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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ve wanted to try to read Faulkner for quite some time, and I finally took the plunge. I was struggling to comprehend what was going on at first, and ended up using Cliffs Notes to help me, but by halfway through, I was able to grasp everything, and only used them to make sure we were on the same page (no pun intended). What started as a struggle turned out to be an excellent experience. I really enjoyed the book. I’ll probably re-read it again soon.
challenging
sad
slow-paced
I found this book so confusing. I actually had to look up the characters on Wikipedia to figure out how they were all related!! But some beautiful writing.
I don't think he did such a good job with the colloquial dialect. Cormac McCarthy does a much better job, but that is my subjective opinion. The story was great. The matriarch of the family dies and the husband oversees her wishes to be buried among her own kin, which requires a long ride. I kept thinking this entire family had a screw loose, somewhere, because they couldn't do anything right. Lots of allusions going on here, to Greek mythology, to God and Christianity, to female sexuality. This stuff is heady. [return][return]I felt stupid at the end when I had to look on Wikipedia just to confirm that I thought I knew what happened. It was a little confusing so it helped to have the confirmation. Perhaps I'll try The Sound and the Fury, next.
Merged review:
I don't think he did such a good job with the colloquial dialect. Cormac McCarthy does a much better job, but that is my subjective opinion. The story was great. The matriarch of the family dies and the husband oversees her wishes to be buried among her own kin, which requires a long ride. I kept thinking this entire family had a screw loose, somewhere, because they couldn't do anything right. Lots of allusions going on here, to Greek mythology, to God and Christianity, to female sexuality. This stuff is heady. returnreturnI felt stupid at the end when I had to look on Wikipedia just to confirm that I thought I knew what happened. It was a little confusing so it helped to have the confirmation. Perhaps I'll try The Sound and the Fury, next.
Merged review:
I don't think he did such a good job with the colloquial dialect. Cormac McCarthy does a much better job, but that is my subjective opinion. The story was great. The matriarch of the family dies and the husband oversees her wishes to be buried among her own kin, which requires a long ride. I kept thinking this entire family had a screw loose, somewhere, because they couldn't do anything right. Lots of allusions going on here, to Greek mythology, to God and Christianity, to female sexuality. This stuff is heady. returnreturnI felt stupid at the end when I had to look on Wikipedia just to confirm that I thought I knew what happened. It was a little confusing so it helped to have the confirmation. Perhaps I'll try The Sound and the Fury, next.
I really anticipated enjoying this more. While I remember trying this one out in 8th grade and giving up midway through, I've seen some of my favorite writers described as Faulkneresque lately, and so I decided to give it another go.
There were definitely some passages that just blew me away... but for every perfectly crafted linguistic treasure, there seemed to be five or ten pages of nearly incomprehensible nonsense. That said, I appreciated it more than I did the first time I read it, and I imagine that if I read it again, I'd get even more out of it. I just can't justify the hours I'd have to spend. I'll undoubtedly try some Faulkner again in the future... but I think I'm done with this one.
There were definitely some passages that just blew me away... but for every perfectly crafted linguistic treasure, there seemed to be five or ten pages of nearly incomprehensible nonsense. That said, I appreciated it more than I did the first time I read it, and I imagine that if I read it again, I'd get even more out of it. I just can't justify the hours I'd have to spend. I'll undoubtedly try some Faulkner again in the future... but I think I'm done with this one.
