A review by brianlokker
A Fable by William Faulkner
2.0
Although William Faulkner was one of my favorite writers in college and graduate school, I haven’t read any of his books since then. Until now. According to a note I made inside the cover, I bought my hardcover copy of this book in March 1970 (for 80 cents!), which means it sat unread on my bookshelf for more than 50 years. I decided several months ago to try to read all the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, so I finally pulled A Fable off the shelf.
I’m not going to attempt a long or detailed review. I feel that I put in enough work just to get through it. I still believe that Faulkner was a brilliant writer, but in this case, I’m afraid that, for me at least, his complex and baroque writing style got in the way of the story. Some sections of the book are great, mostly the few in which the narrative is relatively straightforward. But more often the convoluted sentences unfortunately and unnecessarily obscure the story.
Faulkner’s genius certainly could have enabled him to produce a powerful antiwar book. But despite what I’m sure were his best intentions, A Fable is not that book.
I’m not going to attempt a long or detailed review. I feel that I put in enough work just to get through it. I still believe that Faulkner was a brilliant writer, but in this case, I’m afraid that, for me at least, his complex and baroque writing style got in the way of the story. Some sections of the book are great, mostly the few in which the narrative is relatively straightforward. But more often the convoluted sentences unfortunately and unnecessarily obscure the story.
Faulkner’s genius certainly could have enabled him to produce a powerful antiwar book. But despite what I’m sure were his best intentions, A Fable is not that book.