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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
This is a difficult book. I do not think that is debatable. If I wrote something like this in 8th grade, I would have gotten a C or D in English class. Long run-on sentences. Tangents on tangents upon tangents all with misplaced pronouns or un-referenced subjects. I spent 3 hours just in the first 20 pages. Eventually, I understood what was going on and was able to grunt (most of) my way through the material. By the time I got going, the narrative changes to another viewpoint / suite of characters. The same story from a different point of view. And it is not that interesting a story and not a likeable character... in fact, he is little more than human trash.
They (the infamous 'they') say that the novel is worth the effort and really well written. After I gave it up, I tried to find out what makes this book so "good" (using that term loosely). I found that there is not an "a-ha" moment, a sudden reveal, a heart-warming story, a deep philosophic understanding of the human being... it's just the story of a mean asshole. They say these verbal gyrations are to mirror the long-winded Southern soliloquy of the era. Alas, I am sure if someone were to speak like this (and I very much doubt it that anybody, EVER, spoke like this), they would begin with a giant intake of breath and speaking very rapidly and ending in a high-pitched wheeze and with red-face, gasp to gather the wind for the next (ahem) "sentence".
Faulkner is a literary genius... but not the nice kind of genius like Einstein.... but the kind that makes you go through painful mental exercises down a long-winding path ultimately leading to nowhere... to shed a hazy, ill-lit spotlight not on a magnificent creature or idea, not even to shine on a gold-encrusted turd, but just some corn-filled cow-dung pile. I imagine Faulkner sitting back on his smug-ass and laughing uncontrollably with tears while we read this.
I did not finish. I read about 2/3 of the book and chalked it up to the "do not care" and "better things to do with my time" category. English is a language. Language is used to communicate, whether spoken or written. Anybody that cannot CLEARLY communicate has not mastered the language. For this, the book fails. Sure, I understood the book. Yes, it took effort. I do not mind effort, but to what end? to "enjoy" a corn-filled cow-dung pile? Not worth my time.
They (the infamous 'they') say that the novel is worth the effort and really well written. After I gave it up, I tried to find out what makes this book so "good" (using that term loosely). I found that there is not an "a-ha" moment, a sudden reveal, a heart-warming story, a deep philosophic understanding of the human being... it's just the story of a mean asshole. They say these verbal gyrations are to mirror the long-winded Southern soliloquy of the era. Alas, I am sure if someone were to speak like this (and I very much doubt it that anybody, EVER, spoke like this), they would begin with a giant intake of breath and speaking very rapidly and ending in a high-pitched wheeze and with red-face, gasp to gather the wind for the next (ahem) "sentence".
Faulkner is a literary genius... but not the nice kind of genius like Einstein.... but the kind that makes you go through painful mental exercises down a long-winding path ultimately leading to nowhere... to shed a hazy, ill-lit spotlight not on a magnificent creature or idea, not even to shine on a gold-encrusted turd, but just some corn-filled cow-dung pile. I imagine Faulkner sitting back on his smug-ass and laughing uncontrollably with tears while we read this.
I did not finish. I read about 2/3 of the book and chalked it up to the "do not care" and "better things to do with my time" category. English is a language. Language is used to communicate, whether spoken or written. Anybody that cannot CLEARLY communicate has not mastered the language. For this, the book fails. Sure, I understood the book. Yes, it took effort. I do not mind effort, but to what end? to "enjoy" a corn-filled cow-dung pile? Not worth my time.
Probably the closest contender to Great American Novel after Moby-Dick and Great Gatsby. My goodness, what a book.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Yeah this is ... this is Absalom Absalom. Get ready to struggle through reading this novel !
I can see why this is a literary classic; there's a lot of interesting themes, social and political commentary, and the actual prose is some of the most unique, original prose I've read so far. This book sounds amazing on paper, but goddamn was it difficult to read. The actual feeling of reading this was mostly confusion and stress, which just isn't my idea of a nice reading experience.
Overall, I definitely think there are reasons to read (and study !) this book, but I definitely didn't enjoy doing it <3
I can see why this is a literary classic; there's a lot of interesting themes, social and political commentary, and the actual prose is some of the most unique, original prose I've read so far. This book sounds amazing on paper, but goddamn was it difficult to read. The actual feeling of reading this was mostly confusion and stress, which just isn't my idea of a nice reading experience.
Overall, I definitely think there are reasons to read (and study !) this book, but I definitely didn't enjoy doing it <3
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
I’ve been reading Absalom, Absalom by Faulkner for approximately an eternity. The book is good, one of the best works of his that I’ve read so far, but I’ve just been too busy to make much headway. This reminds me much more of The Unvanquished (one of my favorite Faulkner books) and less of The Sound and the Fury or Go Down, Moses (both of which I disliked, partly due to their seemingly intentional obfuscation). Rampant overuse of the word “repudiate” aside (seriously—it’s Faulkner’s favorite word), I can see the value to this one, and the story line, while still a little confusing, is fairly coherent and easy to follow by comparison.
I finally finished up Absalom, Absalom after a short forever. Despite my exceedingly leisurely reading pace, in the end I have to confess that I actually really enjoyed the book. Faulkner did a masterful job of revealing information gradually, and each new revelation was an eye-widening, this-changes-everything realization, conveyed in a matter of fact tone that makes the reader question whether she interpreted the earth-shattering sentence correctly. Every time I thought I understood what was happening, there turned out to be another layer of the story yet to discover. Well done. Word of warning, though: my edition had a timeline at the end of the book that gave away everything in the dullest and most prosaic way possible. I glanced at the last page of the text to see how many pages I had left to go and accidentally saw a spoiler I wish I hadn't encountered at that stage. Don't look at the end!
I finally finished up Absalom, Absalom after a short forever. Despite my exceedingly leisurely reading pace, in the end I have to confess that I actually really enjoyed the book. Faulkner did a masterful job of revealing information gradually, and each new revelation was an eye-widening, this-changes-everything realization, conveyed in a matter of fact tone that makes the reader question whether she interpreted the earth-shattering sentence correctly. Every time I thought I understood what was happening, there turned out to be another layer of the story yet to discover. Well done. Word of warning, though: my edition had a timeline at the end of the book that gave away everything in the dullest and most prosaic way possible. I glanced at the last page of the text to see how many pages I had left to go and accidentally saw a spoiler I wish I hadn't encountered at that stage. Don't look at the end!
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11455416
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11455416
Absalom, Absalom!
By William Faulkner
Rating 4/5
Find my review here
http://sravikabodapati.blogspot.com/2021/12/absalom-absalom-by-william-faulkner.html
By William Faulkner
Rating 4/5
Find my review here
http://sravikabodapati.blogspot.com/2021/12/absalom-absalom-by-william-faulkner.html