A review by wisteriaearl
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Like The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner retells the same story with 4 different narrators. It is up to the readers to decipher the truth about the story. I love that each narrator had their own biases and blind spots. The way the story changed and shifted with each detail.

It's written in such a frantic and anxiety-ridden way that it highlights Quentin Compson's conflicting feelings with the South (the heart of the story). The South and slavery. The worst of its history was exemplified by Thomas Sutpen. A character who embodies pure evil and cruelty. Quentin's perspective and his journey of reconciling the preconceived notions of a "romanticized South" with the actual history/legacy of the South is intriguing.

Absalom!, Absalom! is a story about the haunting of the past and a man's predicament with that. 

I think what demerits points would be that the middle chunk of the book is difficult to understand and read through. The long sentences are well-written but can become long-winded at some points. 
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