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A review by nikiforova
The Wild Palms by William Faulkner
3.0
I am conflicted about this one, hence 3 stars.
I picked it up because it was mentioned in Godard's film A bout de souffle, where a female character quotes the famous lines: “Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.”
These words are from "Wild Palms", which makes a half of the novel. It tells a story of two lovers who gave up everything to be together. Although the premise given in the first chapter was quite intriguing, I really didn't care much for this story.
What I did love was how Faulkner describes the character vs. nature conflict. The freezing Utah mountains, wild palms shaken by the tail of the hurricane, smell of the sea. And of course the great Mississipi river flood of 1927 described in the second novel of the book "Old Man". It is beautifully-written (I did have to use dictionary a lot though!). Definitely going to re-read.
I picked it up because it was mentioned in Godard's film A bout de souffle, where a female character quotes the famous lines: “Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.”
These words are from "Wild Palms", which makes a half of the novel. It tells a story of two lovers who gave up everything to be together. Although the premise given in the first chapter was quite intriguing, I really didn't care much for this story.
What I did love was how Faulkner describes the character vs. nature conflict. The freezing Utah mountains, wild palms shaken by the tail of the hurricane, smell of the sea. And of course the great Mississipi river flood of 1927 described in the second novel of the book "Old Man". It is beautifully-written (I did have to use dictionary a lot though!). Definitely going to re-read.