Reviews

A classic Southern Gothic black comedy by William Faulker. It is clever and poetic, beautifully written and very complex. I love it.

I read this book for the first time in high school when we were studying the stream of consciousness style of writing. It is a style I am very comfortable with reading probably because I tend to write in that style myself. It was also the first time I was introduced to so many character point of views in a single novel and I found that I enjoyed the varying perspectives as well. Darl Bundren is the child we have the most interaction with and there is constant consideration as to whether or not he is insane because he is so unlike the other characters. Is Darl crazy and the rest are sane? Alternately, is Darl sane and the rest are crazy? One of my favorite literary passages of all time comes from Darl:

"In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, you are not. And when you were filled with sleep, you never were. I dont know what I am. I dont know if I am or not. Jewel knows he is, because he does not know that he doesnt not know whether he is or not. He cannot empty himself for sleep because he is not what he is and he is what he is not. Beyond the unlamped wall I can hear the rain shaping the wagon that is ours, the load that is no longer theirs that felled and sawed it nor yet theirs that bought it and which is not ours either, lie on our wagon though it does, since only the wind and the rain shape it only to Jewel and me, that are not asleep. And since sleep is is-not and rain and wind are 'was', it is not. Yet the wagon is, because when the wagon is 'was', Addie Bundren will not be. And Jewel is , so Addie Bundren must be. And then I must be, or I could not empty myself for sleep in a strange room. And so if I am not emptied yet, I am 'is'.

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home."

The book is a conglomerate of various streams of consciousness and very complex. The interaction of the family over the death of the matriarch is sad but the family is so humorous that the story blends perfectly in to a classic black comedy story.

hannchilada's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5

ichirofakename's review against another edition

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4.0

Man this is one exhausting book. Faulkner's standard dense purple prose swirled together with intensely opaque hillbilly talk – ludicrously inverisimilitudinous, yet gripping in some sort of formalistic way. Best read by the young.

For fans of Faulkner or Tobacco Road. Somewhat overrated but definitely worth the effort. The ultimate in black humor.

rdhuff's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

maze1234's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

jeffphilly's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

ryryreadsbooks23's review

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

What: The Bundren family has just lost their matriarch, Addie, and now they must make the harrowing journey to secure Addie’s wish to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi.

What I Loved:

Faulkner’s prose is unmatched and would be impossible to fabricate. The run on sentences make sense, even when they’re hard to follow. Calling the work poetic is a little trite and overused when it comes to novelists who care so much about the way the words look on the page. There are spaces in between words that offer mystery. There are multiple uses of repetition that go beyond the realm of hammering the point home. When you can focus, if feels like swimming through thought.
The first half (before the journey) is so compelling because it feels like Faulkner is building a myth. Each member of the family had so much specificity.
Addie’s chapter was a highlight in a section I got lost in. It’s like this little takedown on ideas of motherhood and the inevitable journey towards death.

What Doesn’t Work:

Y’all I was confused and frustrated most of the time. It’s that Faulkner thing of needing to read his work more than once. But, why would I want to go back if it was often unenjoyable?
Stream of Consciousness is, in a way, supposed to leave you dumbfounded. But here, there are 15 narrators with no specific order— and each of them has their own narrative voice. I can appreciate Faulkner’s ambitions, but the second he started adding neighbors and townspeople, I became less invested in the narrative.
Due to his ambitions, certain levels of plot got lost on me. You start with a back and forth between Darl and Cora, which I loved. Darl remains present throughout, and Cora’s chapters just disappeared. Due to this structure, Faulkner is now focusing on people I care about less, while only offering some levels of consistency with Darl.
The denseness of the language isn’t overwhelming, but it breaches on levels of inaccessibility where I’m just like— bro, who is this for??

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