspired by the book's structure. You could easily have the opposite reaction.

The book is a rich source of concepts and observations about the contradictions inherent in slavery and Southern notions of gentle behavior during the 18th and 19th centuries. You only find these contradictions as well laid out in Thomas Jefferson's writings and biographies.

After you read this book, you should be in a good position to ask yourself some basic questions about what you are trying to accomplish with your personal life and your work. Are your goals any more worthy than Sutpen's? What dangers are you exposed to as a result of having this focus? In what ways are you an innocent in your pursuits?

In seeking respect and esteem, remember to give it to others even more generously!

marvellous, 29 Oct 2003
The damage a faulkner novel is likely to inflict on your brain is almost incomparable. Somewhere between Job and King Lear imagine your nostril being caught on barb-wire, peasants stabbing you repeatedly with pikes while laughing and a pigmy slashing away at your nether regions with a bayonet and you're approaching the regions this superb artist traverses. This novel is one of the best. Perhaps one of its qualities when compared with his other masterpieces is that you can 'gulp' it moreso than the others. Although As I Lay dying is perhaps the best, it uses a more staccato style in which one is constantly punctured by poison-arrows -more like a storm- whereas Absalom is more akin to plunging into the depths of a lake on a dark secret forgotten hauntingly empty night. When finally you surface you'll most probably be shaking and have a headache. And you will remember and long to revisit the bit in the middle as much as Molly Bloom.

my favourite faulkner and the bible, 11 Aug 2003
O.K., so this is not exactly easy to read. At the beginning you have to constantly deduce who is narrating. But once you have learnt that the whole story of the Sutpen family is going to be told through a series of interviews between Quentin and several witnesses of the facts related, you can relax and really enjoy it. For me, one of the greatest wonders and sources of joy in this novel was to find the paralelisms between the story of the Sutpen family and that of king David of the Bible. And even though we know what is going to happen with Colonel Sutpen and his offspring (especially the one who stands for Absalom), Faulkner's chilling solution for the conlfict is inevitably amazing. Do I need to add that the paralelism does not only work at the level of the Sutpen family tragedy, but also with the historical setting --the heroic times of the American Civil War in the South?. One of the jewels of universal literature.

Patience, the greatest virtue, 30 Aug 1999
This book -is- a difficult undertaking, but it's not meant to be that way. The key is patience. Some things aren't meant to be understood until maybe 200 pages after they're first mentioned. If you don't understand something when you first read it, don't think it's -your- fault, you're probably not meant to understand it just yet. This really is a fantastic book, different from any other book I've ever read. It totally changed my view on writing, and what quality writing is.

VERY hard work, 08 Aug 2004
I've read at least five Faulkner novels and generally like his rambling style, but I found this book really really hard work. The story line was excellent but very difficult to follow with his over extravagant use of words. I understand his sincerity in trying to bring the issue of injustice to the eyes of the world. I also appreciate how shocking this book must have been when it was published but I feel there are other authors who've tackled similar issues at around the same time who get their point across in a more lyrical and easier to read style. For me, this book lacked humanity and I didn't find any of the characters three dimensional enough for me to care about them.

A Twentieth Century Poe, 14 May 2004
I once heard an English teacher describe William Faulkner as "Our Shakespeare". He said that the southern culture provides so much for a novelist to work with and Faulkner works it to the limit. I saw much of Shakespeare in "Light In August" as Faulkner transports us into the minds and culture of the depression era South. Lena Horne, traipsing from Alabama to Mississippi in search of the father of her unborn child, Joe Christmas, the self-proclaimed mulatto outcast, Gail Hightower, the minister whose obsession with the past cost him his wife and pulpit and Joanna Burden the heiress of the Carpetbag family who never became a part of the community in which she lived her life all provide us with an insight into this world.

More than Shakespeare, "Light In August" reveals Faulkner, in my opinion, as a Twentieth Century Poe. In Poe's work it is often the sounds that make the work. In "Light In August", I was entranced by the dialogue and the streams of consciousness which revealed the characters and their world to the reader.

I cared little for the story line, but the sights, sounds and the smells of "Light In August" make it a worthwhile read.

Dark, Brooding Book but Worth It, 04 Mar 2004
Don't read this when feeling depressed about the state of the world - it's Southern Gothic mix of racism, poverty, violence and general depravity will do little to relieve your angst. That being said, the novel is beautifully written and well-worth a read. Faulkner is a master of scene and his sense of pacing is incredible. Overall, an unsettling, but powerful work.

Mississippi Burning, 16 Apr 2001
This a Faulkner's major work which could be considered as one of the best American novels of the 1930s. On its surface, Light in August seems to be a chaotic narrative of life in the deep South after Reconstruction. However, such a chaos mirrors the chaos of a whole society unable to cope with the shadow of racism. For it is racism, the very truth behind racism, what Faulkner explores in this novel.

Behind the violence and confusion of Faulkner's narrative, there is a glance into the very core of human condition. Faulkner shows how we are, our fears, our secret dreams, our prejudices. Although, Faulkner's style is complex, the reading of "Light in August" is utterly rewarding.

This book represents the best introduction to Faulkner's novels and to the history of the deep South. Anyone interested in American literature should read it.

Every man is an arbiter of his own virtues., 15 Nov 2008
I'm not that familiar with American literature of this type,but I found it a compelling read.Although the work needs a short explanation via the introduction to set the reader on the right tracks, once you are aware of the basic timing and structure you should'nt find it that hard.It is basically a tale of a disfunctional middleclass southern American household in the 1920's and is a satisfying read.Its characters are vivid and their personnal situations are communicated in great style.

The end of an era, 18 Apr 2008
Fragments of thoughts, broken memories, lost and blurred pieces of imagination once lived and desired, are all we have to build a shattered picture of what was the tragic destiny of the Compson family.

Brief moments of the present and flashes of the past come and go constantly through the voices and thoughts of Benjy and Quentin Compson, in the first part of the novel; till here should be no worry on trying to find a common thread of speech since the spontaneous and fluent narration "comes directly" from the memories and recollections of the two brothers; in fact all the essence of the novel is here, through the form that Faulkner wisely understood that only could be told; all the weakness, fears, misconceptions, guilty and disgraces that strikes this family is all translate in matter of what in spirit was build upon a chaotic, deformed, distort and limited vision of life and its own propose. Symbolically it's in a physical and spiritual way that this concept is embodied: by Benjy that is mentally (and partially physically) disabled and by Quentin that build for himself so many moral barriers and social preconceptions that inevitably lead him to a tragic dead end. Both represent the inability (be that brought by bad fortune or by free will) to fully understand and embrace Life and all the beauty and tragedy in it, represented in the novel by their sister Caddy, that like life itself is the great secret and mystery, the driving force and the unknown voice that we only perceive and experience as a reflexion in the destiny of the others.

Unlike the first ethereal part of the book, the second one is the consistently, formal but not necessary pleasant narration of Jason, the younger of the Campson's brothers. Like the others, also Jason's obsession is centered on the figure of Caddy as a representation of reality through his eyes. Jason personifies the last and the lower level of the human spirit, in a mix of tyranny, petty, misery, villainy and foolishness, part given by heritage (his mother), part by an unstoppable ill will that its own nature and the consequences of his own acts will naturally lead him to a predictable destiny, that consolidates as well as promises, to carry on the chaotic nature of the family. And to carry all the sins and sadness of the world there is the pure and untouched soul of Benjy that cries out loud an understandable and violent sound, the ultimate glimpse of a raw fury that defies and resists all the logic, again in one more attempt to run out of time that will bring back to a place of distant and gentle old memories.

Simply wonderfull!, 03 Aug 2007
I was somewhat curious to see what the other reviewers made of this book, and I am somewhat surprised (not of the praise, that's of course expected) with comments that it isn't "enjoyable", and has to be read a number of times. Now please! I'm hardly some intellectual old English teacher unable to believe the "simple people" can't keep up, I really just scrapped through school but this book makes perfect sense, and I had no problems reading it at all. Seems a perfect beach book to me! To be honest I find someone like George Elliot more difficult!
The first part is written by a mentally handicapped man, but I found it both touching and real. The rest of the book rolls into your heart like a steam train, with an explosive climax you're never forget.
It is simply the best book ever written. Simple if you take it as it comes, don't re-read every sentence searching for the hidden meaning. Read it like a child and let the wonderful writing and story capture your imagination!


Brilliant, while not as hard a read as I expected, 14 May 2007
I wish I had studied this one at high school, its themes are so diverse and details so richly laid down. It isn't a tough book to follow if taken in over a short space of time; don't be put off by reviews that focus on complexity, Faulkner's words are never difficult to follow and the story is wonderfully human. The first chapter seems obscure on first reading and warrants a quick re-read once you're finished with the last, it is only 60 pages in length which means you're not given time to tire of the world the first narrator inhabits. By the third chapter, more becomes apparent and the story starts to make sense- I would look up a list of characters at some point, sparknotes.com or similar, to make things easier!

This edition is nicely printed, with a suitably concise introduction. Well recommended!

The structure of loss, 09 Apr 2005
"The sound and the Fury" is difficult. It can be confusing. Many essays are devoted to whether the difficulty is justified, but it is important to remember that it was not Faulkner's intention for this book to be difficult.

When interviewed about this book he explained the book's structure in terms of his attempt to try to capture Caddy's story without removing the intensity and bile from its telling by reducing her to explaining herself. This is why there are four narrative voices, each time Faulkner tried a different voice to tell his tale, and each time in his own words "failed". This is not a reflection of the skills of Faulkner as an author - the book is exceptionally well written, but rather probably has its roots in the reductive nature of language, which Faulkner found failed to capture the image he wished to pen. An appendix was added to the book in later editions and Faulkner suggested that this should be read first, as it explains the plot, the four narratives then serve to elucidate and add colour to the bare facts provided in this short "obituary" as Faulkner termed it.

Returning to the book. This is, i feel, Faulkner's most ambitious novel, and if he claimed to have failed in his telling of it, it does not show, this book is emotionally draining and moving in not only the story that is unveils, but also in the manner of its unveiling. There must be few who can fail to be moved by the pithy second narration, with its disjointed syntax which tells of its own despair, or not feel pity in the simplicity of the first.

thematically, this book is huge, covering sin, death, love, greed, envy, power.... life!

Of no literary worth, 17 Jun 2008
Reviews are by nature subjective. That said, their should be a common element, an underlying current that runs through all reviews which peg the book (in this instance) at a similar level. That established, here I find myself rather baffled as to how anyone can either dredge or salvage anything from this book that would elevate it beyond a three star rating at maximum; there must be an element of consensus, because this book (or indeed any) has a basic content and structure, characters and plot that are capable of evaluation and critique. Let us call a spade a spade and not a shovel, this is a shovel!

I teach literature at university level and I am astounded how this book finds its way onto numerous 'must read' lists that appear on the internet and periodically in print. I can only imagine that the editors of such list either fail to read the entire content of said list, or they are simply keen to perpetuate the tired myths that unfortunately ensure largely worthless texts like this still make college reading lists. Either that or they simply read the dust jacket and go by the advertising copy; which according to the 'Vintage Classic' version I bought, sells this book as being, 'a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the old testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn'. Categorically is not, and I defy, nay challenge the publishers or indeed anyone to substantiate such a claim.

How ever you spin it, what ultimately transpires is that for any of the above reasons or others equally illogical, perfectly good texts - especially modern ones, are constantly ignored as white elephants like this go through their umpteenth re-print.

To get down to brass tacks, this book fails for a number of reasons, but amongst those I would cite the following five as being the major points of contention:
i) It is simply VERY boring indeed. A dull tale if ever one was told.
ii) The characters are neither well-established or particularly well-drawn. Faulkner's literary skills presented herein are neither worth of his acclaim nor his many accolades and awards.
iii) Structurally it is a simple narrative (not necessarily a problem), however, his language (except