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sonia_reppe 's review for:
As I Lay Dying
by William Faulkner
Told from multiple viewpoints, this opens on a poor, rural home where a dying mother has requested that her husband and grown sons bury her some counties over. They end up carting her corpse around in their wagon for over a week while her body rots. They each have their own issues going on. At times they were ridiculous, especially the father, which speaks to the dark comedy side of this novel. I felt sorry for the little boy who was having an existential moment after his mom dies, determining that she had become a fish.
No words are wasted here. Faulker's spare, potent writing eschews exposition and lays bare every scene of these hardscrabble people. Sometimes you have to figure out what is going on, because it jumps right into the middle of someone's thoughts. Our book club discussed the culture of Southern pride, stubbornness and spiteful determination that exists and how much that plays into the family's decisions. We agreed that Faulkner exaggerated these characteristics, (which made for entertainment, in my opinion).
No words are wasted here. Faulker's spare, potent writing eschews exposition and lays bare every scene of these hardscrabble people. Sometimes you have to figure out what is going on, because it jumps right into the middle of someone's thoughts. Our book club discussed the culture of Southern pride, stubbornness and spiteful determination that exists and how much that plays into the family's decisions. We agreed that Faulkner exaggerated these characteristics, (which made for entertainment, in my opinion).