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adrianasturalvarez's review against another edition
3.0
As a disconnected and individual book, this one wasn't very good. However, in the context of Faulkner's artistic development (particularly juxtaposed with Soldiers' Pay), Mosquitoes is a very interesting read. Here, the young writer maintained his social interest in the characters inhabiting his world but compounded them with a much more elaborate and ambitious intellectual project. At times, sure, this came off as overly engineered and trying to hard, but the fact that he was even interested in aping European modernists gave him a structural framework to hang his characters on that exceeds most novelists' sophomore effort. It shows his artistic interests, though his language is still a little vague and full of self-created idioms, which are endlessly repeated. Okay, we get it, Talliaferro is "diffident," Mark Frost has "a prehensile mouth," no need to tell us over and over. There is frequently "a rumor of moonlight" and "a shock of hair."
These are easy violations to forgive in hindsight. We know this young author will become the Faulkner of Absalom, Absalom! and As I Lay Dying so watching him ease into more disciplined prose is actually a delight. A bit like watching Mozart play around with scales, if ever a thing were possible. Not only that but there are worthwhile themes and stylistic experiments in this novel that have the ability to shock and move the reader. It may pale in comparison to his later works but it is still a pretty good read.
Reading an author's work from beginning to end provides insight into the way he develops his ideas and style. In my humble opinion there is no better way to approach an artist. For that I completely recommend Mosquitoes to anyone interested in approaching Faulkner's oeuvre.
These are easy violations to forgive in hindsight. We know this young author will become the Faulkner of Absalom, Absalom! and As I Lay Dying so watching him ease into more disciplined prose is actually a delight. A bit like watching Mozart play around with scales, if ever a thing were possible. Not only that but there are worthwhile themes and stylistic experiments in this novel that have the ability to shock and move the reader. It may pale in comparison to his later works but it is still a pretty good read.
Reading an author's work from beginning to end provides insight into the way he develops his ideas and style. In my humble opinion there is no better way to approach an artist. For that I completely recommend Mosquitoes to anyone interested in approaching Faulkner's oeuvre.
annsantori's review against another edition
3.0
This novel has so much . . . potential. There are beautiful images abounding, and fascinating insights into artistic philosophy. That being said, without much of a plot to hold it together and with a fair dash of prose experiments on Faulkner's part, Mosquitoes is a supremely difficult read. It's almost as if the reader is alternately drowning and then coming up for air each time Faulkner offers a reprieve in the form of one of his more skillful passages (the foray into New Orleans' swamps is replete with gorgeous imagery). My best recommendation would be a purchase of the book and a re-read (and another, and another) in between your other 'to-reads' . . . it seems that this method would net a better appreciation of this early Faulkner.
faulkneribarelyknowher's review against another edition
3.0
love faulkner’s style
they dont say “mosquitoes” once….but there are lots of them
they dont say “mosquitoes” once….but there are lots of them
murakamiangel's review against another edition
3.0
people talking about art and Art and love and kinda just sexualizing each other and stuff
satirical writing so its not just the adventures of talliaferro the incel. but it did feel weird at times reading. you can only see someone describe a young lady as androgynously attractive so many times before it feels pedophilic and creepy
i liked the format of pre trip, mid trip logs, and epilogue to help focus on all of the different characters.
satirical writing so its not just the adventures of talliaferro the incel. but it did feel weird at times reading. you can only see someone describe a young lady as androgynously attractive so many times before it feels pedophilic and creepy
i liked the format of pre trip, mid trip logs, and epilogue to help focus on all of the different characters.
bowman's review against another edition
2.0
I can't really say that I usually enjoy Faulkner's work, but it always fascinates me to the point of acknowledging that reading it has been worth it. I'm not quite sure Mosquitoes has been worth it. There were plenty of moments of Faulkner's quintessential delightful searing hatred, but I can't say this is among my favorites of his. Talliaferro was by far my favorite part--perhaps because he's some weird caricature of a proto-pickup-artist: horribly inept, self-pitying and an utter failure at seducing women (in fact, I seem to remember him saying something about how it's easy to seduce women on a boat, you know, because of the implication). I liked Faulkner's cameo as an NPC and I'm always a fan of the stultifera navis theme, and trapped-in-a-room bottle-episode stories because hell is other people, but this wasn't quite hellish enough to make it onto my favorites list.
bearofsand's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Definitely not one of Faulkner's finer novels but still a lot better than most books you'll find out there. Mosquitoes takes us into the world of 1920's New Orleans when at the time it was a southern cultural mecca of the arts. This book is filled with satirical views of the personages found in the city during that time in Faulkner's life. These "artists" fill the air of the city with useless talk like mosquitoes on a lake.
Some of the philosophical conversations we read about on the boat are a bit too long and some of the subplots and character developments never feel fully flushed-out. Not a terrible book but if you're looking to read some Faulkner, I'd look elsewhere first.
Some of the philosophical conversations we read about on the boat are a bit too long and some of the subplots and character developments never feel fully flushed-out. Not a terrible book but if you're looking to read some Faulkner, I'd look elsewhere first.
moosegurl's review against another edition
"He had been the final result of some rather casual biological research conducted by two people who, like the great majority, had no business producing children at all."
" 'You'd be astonished to learn how much time can be saved by cutting off a minute here and a minute there,' he informed them. 'And-'
'I beg your pardon?'
'What do you do with them?' Fairchild asked.
'When you've cut off enough minutes here and there to make up a sizable mess, what do you do with them?' "
" 'What kind of jar will you put 'em in?' asked the nephew, his mind taking fire.
'Some tweaky sort of thing that all Americans will buy-'
'The American flag and a couple of doves holding dollar marks in their bills, and a handle that when you pull it out, it's a corkscrew,' suggested Fairchild."
"art is just a valid camouflage for rutting"
"I guess there is at time in the life of every young American of the class that wants to go to college or accepts the inevitability of education, when he wants to go to Yale or Harvard. Maybe that's the value of Yale and Harvard to our American life: a kind of illusion of an intellectual nirvana that makes the ones that can't go there work like hell where they do go, so as not to show up so poorly alongside of the ones that can go there."
" 'Only they can't advertise art by means of women's legs yet,' Mark Frost interrupted.
'Don't be silly, Mark,' Mrs. Wiseman said sharply. 'That's exactly how art came to the attention of the ninety-nine who don't produce it and so have any possible reason for buying it-postcards and lithographs barely esoteric enough to escape police persecution. Ask any man on the street what he understands by the word art: he'll tell you it means a picture.' "
"In Europe, being an artist is a form of behavior; in America, it's an excuse for a form of behavior."
"Virginity don't make any difference as far as the body's concerned. Young people running away together in a flurry of secrecy and caution and desire, and getting there to find ... Of course the girls would be persuaded, after they'd come that far, wouldn't they? You know-strange surroundings, a strange room like an island in an uncharted sea full of monsters like landlords and strangers and such; the sheer business of getting their bodies from place to place and feeding 'em and caring for 'em; and your young man thwarted and lustful and probably fearful that you'd change your mind and back out altogether, and a strange room all secret and locked and far away from familiar things and you young and soft and nice to look at and knowing it too... Of course they'd be persuaded."
"she kept waiting for that first taste of crying that comes into your throat before you really get started-that feeling that there are two little salty canals just under your ears when you feel sorry for yourself, and that other kind of feeling you have at the base of your nose."
"you don't commit suicide when you are disappointed in love. You write a book."
"young people are far more tolerant of the inexplicable and dangerous vagaries of their elders than the elders ever were or ever will be of the natural and harmless foibles of their children..."
" 'You'd be astonished to learn how much time can be saved by cutting off a minute here and a minute there,' he informed them. 'And-'
'I beg your pardon?'
'What do you do with them?' Fairchild asked.
'When you've cut off enough minutes here and there to make up a sizable mess, what do you do with them?' "
" 'What kind of jar will you put 'em in?' asked the nephew, his mind taking fire.
'Some tweaky sort of thing that all Americans will buy-'
'The American flag and a couple of doves holding dollar marks in their bills, and a handle that when you pull it out, it's a corkscrew,' suggested Fairchild."
"art is just a valid camouflage for rutting"
"I guess there is at time in the life of every young American of the class that wants to go to college or accepts the inevitability of education, when he wants to go to Yale or Harvard. Maybe that's the value of Yale and Harvard to our American life: a kind of illusion of an intellectual nirvana that makes the ones that can't go there work like hell where they do go, so as not to show up so poorly alongside of the ones that can go there."
" 'Only they can't advertise art by means of women's legs yet,' Mark Frost interrupted.
'Don't be silly, Mark,' Mrs. Wiseman said sharply. 'That's exactly how art came to the attention of the ninety-nine who don't produce it and so have any possible reason for buying it-postcards and lithographs barely esoteric enough to escape police persecution. Ask any man on the street what he understands by the word art: he'll tell you it means a picture.' "
"In Europe, being an artist is a form of behavior; in America, it's an excuse for a form of behavior."
"Virginity don't make any difference as far as the body's concerned. Young people running away together in a flurry of secrecy and caution and desire, and getting there to find ... Of course the girls would be persuaded, after they'd come that far, wouldn't they? You know-strange surroundings, a strange room like an island in an uncharted sea full of monsters like landlords and strangers and such; the sheer business of getting their bodies from place to place and feeding 'em and caring for 'em; and your young man thwarted and lustful and probably fearful that you'd change your mind and back out altogether, and a strange room all secret and locked and far away from familiar things and you young and soft and nice to look at and knowing it too... Of course they'd be persuaded."
"she kept waiting for that first taste of crying that comes into your throat before you really get started-that feeling that there are two little salty canals just under your ears when you feel sorry for yourself, and that other kind of feeling you have at the base of your nose."
"you don't commit suicide when you are disappointed in love. You write a book."
"young people are far more tolerant of the inexplicable and dangerous vagaries of their elders than the elders ever were or ever will be of the natural and harmless foibles of their children..."
expendablemudge's review against another edition
Rating: 3* of five
I was underwhelmed by Faulkner's second novel. Not that it's a *bad* book, it's just...well, I can't say it better than this:
"Joyce's masterwork ULYSSES (which I don't much like) "inspired" Uncle Bill to put in a lot of sex-talk, including *gasp* explicitly lesbian desires!! Maud Martha, bring the sal volatile and loosen my stays, the wimminfolk are runnin' amok!"
See the whole sorry mess at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.
I was underwhelmed by Faulkner's second novel. Not that it's a *bad* book, it's just...well, I can't say it better than this:
"Joyce's masterwork ULYSSES (which I don't much like) "inspired" Uncle Bill to put in a lot of sex-talk, including *gasp* explicitly lesbian desires!! Maud Martha, bring the sal volatile and loosen my stays, the wimminfolk are runnin' amok!"
See the whole sorry mess at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.
jamiereadthis's review against another edition
This felt very odd. Faulkner doing Jazz Age stuff? The tone seemed off and the first chapters were a bore. I’m sending this back to the library for now.
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