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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
i do not know if i can accurately rate this book yet, i will have to think about it for a bit.
I thought this was going to get three stars but then the last couple of hundred pages happened. Now wondering if all Faulkner's novels have the same riveting, awful inevitability about them, or if it's just this and Light in August.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Had physical headaches reading this.
Giving this book a rating doesn't seem right to me, at least not at the moment I'm typing this review. I quite enjoyed the actual content of this book (as much as one can like such a gruesome, exhausting tale), but I think I might like Absalom, Absalom! better if I were to reread it. The writing style is just so exhausting; mentally and physically. Don't be fooled by the shortness of the novel. It may seem easy to read but it actually reads like it is a 600 page book. I'd read ten or so pages before I wanted to call it quits and sleep. Perhaps if I weren't forced to read this in such a short time period I would have loved this book. But then again, I probably wouldn't have understood half the story. The writing is too verbose for me. I had such a hard time comprehending the story because apparently Faulkner didn't believe in punctuation, paragraph breaks, or short sentences. Anyhow, I'm sure in the future I would actually like this story a lot more because I could anticipate everything that's to come. But for now, I just can't be bothered with the story at all. That is why I have such a hard time rating this book; I know I like it in general but I just can't get over how exhausting this book is.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, War
Minor: Incest, Murder
“I was wrong. I admit it. I believed that there were things which still mattered just because they had mattered once. But I was wrong. Nothing matters but breath, breathing, to know and to be alive.” - William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
I wont' try to explain the plot of this book to you. I'd end up quoting the chronology, and that isn't enjoyable. I can tell you a few things with no deceit. I fought with this book. I fought to understand what was happening, to catch the flow of the writing, to remember who was speaking for the first half of the book. I marveled at the virtuoso writing. That every sentence is grammatically correct is astounding. I will gladly hail Faulkner as the King of Southern Gothic.
I expect many who finish this book will praise it for its technical ability, as they should. This is the most Faulkner-ish Faulkner I've read yet, but I don't think that it is his most enjoyable. Now that I'm finished with it, I'll digest it and think about the themes, the characters, the convoluted plotline, and the savior of the book - Shreve. The story is told out of order with pieces added in by different perspectives, not to mention the chapters of supposition and conjectures in an attempt to help fill the gaps in the narrative.
This is Faulkner's novel about the Death of the Old South, and I don't know what to make of that yet. I will remember the Coldfields and the Sutpens, that's for certain.
I'll cop to having to use Shmoop for chapter recaps/summaries to help me out, I'm not above it. I don't think I'm brave enough to revisit this one for a long time yet. I may though.
I wont' try to explain the plot of this book to you. I'd end up quoting the chronology, and that isn't enjoyable. I can tell you a few things with no deceit. I fought with this book. I fought to understand what was happening, to catch the flow of the writing, to remember who was speaking for the first half of the book. I marveled at the virtuoso writing. That every sentence is grammatically correct is astounding. I will gladly hail Faulkner as the King of Southern Gothic.
I expect many who finish this book will praise it for its technical ability, as they should. This is the most Faulkner-ish Faulkner I've read yet, but I don't think that it is his most enjoyable. Now that I'm finished with it, I'll digest it and think about the themes, the characters, the convoluted plotline, and the savior of the book - Shreve. The story is told out of order with pieces added in by different perspectives, not to mention the chapters of supposition and conjectures in an attempt to help fill the gaps in the narrative.
This is Faulkner's novel about the Death of the Old South, and I don't know what to make of that yet. I will remember the Coldfields and the Sutpens, that's for certain.
I'll cop to having to use Shmoop for chapter recaps/summaries to help me out, I'm not above it. I don't think I'm brave enough to revisit this one for a long time yet. I may though.
Absalom, Absalom is Southern Gothic writing at its best and Faulkner is as good a representative of that school of writing that you can find. This is my third time through this book but this time I chose to listen to it instead of read it. Grover Gardner is the narrator of this Audible book edition and he does an excellent job, his voice is captivating and it took me into the deepest bowels of the ante-bellum south and post-civil war south. His tones, the southern accent, the various inflections, all were outstanding. Oddly, the Civil War is more of a back drop, a small part of the plot. I will most likely listen to this again only next time I’m going to try it with WhisperSync. One tip; if you are not familiar with the biblical story of Absalom, David’s third son; I think it adds to the understanding of the story.
Faulkner has done it again. I trudged through this book so slowly that I even found time to read another novel before we found out about Charles’ father. But as the conversations—speculations—between Quentin and Shreve developed, I couldn’t put it down. Faulkner thinks about the South and racism and hope in the nuanced way that these ideas require. By the end of this novel (as with all of the Faulkner books I’ve read), I was left confused, aching for the pain left by senseless idealism, and overwhelmed with the complex power of myth and storytelling.
Ik gebruik het boek 1001 books you must read before you die wel eens om inspiratie uit op te doen en Absalom, Absalom! is een boek dat ik door dit naslagwerk ben gaan lezen. Ik had van tevoren al gehoord dat dit een vrij complex werk was, dus ik was een klein beetje bang, maar deze roman is alle moeite meer dan waard.
Er is een Nederlandse vertaling door Bartho Kriek, maar ik las de Engelstalige versie. In mijn videorecensie zeg ik trouwens heel fout dat dit boek uit 1932 komt, maar dat moet natuurlijk 1936 zijn. Dat had ik even verkeerd in mijn hoofd en geen tijd en zin meer om dat te veranderen.
De roman verhaalt over de opkomst en teloorgang van Thomas Sutpen. Sutpen arriveert op een dag met slaven en een architecht in Jefferson, Mississippi en bouwt een groot landhuis en een grote plantage. Hij trouwt, wordt steeds meer geaccepteerd door het stadje, maar raakt uiteindelijk alles kwijt, inclusief zijn goede naam.
Vond het zowel wat betreft schrijfstijl, compositie en thematiek een erg indrukwekkend boek. Dit is echt een boek om te slowreaden en waarbij het waardevol is om na ieder hoofdstuk even opnieuw de balans op te maken. Het verhaal wordt namelijk door verschillende personen, in flarden verteld en ieder hoofdstuk krijg je stukje bij beetje een beter beeld van Sutpens levensverhaal.
In mijn videorecensie heb ik het verder nog over de interpretatie en thematiek van het boek. Tijdens het maken van die video merkte ik door over het boek te praten pas eigenlijk hoeveel indruk het boek op me had gemaakt.
Videorecensie
Er is een Nederlandse vertaling door Bartho Kriek, maar ik las de Engelstalige versie. In mijn videorecensie zeg ik trouwens heel fout dat dit boek uit 1932 komt, maar dat moet natuurlijk 1936 zijn. Dat had ik even verkeerd in mijn hoofd en geen tijd en zin meer om dat te veranderen.
De roman verhaalt over de opkomst en teloorgang van Thomas Sutpen. Sutpen arriveert op een dag met slaven en een architecht in Jefferson, Mississippi en bouwt een groot landhuis en een grote plantage. Hij trouwt, wordt steeds meer geaccepteerd door het stadje, maar raakt uiteindelijk alles kwijt, inclusief zijn goede naam.
Vond het zowel wat betreft schrijfstijl, compositie en thematiek een erg indrukwekkend boek. Dit is echt een boek om te slowreaden en waarbij het waardevol is om na ieder hoofdstuk even opnieuw de balans op te maken. Het verhaal wordt namelijk door verschillende personen, in flarden verteld en ieder hoofdstuk krijg je stukje bij beetje een beter beeld van Sutpens levensverhaal.
In mijn videorecensie heb ik het verder nog over de interpretatie en thematiek van het boek. Tijdens het maken van die video merkte ik door over het boek te praten pas eigenlijk hoeveel indruk het boek op me had gemaakt.
Videorecensie