I really enjoyed *The Sound and The Fury*, and thought that this sounds like an even better sophistication of the style Faulkner started in *The Sound and The Fury*. But man, this was a tough read.

There are definitely good parts of this book - Faulkner can make any sentence sprout like a beautiful tree, parts of the plot were compelling, structure is very novel, etc. But there's also plenty of downsides. Personally I found the vague stream-of-consciousness more annoying and hard to follow. Similarly, the pointlessness and brutality of life that was so cogently integrated in *The Sound and The Fury* was just slopped on the plot at every turn of the page in this book. Eventually, I was convinced - this book was pointless and brutal.