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A review by millennial_dandy
The Sound and The Fury / As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
3.0
AS I Lay Dying--2.5 stars
As I Lay Dying is a strange book for me to write about. Something in its essence seemed to hide just around the corners of the pages, just out of my grasp. I got the impression that had I been raised in the South the meaning that eluded me would have shined through. Something behind the attitude of the people towards each other, their sensibilities, the interactions between characters seemed to go over my head even as I struggled to comprehend what I could sense of its significance.
I got the distinct sense that this novel, whether intentionally or not, wasn't really written for me, but rather, as part of the 'our stories' canon. There is, naturally, no rule of authorship that every work of fiction should be aimed at the widest possible demographic, and having read it as an outsider I respect it, and respectfully didn't ~get it~.
That being said, the dry but nevertheless absurdist humor was not lost on me, and it's what I'll most fondly take away from this reading experience.
From 'my mother is a fish' to the mishaps on the 'if it can go wrong, it will go wrong' plot itself, to the little peculiarities of Anse with his stubborn determination to obey his wife's wishes to be buried in her hometown, Darl and his eventual pyromania, the big reveal from Addie herself. Some of the little flourishes within the characterizations were quite delightful.
However, though there may indeed be elements I cannot judge as good or bad, some of the technical aspects left a bit to be desired. The pacing of the front half of As I Lay Dying is painfully slow--I indeed felt as though by the time I got through it would be as I lay dying.
Regarding the writing itself: Faulkner is clearly a master of words, and capable of writing stunning passages, but because the conceit of this novel hinged on his ability to write each section in-character, some of that beautiful language took me out of the story. Suddenly I wasn't reading Darl's account of something happening, but rather, I was reading Faulkner describe something.
Overall, I'm glad I read this novel, and in fact I've turned around to read The Sound and the Fury to give Faulkner a fair blow since I did enjoy his writing, just not the way that it interrupted his storytelling.
The Sound and the Fury--3.5 starsMy initial reading experience of The Sound and the Fury was greatly colored by having just read As I Lay Dying.
Here, Faulkner seems to be exploring many of the same preoccupations: the decay of family/The South. Here, though, unlike As I Lay Dying, I felt like I ~got~ it. Perhaps it was the more direct interplay of the characters with people outside of their family/class/race, but something about this made much more sense out of As I Lay Dying.
This formerly very aristocratic family attempting and failing to reconcile the decline of The South, the way certain ideologies and attitudes don't seem able to survive in the 'new' South, the place of Black folks in the 'new' South. These things all really shine through in The Sound and the Fury. So too does the micro-level family drama centered around Caddy.
Plot-wise I thought this was a nice exploration of the American, Southern family at the time, and some of the scenes, particularly in Quentin's POV section, are stunningly beautiful pieces of writing that had me racing to find my quote notebook and a pen. Faulkner's little quips and insights through the mouthpiece of the family patriarch are also worth noting:
"It used to be a gentleman was known by his books; nowadays he is known by the ones he has not returned."
"Father said clocks slay time. He said time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."
Jason's (and to some extent Quentin's too) section brings in more of the humor we got in As I Lay Dying, this time largely tied to his mad hunt for Miss Quentin:
"So when I looked around the door the first thing I saw was this red tie he had on and I was thinking what the hell kind of a man would wear a red tie."
"And there I was, without any hat, looking like I was crazy."
We also get this great follow-up scene wherein he goes blundering into the woods after her and sets his hand on some poison ivy. Without even bothering to remove his hand, he thinks to himself that at least it wasn't a snake.
I had a really great time reading those middle two sections, but alas, those they were book-ended by left much to be desired, and are what brings my overall rating of the book to 3.5
Given the experimental nature of a stream of consciousness novel, particularly at this time, it comes as no surprise that it's divisive. I fall on the end of the spectrum that didn't derive much pleasure from the opening section led by our POV character, Benji.
Getting through those first 100 pages felt like a challenge, rather than something I looked forward to. I had the benefit of this edition placing the Appendix at the beginning rather than the ending for which I'm incredibly grateful, however, reading through Benji's eyes was a slog. I can see why there are those that admire the ambition, but I felt it was just unbearably difficult to follow, even with the help of the appendix so that I at least knew going in there were two characters name Quentin from two different generations.
Upon reflection, something that made the journey not seem worth it was the writing itself, focused largely on relaying dialogue to help the reader puzzle-piece the narrative together. Ironically, the thing that made this section ultimately more frustrating was the for all that the structure of it was very true to stream of consciousness, it was utterly lacking in voice. I had no real sense of Benji's personality or motivations by the end of this. Strange, considering how fleshed out and real everyone else feels. The ending too, felt a bit lackluster and emotionless.
Everything else in The Sound and the Fury feels incredibly, meticulously intentional, so I've no doubt Faulkner put a lot of thought into the aforementioned two sections, they just didn't work for me.
That being said: I'm glad I read both of these novels, particularly The Sound and the Fury, and Quentin, bless him, is a character I'd certainly light a candle for.
As I Lay Dying is a strange book for me to write about. Something in its essence seemed to hide just around the corners of the pages, just out of my grasp. I got the impression that had I been raised in the South the meaning that eluded me would have shined through. Something behind the attitude of the people towards each other, their sensibilities, the interactions between characters seemed to go over my head even as I struggled to comprehend what I could sense of its significance.
I got the distinct sense that this novel, whether intentionally or not, wasn't really written for me, but rather, as part of the 'our stories' canon. There is, naturally, no rule of authorship that every work of fiction should be aimed at the widest possible demographic, and having read it as an outsider I respect it, and respectfully didn't ~get it~.
That being said, the dry but nevertheless absurdist humor was not lost on me, and it's what I'll most fondly take away from this reading experience.
From 'my mother is a fish' to the mishaps on the 'if it can go wrong, it will go wrong' plot itself, to the little peculiarities of Anse with his stubborn determination to obey his wife's wishes to be buried in her hometown, Darl and his eventual pyromania, the big reveal from Addie herself. Some of the little flourishes within the characterizations were quite delightful.
However, though there may indeed be elements I cannot judge as good or bad, some of the technical aspects left a bit to be desired. The pacing of the front half of As I Lay Dying is painfully slow--I indeed felt as though by the time I got through it would be as I lay dying.
Regarding the writing itself: Faulkner is clearly a master of words, and capable of writing stunning passages, but because the conceit of this novel hinged on his ability to write each section in-character, some of that beautiful language took me out of the story. Suddenly I wasn't reading Darl's account of something happening, but rather, I was reading Faulkner describe something.
Overall, I'm glad I read this novel, and in fact I've turned around to read The Sound and the Fury to give Faulkner a fair blow since I did enjoy his writing, just not the way that it interrupted his storytelling.
The Sound and the Fury--3.5 starsMy initial reading experience of The Sound and the Fury was greatly colored by having just read As I Lay Dying.
Here, Faulkner seems to be exploring many of the same preoccupations: the decay of family/The South. Here, though, unlike As I Lay Dying, I felt like I ~got~ it. Perhaps it was the more direct interplay of the characters with people outside of their family/class/race, but something about this made much more sense out of As I Lay Dying.
This formerly very aristocratic family attempting and failing to reconcile the decline of The South, the way certain ideologies and attitudes don't seem able to survive in the 'new' South, the place of Black folks in the 'new' South. These things all really shine through in The Sound and the Fury. So too does the micro-level family drama centered around Caddy.
Plot-wise I thought this was a nice exploration of the American, Southern family at the time, and some of the scenes, particularly in Quentin's POV section, are stunningly beautiful pieces of writing that had me racing to find my quote notebook and a pen. Faulkner's little quips and insights through the mouthpiece of the family patriarch are also worth noting:
"It used to be a gentleman was known by his books; nowadays he is known by the ones he has not returned."
"Father said clocks slay time. He said time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."
Jason's (and to some extent Quentin's too) section brings in more of the humor we got in As I Lay Dying, this time largely tied to his mad hunt for Miss Quentin:
"So when I looked around the door the first thing I saw was this red tie he had on and I was thinking what the hell kind of a man would wear a red tie."
"And there I was, without any hat, looking like I was crazy."
We also get this great follow-up scene wherein he goes blundering into the woods after her and sets his hand on some poison ivy. Without even bothering to remove his hand, he thinks to himself that at least it wasn't a snake.
I had a really great time reading those middle two sections, but alas, those they were book-ended by left much to be desired, and are what brings my overall rating of the book to 3.5
Given the experimental nature of a stream of consciousness novel, particularly at this time, it comes as no surprise that it's divisive. I fall on the end of the spectrum that didn't derive much pleasure from the opening section led by our POV character, Benji.
Getting through those first 100 pages felt like a challenge, rather than something I looked forward to. I had the benefit of this edition placing the Appendix at the beginning rather than the ending for which I'm incredibly grateful, however, reading through Benji's eyes was a slog. I can see why there are those that admire the ambition, but I felt it was just unbearably difficult to follow, even with the help of the appendix so that I at least knew going in there were two characters name Quentin from two different generations.
Upon reflection, something that made the journey not seem worth it was the writing itself, focused largely on relaying dialogue to help the reader puzzle-piece the narrative together. Ironically, the thing that made this section ultimately more frustrating was the for all that the structure of it was very true to stream of consciousness, it was utterly lacking in voice. I had no real sense of Benji's personality or motivations by the end of this. Strange, considering how fleshed out and real everyone else feels. The ending too, felt a bit lackluster and emotionless.
Everything else in The Sound and the Fury feels incredibly, meticulously intentional, so I've no doubt Faulkner put a lot of thought into the aforementioned two sections, they just didn't work for me.
That being said: I'm glad I read both of these novels, particularly The Sound and the Fury, and Quentin, bless him, is a character I'd certainly light a candle for.