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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Si le doy 2 estrellas es por las partes de Vardaman, que son lo mejor. No le doy 1 porque a veces me han tenido entretenida las pocas escenas que podía comprender bien.
Entiendo el objetivo del libro, pero el desarrollo, los diálogos…No, simplemente no es para mi. Me gusta conocer a los personajes, sus pensamientos, pero estos saltos y balbuceos no terminan de cuadrar. Quizá en unos años me guste más, pero de momento así se queda.
Entiendo el objetivo del libro, pero el desarrollo, los diálogos…No, simplemente no es para mi. Me gusta conocer a los personajes, sus pensamientos, pero estos saltos y balbuceos no terminan de cuadrar. Quizá en unos años me guste más, pero de momento así se queda.
I respect Faulkner, but I can't say I love him. Still, this book was something. What that something was, I'm still figuring out.
The novel tells the story of the Bundren family in their quest to bury their recently deceased (well, she's alive but on her death bed when the story opens) mother, Addie. And if you thought your family was dysfunctional, you haven't read enough Faulkner yet. Think turn of the century white trash and you're getting close. The Bundrens are a muddled mass of secrets, lies, confusions, poor choices, selfishness, insanity, and grief. Each chapter is told by a different narrator, and so the story is told in tilted chunks, leaving the reader to piece together the objective truth.
There are moments of comedy, and moments of tragedy, and plenty of moments of terribleness. And in the end, I'm not sure who is the heart of the novel. Not Addie, though her death is the central focus of the plot (or at least the inciting incident). Not Anse, who is too mule-headed and self-centered to make good choices for his family. Not Dewey Dell, too much caught up in her own life. Not Vardaman, too young to make much sense of the world. That leaves the three older boys, all of whom are scarred in various ways by their family, mentally, physically, emotionally.
I have to admith, though, at times I feel like I have to fight more than I want to in order to understand what's happening. Faulkner is so good at taking you inside the mind that sometimes you're not even sure what exactly the character is actually thinking about. The book grew on me as I read, and it's certainly less daunting than The Sound and the Fury , but I still can't claim to be a major Faulknerian. To respect and appreciate is one thing. To enjoy is something else.
The novel tells the story of the Bundren family in their quest to bury their recently deceased (well, she's alive but on her death bed when the story opens) mother, Addie. And if you thought your family was dysfunctional, you haven't read enough Faulkner yet. Think turn of the century white trash and you're getting close. The Bundrens are a muddled mass of secrets, lies, confusions, poor choices, selfishness, insanity, and grief. Each chapter is told by a different narrator, and so the story is told in tilted chunks, leaving the reader to piece together the objective truth.
There are moments of comedy, and moments of tragedy, and plenty of moments of terribleness. And in the end, I'm not sure who is the heart of the novel. Not Addie, though her death is the central focus of the plot (or at least the inciting incident). Not Anse, who is too mule-headed and self-centered to make good choices for his family. Not Dewey Dell, too much caught up in her own life. Not Vardaman, too young to make much sense of the world. That leaves the three older boys, all of whom are scarred in various ways by their family, mentally, physically, emotionally.
I have to admith, though, at times I feel like I have to fight more than I want to in order to understand what's happening. Faulkner is so good at taking you inside the mind that sometimes you're not even sure what exactly the character is actually thinking about. The book grew on me as I read, and it's certainly less daunting than The Sound and the Fury , but I still can't claim to be a major Faulknerian. To respect and appreciate is one thing. To enjoy is something else.
Having family is just the most heartbreaking thing you ever experience huh
Wow. This book really shows a complete mastery of the English language. It was one of the best books I've read.
challenging
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Well, after numerous tries with a couple of different Faulkner novels, I finally got through one, though barely. I know Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for literature and that this novel is regularly considered one of the best of the 20th century, but I just don't for the life of me understand why. It's a simple story at heart, an incredibly poor and rural dysfunctional family heading off to bury their matriarch. It's unique in that each chapter is told from the perspective of a different narrator and there are probably 15 or so narrators throughout the book, some repeated, some not. It's a tough read for a number of reasons, the narrators, keeping characters and perspective straight, and being written in a rough southern drawl that is spoken a bit differently depending on the character and their age. Now that I've had a few days to take a step back and consider it thoroughly, I see slight glimpses of why it's considered a masterpiece, but not nearly enough to justify it's lofty perch in the annals of literature. I think this is one people go crazy trying to find more an more layers within that just aren't there. My advice would be if you're looking for a good book about the south during roughly this time period, go read Huck Finn, it's better in almost every way.
So this is a victim of COVID pandemic brain. Reading for book club and had a really hard time focusing. I am looking forward to hearing what others think to see what I actually remember from this though!
(I remember LOVING this book in high school but as an adult I kept losing the thread so I guess stream of consciousness is not my speed right now.)
(I remember LOVING this book in high school but as an adult I kept losing the thread so I guess stream of consciousness is not my speed right now.)
Before reading the last 50 pages or so, I would have given this 2 stars.
I don't really remember much of this book. It has multiple narrators and the only one that sticks out to me is Dewey Dell. Her story line was, to me, easiest to follow due mostly to her simple-mindedness. On her family's trek to bury her mother in another town, she goes to get an abortion (as paid for by the father, what a sweetheart) but instead of finding the pharmacist, she just comes across the store clerk who pretends to be the pharmacist. He gives her a fake remedy and then rapes her, saying that these combined "treatments" should take care of her problem nicely. It's another book that is hard to read disinterestedly from a female perspective because this story line is part of a greater story about a family burying the mother who never really cared much about them and who resented her husband for putting her in this position.