As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text (Modern Library)

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As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text (Modern Library)

by William Faulkner

3.70 · rating details · 33,679 ratings · 2,087 reviews

One of William Faulkner’s finest novels, As I Lay Dying was originally published in 1930 and remains a captivating and stylistically innovative work. The story revolves around a grim yet darkly humorous pilgrimage, as Addie Bundren’s family sets out to fulfill her last wish: to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of

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Hardcover, 288 pages

Published November 28th 2000 by Modern Library (first published 1930)

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Jul 16, 2007

Evan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone who wants to try Faulkner

Faulkner is just one of those authors you either love or hate. However, if you want to try your hand at him (and you really should, at least once), this is a good place to start. The time line and the narrative voices to this book are not as fragmented as they are with many of his other stories, and it does follow a very basic path.

But still, Faulkner is not by any means easy. Hemingway's iceberg theory--that there should be 3/4 of the real story hidden from the reader--ironically...moreFaulkner is just one of those authors you either love or hate. However, if you want to try your hand at him (and you really should, at least once), this is a good place to start. The time line and the narrative voices to this book are not as fragmented as they are with many of his other stories, and it does follow a very basic path.

But still, Faulkner is not by any means easy. Hemingway's iceberg theory--that there should be 3/4 of the real story hidden from the reader--ironically fits Faulkner's writing perhaps better than Hemingway's.
There are plenty of times where the "he" Faulkner is referring to goes undefined and you have to rely on small character clues and temperaments to figure out who "he" is. Characters will focus on strange material things (false teeth and tools) rather than such pressing matters as burying a body or bleeding to death. Events will happen chapters before you realize they did.

So why bother reading it? On the one hand, his writing flows with imagery and poetry that few others can match. Often, even if you have no idea what's going on, the sheer sound and beauty of his words sustains. Beautiful extended metaphors that more concrete authors could only pull off in dream sequences come easily through Faulkner's monologues.

There is also a sense of urgent intimacy to his technique. Faulkner's characters are never telling the story for your benefit. They're never going to explain the details for you or give information that they already have set in their minds. Rather, you get to see the way they're rationalizing things themselves. These are the monologues and dialogues you have with yourself in an empty hallway or elevator, not the barstool stories you tell to friends. And hence, any lies in them are a matter of self-delusion, exposing insanity and ignorance in a stark but compassionate light.

If you've never read any Faulkner, I suggest you do give this book a read. You'll probably hate him absolutely and never read him again (as a matter of preference, most people I know can't stand him). However, if you do love him, you will love him just as absolutely. And believe me. It's worth a shot.(less)

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Feb 13, 2010

Bram rated it

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Shelves: 2010

Without straying from his inimitable voice, Faulkner delivers a more professional, calculated effort here than with his novel of the year prior, The Sound and the Fury. There are more novel-y aspects to As I Lay Dying, and Faulkner emerges as the master of the slow- or late-reveal, which might be described as reverse-foreshadowing. As an example, Faulkner will provide a character scene that’s fraught with emotion and history and meaning, but he won't explain the context. There’s dramatic elec...moreWithout straying from his inimitable voice, Faulkner delivers a more professional, calculated effort here than with his novel of the year prior, The Sound and the Fury. There are more novel-y aspects to As I Lay Dying, and Faulkner emerges as the master of the slow- or late-reveal, which might be described as reverse-foreshadowing. As an example, Faulkner will provide a character scene that’s fraught with emotion and history and meaning, but he won't explain the context. There’s dramatic electricity, and we fully expect to understand the situation even while failing to receive any adumbrations. And that’s because Faulkner isn’t actually hinting at events to come; he’s showing us something we can’t understand without promises of future textual elucidation. We just have to trust that he’ll come through, which of course he always does via hints that come after the event. It’s sort of uncomfortable, and it made me reread certain passages obsessively, assuming that something must have slipped by. But this way we get to feel the drama first with disorientation rather than with understanding.

I’ve read a few confusing novels, and no writer seems to use this method of disorientation so deliberately and so effectively as a ploy. Faulkner puts us at his mercy. He’s the one calling the shots, and we have to play by his rules. More than anything else, I think it's this aspect that can make people uneasy or unhappy with his works. But really it's a gift, leaving us with the rawness and incomprehensibility of life, which only begin to make sense in hindsight through functions of memory and our desire to find order and purpose. This, along with stream of consciousness, is what gives Faulkner as much of a claim to the title of Modernist as any of his contemporaries: he provides us with a hyper-reality via a unique, non-straightforward narrative structure.

So this is a great book, and its star rating is possibly suffering because it’s coming on the heels of a definitively 5-star read. The characterization is, for the most part, fantastic. The story is told from various points of view, usually in two- or three-page chapters. I’d say about ten characters help to tell the story, but our primary narrator is Darl (some spoilers to follow). Darl is the second eldest son of the story’s plot-mover, Addie Bundren, and his character arc is probably the one thing keeping this novel out of ‘masterpiece’ territory for me. He’s described as someone intuitive and special, a bit of an oddball but a nice, thoughtful kid. His own narration backs this up; he’s the wise one, the amateur philosopher, and his narration is filled with difficult words and surprisingly correct grammar. But something happens with him toward the end of the book that didn’t quite work for me. Faulkner’s main philosophical exploration in this novel is relativity with regard to both morals and sanity, and Darl does something that confirms the others’ suspicions that he’s a little bit crazy. But given the absurdity of the situation the characters are in, Darl’s action actually makes some good sense. From a certain point of view, it’s perfectly understandable. So far, so good—Camus would have been really jealous of this set up. Only one character, Darl’s older brother Cash, recognizes that Darl may not actually be crazy:

Sometimes I aint so sho who’s got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint…It’s like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it’s the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it.

Exactly. But then, inexplicably, Faulkner decides that Darl is, in fact, insane: in the course of Darl’s final narration, he exhibits previously unseen schizophrenic behavior, complete with nonsensical ramblings addressing himself in the third person. What? Faulkner should have left him the way he was, as the guy who has almost too much sense and insight and therefore gets funny looks from all the ‘normal’ people. But this criticism arises from the contents of a two-page chapter, and fortunately it can be excised with a little mental effort. There’s also the possibility that some crucial hints in the book escaped me. Because of Faulkner’s storytelling style, in which many things only make sense later, it’s likely that I missed the significance of many comments, thoughts, and glances along the way. As I mentioned in a review for The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner is ripe for rereads because it’s inevitable that seeming irrelevancies and ambiguous character interactions from the first read will take on new meanings when you’re equipped with knowledge of the whole story. Unfortunately, I’ve never been one of those readers who can go right back to the beginning of a book after finishing it.

One of the fascinating things about this novel is that it can be read either as a tragedy or as a black comedy (or, therefore, as a tragicomedy). The case for the former is rather straightforward considering the events of the book, particularly with regard to Darl. The bleak comedic aspect comes from the story’s McGuffin—to fulfill the above-mentioned Addie Bundren’s last wish of being buried in her family’s hometown—which becomes increasingly absurd as it proves logistically improbable to carry out. All manner of misfortunes are incurred as a result of her spineless husband’s uncharacteristic firmness in fulfilling this wish, a resolve that’s made even more unbefuckinglievably absurd by the book’s final five words. It’s all too tragic for laughs, but it’s pure genius. (less)

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Jul 17, 2010

Matt rated it

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Shelves: 2010, faulkner

I'm no copyright lawyer, but it seems like Faulkner's estate could have sued the hell out of the makers of National Lampoon's Vacation. There is the obvious corpse-carting similarity, but I can almost hear the familiar refrain of Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road" bleed into the scene of the Bundren's fateful river crossing. (Pre)DMCA violations were definitely afoot, at least in spirit.

This is the book for those who find Faulkner's other well known works to be intimidatin...more

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Jun 11, 2008

Alisha rated it

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Recommends it for: people who like linguistics

Shelves: fiction, favorites

Aside from the fact that the title is taken from a line in "Agamemnon" (which makes it already unbearably cool) this is a breathtaking book. It took me about four chapters to get used to Faulker's style of writing- the dialects, the chapters each being from another character's perspective, his way of having no narration so you have to figure out what is going on from the half-conversations the characters have themselves... but god, once I adjusted, I was completely floored. This is a b...more

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Jun 19, 2008

Jason rated it

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Shelves: all-time-favorites

i'm re-reading a lot of this for my thesis...Vardaman and the extended metaphor of the mother/fish are sort of the jumping off point for what i'm doing...
the more i look into this text the more i realize how carefully Faulkner was when he wrote it...almost every word is packed with significance...
it's very concentrated...
i read once that he wrote it in a very short time, with very few re-writes...i wonder of that's accurate...it seems far too artful to have been conceived off t...morei'm re-reading a lot of this for my thesis...Vardaman and the extended metaphor of the mother/fish are sort of the jumping off point for what i'm doing...
the more i look into this text the more i realize how carefully Faulkner was when he wrote it...almost every word is packed with significance...
it's very concentrated...
i read once that he wrote it in a very short time, with very few re-writes...i wonder of that's accurate...it seems far too artful to have been conceived off the cuff...but i'm not sure...don't have the opportunity to run it down just now...

currently, i'm attempting to analyze the passages when Vardaman shows up with the fish, leaves with it, and returns bloody up to his knees...it seems to me this section allegorizes what is expected of Vardaman, how he is left to reconcile his mother's death on his own, and how unsuccessful he is in doing so...
this sets up the need for him to create the personal mythology surrounding the fish...by conflating the fish with his mother he tries, again unsuccessfully, to make sense of Addie's death...

reading over it again also makes me realize how psychologically complex this book is...in these short vignettes Faulkner explores so much about human perception and motivation, and how deeply emotional responses can effect them...

i've often read that this text is widely considered Faulkner's masterpiece...i can readily see how this could be the case...his other works are undoubtedly incredible achievements, yet they do have their visible flaws...
it seems to me this work is as close to perfect as a piece of fiction can get...

i stumbled across this passage just now:

"As I Lay Dying was a "deliberate book," a "tour-de-force" which had given him a "cold satisfaction" upon finishing it: Before I ever put pen to paper and set down the first word, I knew what the last word would be and almost where the last period would fall. Before I began I said, I am going to write a book by which, at a pinch, I can stand or fall if I never touch ink again. (Meriwether, "An Introduction to The Sound and the Fury" 709)

i think he succeeded...
(less)

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May 30, 2008

Matt rated it

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I've noticed that, in the past couple years (and maybe this has to do with workshop in some oblique psychological way?), the books that move me and linger in me the most are ones that I have a rather contentious relationship with at first. And that's definitely what happened here. For the first half of the book, I just wanted old Billy F to write something that MADE SENSE and was UNDERSTANDABLE. The language obscured the characters, and so I found myself unable to distinguish one from another...more

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Jun 06, 2008

Chris rated it

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Recommends it for: Anyone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had the opportunity of reading Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury twice while I was in college. Since that time I have told everyone who would listen that it was the greatest of novels. Though I still believe that I must admit that As I Lay Dying is a close rival. I picked this book up because I had just finished reading James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners and I needed something ‘light’ to decompress. This book was short, and seemed a good choice. I had no ide...moreI had the opportunity of reading Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury twice while I was in college. Since that time I have told everyone who would listen that it was the greatest of novels. Though I still believe that I must admit that As I Lay Dying is a close rival. I picked this book up because I had just finished reading James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners and I needed something ‘light’ to decompress. This book was short, and seemed a good choice. I had no idea what I was getting into. I was riveted and finished the book in three days. I am debating reading it again soon.

Much is said about Faulkner’s choice of storytelling, where he allows each character to give tidbits of information and forces the reader to work in order to understand what has happened. I take my hat off to Faulkner for his style of narrative. Most writers could not pull it off. Having read and studied The Sound and the Fury I had no difficulty following the patchwork narrative, as I have heard many comment that they have. But what really struck me about this book was the study of the central characters and their relationships.

On the surface it is easy to recognize (and be disgusted by) how the Bundren men treat women. Specifically their wife and mother, who has just passed away, and their sister and daughter Dewey Dell. The narrative is a reflection of how they treat Addie Bundren, both before and after her death. The patriarch of the family, Anse, commits to take Addie several miles to bury her in her home town, often noting that he wouldn’t begrudge her the effort it would take. Yet his laziness and his lack of planning for the journey, as well as his blatant disregard for the children she bore him show that his dedication to her was hollow.

Addie’s sons, Cash, Darl and Jewel all follow their father’s disregard for their mother and even the youngest son Vardaman shows that he is learning the ways of his elder brothers. While trying to cross a swollen river the cart which carries Addie’s body meets with disaster and overturns in one of the most poignant moments in the book. After the Bundren boys get themselves out of the river, their primary concern is recovering Cash’s carpentry tools, which were spilled along with the cart. It is only later that it is revealed that her coffin and body were not lost in the accident. Throughout the story during times when Vardaman is telling the tale, he gives bits and pieces of tragic events, yet he continually obsesses about a toy train that he greatly desires. He is trained just as his father and brothers before him to be more concerned with himself than others. And there is evidence at the end of the book that Anse’s mistreatment of those who love him will continue.

The story is about a family who travels with the casket of their dead mother in order to bury her in her desired resting place. All of the family members encounter personal disasters during the journey, and I had expected some closure with the burial. Yet the actual burial is never described in the narrative.

Despite the disturbing and unsettling events that transpire during the journey, and the moral deficiencies of some of the characters, I found a certain level of perverse comedy at some times. I even felt guilty about finding the tragedies amusing. I am sure Faulkner did this on purpose.

I would recommend this book to anyone. My mother is a fish. After you’ve read the book I would like to know: Is your mother a fish, or a horse?
(less)

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Aug 27, 2008

AmyAmy rated it

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I know you're "supposed to" love this book because it's Faulker, but I HATED IT! I know you're "cool" and "intelligent" if you read Faulkner, but I can't stand him. Sorry, I don't know what he's talking about (and at the risk of sounding immodest, I am bright). I DON'T think it's cool and "hip" to write in a confusing manner, and I don't try to impress others by liking ambiguity. I had my fill in college with snobs who pretended to like this stuff. So...more

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Jan 14, 2008

Paul rated it

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This was the first novel I read in college, and I've taught it three times since then, probably read it at least 7-8 times by now. The characters are so implacably strange, and their journey so painful and ridiculous at the same time. It's actually a very blackly humorous book, and the humor comes out more and more with each reading. Faulkner at his best.

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Apr 15, 2011

Elliot rated it

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Shelves: ap-literature-2010-11, favorites

When I mentioned to a close friend that I chose William Faulkner for my AP Lit author study, he said, "Ah. Prepare to spend a lot of time in a 15 mile radius."

Faulkner wrote as hyperlocal author, but he created As I Lay Dying as a mythic portrayal of something so much greater than the events in one country town, so much greater than a family's travels to bring their dead mother to her chosen grave. As I Lay Dying is a mythology of the tragicomic absurdity of human existence...moreWhen I mentioned to a close friend that I chose William Faulkner for my AP Lit author study, he said, "Ah. Prepare to spend a lot of time in a 15 mile radius."

Faulkner wrote as hyperlocal author, but he created As I Lay Dying as a mythic portrayal of something so much greater than the events in one country town, so much greater than a family's travels to bring their dead mother to her chosen grave. As I Lay Dying is a mythology of the tragicomic absurdity of human existence, of the moral valley between our actions and our intentions, of the continuity of being, of the mind’s struggle with reality. How interesting it is, then, the way that Faulkner’s characters each create (or attempt to create) their own mythologies – their own allegorical realities or subversions.

The writing in this novel is simply gorgeous, the structure bewilderingly difficult, the novel as a whole discomforting, dismal, brilliant, and often ambiguous. As I contemplate the work, I begin to wonder about its occasional incomprehensibility. Clearly the novel’s plot develops using what I’ve seen referred to in other works as “reciprocity” – events and symbolism in the beginning cannot be understood until the end, and events and symbolism in the end hold no significance without their predecessors; this periphrastic and doubling construction seems to be more than just an experimental method – it could perhaps advance a point in and of itself. The spiraling architecture of As I Lay Dying, the circumlocutious development in which narrators allude to events or describe them incompletely with sparse words, only to have other details added chapters later, can be almost impenetrable. No event in this book can be understood through the narration of one character alone, and no event in this book can be understood until well after it has taken place. Likewise, no single character ever quite comprehends their decisions or recognizes exactly what is going on in their lives. Likewise, “reality” occurs only in hindsight.

Faulkner’s apparent lack of moral judgment over his characters becomes understandable as one realizes that nothing that happens is quite clear. Events make no sense as they occur – rightful judgment deserves no place in the present tense.

And yet despite appearing to advocate ambiguity in many regards, the book discusses numerous topics, and seems to propose, if not argue, so many ideas: the ways that children (and those who behave like children) cope with death, the irremovable disconnect between words and their meaning, the validity of society’s feminine ideals, what insanity really is.

Daresay I could sing praises unto this “tour de force” for ages, but at the moment I’m too busy rereading it, still extracting more and more out of it even as I drink in chapters for the 4th or 5th time. Faulkner created a dazzling and disturbing masterpiece with As I Lay Dying, and I look forward to delving into more of his oeuvre during the summer and beyond.

***

SECOND READ

Even better, even more perplexing. Ultimately, this isn't my favorite of Faulkner's (The Sound and the Fury makes me... seasick almost; it's simply overwhelming), but it's damn near perfect. Exploring this work again with a particular focus on authorship, eye-imagery, narrative tenses, and animal magnetism was tremendously rewarding. I can't wait to read it again!(less)

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Nov 18, 2007

colleen rated it

Recommends it for: everyone

Contains what is quite possibly my favorite passage in all of literature. Darl musing:
"In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, you are not. And when you were filled with sleep, you never were. I dont know what I am. I dont know if I am or not. Jewel knows he is, because he does not know that he doesnt not know whether he is or not. He cannot empty himself for sleep because he i...more

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Apr 17, 2007

Matt rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who have lived.

One of my students has commented about this book, and, quite understandable, simply said, CURSES. This has been a consistant comment by my students. I can come to only this conclusion.

I would like to preface this by saying I find few traits in people that allow me to immediately judge their character. You may wear the stars and bars, and I'll give you five minutes before I come up with who you are. I can, however, say quite safely that if you don't love this book, something is wr...more

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Aug 21, 2007

Paula rated it

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Shelves: fantasticallywierd

fabulous horror, horribly fabulous. Faulkner is one of those rare talents whose use of language makes it feel as if the story is coming out of the center of one's brain, rather than the normally staid input directly through the eyes. You have to love these people, in spite of their gross stupidity, for their persistence and enduring fortitude to what little threads carry them through the persistent agony of existence. If only they had lavished one-tenth of the care on Ma in life that they did...more

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Feb 07, 2009

Stefani rated it

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I think it's very easy to dismiss this book as boring, nonsensical, and difficult to follow at first. I felt frustrated by the dialogue of some of the less articulate characters, such as Anse, who tended to repeat the same sentence over and over until the repitition played like a broken record in your head; "She's a-going, her mind is set on it,". However, the more I read, the more the dialogue began to make sense to me and more like a true reflection of what each character was thinkin...more

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Dec 13, 2011

Dominic rated it

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Shelves: classic-literature, favorites

Every writer, I must think, wonders if language is enough. Can words capture the human experience? Surely that was the Modernist's essential question--for much of their work alienates casual readers and even challenges them to throw it across the room. As I Lay Dying, like the work of other Modernists like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and T.S. Eliot, requires hard work. Inspired by the Cubists, Dadists and the Surrealists, William Faulkner sets out here to answer questions about the nature of...moreEvery writer, I must think, wonders if language is enough. Can words capture the human experience? Surely that was the Modernist's essential question--for much of their work alienates casual readers and even challenges them to throw it across the room. As I Lay Dying, like the work of other Modernists like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and T.S. Eliot, requires hard work. Inspired by the Cubists, Dadists and the Surrealists, William Faulkner sets out here to answer questions about the nature of art, the palpability of human feeling and experience, and the point where words fail. And for a writer, that is scary ground indeed because words are the essence of what they do!

The story of As I Lay Dying is certainly a grim one. The work is essentially a several mile journey (or as I've been calling it, a death-parade) of Addie Bundren's corpse rattling around in her coffin by her impoverished, broken husband and her five unfinished works of art--her children (my favorite was the strange, other-worldly Darl with his sixth and seventh senses). Faulkner's pathos is so deep and palpable, that when he pairs it with grim, dark comedy so dark that I could hardly even see with, it literally chilled my bones. Even the final moment of comedy (which is unmistakable) left me trembling. Faulkner leaves me stunned again and again at the incredible absurdity of life--and when you stop to think about it, life is incredibly absurd. Sometimes it seems the only way to understand it is through the darkest of comedy.

As I Lay Dying is undeniably a Modernist masterpiece told in 59 (I believe it's 59) interior monologues that consistently overlap, sometimes startle themselves out of order, and continuously beguile the reader. Faulkner would eventually go on to write a different, somewhat more straightforward type of narrative in the second half of the 1930s, somewhat abandoning the dizzying approach of As I Lay Dying, which makes me wonder if he came to some epiphany about the nature of written art and what language can possibly do. I wonder. But there is no question that As I Lay Dying stands as a towering achievement, a beautiful-grotesque puzzle worth sorting out.(less)

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Nov 16, 2009

K.D. rated it

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Recommends it for: Tata J

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Must Read Books Before You Die

This is my first book of William Faulkner - one of the greatest American novelist. I am not giving him a 5-star rating because this is one of the hardest-to-read novels since I started my reading obsession a year back. Normally, it takes me only up to 20 pages for me to adjust to the rhythm of the novelist for his characters to form life. However, I was already on page 40 and I could not understand what I was reading. I had to Google the book to know that the chapter titles are actually the name...moreThis is my first book of William Faulkner - one of the greatest American novelist. I am not giving him a 5-star rating because this is one of the hardest-to-read novels since I started my reading obsession a year back. Normally, it takes me only up to 20 pages for me to adjust to the rhythm of the novelist for his characters to form life. However, I was already on page 40 and I could not understand what I was reading. I had to Google the book to know that the chapter titles are actually the names of the Bundren children narrating the stories.

Maybe I also had lots of distractions as I read this in my second (and final) week of stay here in Columbus, Ohio. I actually picked this book because I wanted to enjoy the being in the USA (reading an American author while in America). I mostly read this before going to bed and it took me four nights finishing just a 250+ not densely written book.

The story is about burying a mother whose last wish is for her corpse to be laid in her own hometown. The mother had 5 children. Cash, the eldest who is a carpenter and whose broken leg was cemented. Darl, the second who narrated most of the 49 chapters. Jewel, who is the result of the mother's illicit affair with a reverend. Dewey Dell, the only girl and who got pregnant out of wedlock and Vardamain, the youngest who refused to belive that his mother is dead ("My mother is a fish" he says).

The voices who narrated are distinct from each other. I read somewhere that it was a fad during that time in American literature but I found it interested (I had never seen anything like that before this). There were full of grammatical mistakes and vague statements. However, I also read that Faulkner's intention is not to directly inform the reader but to present the thoughts playing in the mind of its characters just like when you are alone in the elevator. Faulkner did this very effectively.

I was able to relate my own late father to that of Anse (the husband of the mother) who refused to work because he if perspire, he will will die. When I was growing up, my father most of the time did not work because he was asthmatic and he tired out easily. Despite that, Anse was a loving father and so was my dad.

This book is among the 1001 Must Read Books Before You Die and William Faulker is a Nobel Prize for Literature awardee just like my favorites John Steinbeck and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. However, I am ranking him lower than those two because I was able to enjoy The Grapes of Wrath and One Hundred Years of Solitude which are those two authors' magnum opuses. I read somewhere also that William Faulker calls this novel (his fifth, as his magnum opus but I am not yet convinced that he is in the same ranking as Steinbeck and G.G. Marquez. He is more of a Hemingway type (with those dream sequences) to me.(less)

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Jun 08, 2009

Jessica rated it

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Shelves: 2009, adult-fiction, classics, list-board-best-100

One of the stranger ones I've read, and the second by Faulkner. Based on the two (Absolam, Absolam!), I can't say I'm a Faulkner fan.

At least I was able to understand this one...most of it that is. And the details I didn't get, I read afterwards in the Cliffs Notes book summary. I must say that the summary made the book sound so much better than it was.

One detail in particular that had me doubting the book to begin with was the fact that each story was told by a differen...more

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Oct 01, 2011

Carolyn Gerk rated it

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Faulkner described this book, very pretentiously, I might add, as his 'tour de force', by which he would either 'stand or fall'. Can we cue up the cartoon whistling sound when someone falls from the edge of a cliff? And maybe follow it up with a dramatic 'splat!'.
It is awfully hard to identify with a book whose characters seem to be unforgivably ridiculous. There are many references to the character Anse's constant 'misfortune'. Seems to me that he and his children deserve everything they ...moreFaulkner described this book, very pretentiously, I might add, as his 'tour de force', by which he would either 'stand or fall'. Can we cue up the cartoon whistling sound when someone falls from the edge of a cliff? And maybe follow it up with a dramatic 'splat!'.
It is awfully hard to identify with a book whose characters seem to be unforgivably ridiculous. There are many references to the character Anse's constant 'misfortune'. Seems to me that he and his children deserve everything they get. This would be a case when you make your own luck by following through with ridiculous actions. In the modern day world, these people would be Meth addicts twitching in the gutters, spouting nonsense on a street corner. They would be the people you cross the street to avoid.
By the time I reached the last quarter of the book, Faulkner was at least writing language that made sense. Most of the time, it was either ridiculously simple, in a 'country-boy' hillbilly way, or just distastefully packed full of words that the average person would rarely use, and often more than likely couldn't even define. It seems that Faulkner likes to hear himself talk, throwing in as many three and four syllable words as he can fit into a sentence.
As for the 'twist' in the end. It kind of made me feel like, 'what was the point of reading any of this?'
I was able to take some interest in the character "Dewey Dell's' story, but only in the later chapters of the book when the point of view is of a town person. When reading her chapters, I could not understand what was going on.
Overall, reading should not be such hard work. I actually had to google the character list halfway through the book so I could keep track of who was who and how they were connected to each other. It doesn't help that this entire family acts like they hate everyone and everything.
I am frustrated, disappointed, and would be willing to bet that people love this book because it is different. Different is not always good. It may make you look smart to read Faulkner, but I'd doubt that it would increase anyone's intelligence. Who could understand enough of it to retain anything useful or meaningful.
(less)

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Mar 16, 2009

Alan Fay rated it

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Shelves: lost

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was very irritating for me to read the first time, since the Stevie Nicks clone with squishy purple boots who dared call herself an English teacher held it as exemplum of dramatic irony.

"It's dramatic because there are many different characters, and ironic because Addie's family doesn't know she's still alive."

It was the first time in my life I threw up in my mouth. That's not to say I was completely ruined by the experience - I re-read/skimmed it yea...more

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Oct 13, 2008

Melanie rated it

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Recommended to Melanie by: Aaron

I re-read this book and I still love it. I've heard it said that there are no loveable characters, and I stick to my stance that it isn't true. The dad is of course an SOB with no redeeming qualities. But almost every one of the other characters I can sympathize with. But, I love Cash. I was reading this trying to remember why. I think he is one of the best developed characters in the book, although maybe a bit indirectly as he doesn't say much. He is dedicated to work, everything he does,...more

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Sep 14, 2008

Joel rated it

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I respect Faulkner, but I can't say I love him. Still, this book was something. What that something was, I'm still figuring out.

The novel tells the story of the Bundren family in their quest to bury their recently deceased (well, she's alive but on her death bed when the story opens) mother, Addie. And if you thought your family was dysfunctional, you haven't read enough Faulkner yet. Think turn of the century white trash and you're getting close. The Bundrens are a muddled mass of s...more

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Aug 17, 2008

Michele rated it

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I've realized over the last couple of years, that my definition of literature, having attended primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in Canada, is distinctly Commonwealth/British. I took one American lit class as an undergrad (and loved it! but that's because the prof was amazing - too bad he moved on to bigger and better things). But aside from that, most of the American lit I've read is SF or other popular fiction. There's a huge segment of literature written in English that I know li...moreI've realized over the last couple of years, that my definition of literature, having attended primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in Canada, is distinctly Commonwealth/British. I took one American lit class as an undergrad (and loved it! but that's because the prof was amazing - too bad he moved on to bigger and better things). But aside from that, most of the American lit I've read is SF or other popular fiction. There's a huge segment of literature written in English that I know little of. Hence, reading Faulkner.

As I lay Dying employs multiple narrative voices, and Faulkner is able to balance those voices in such a way that they each project a unique image of the character who speaks them, but he also makes each narrative work to fill in gaps left after the narratives of other characters. Case in point: The "I" of the title is Addie Bundren, who dies in the first 20 pages; from there, the story follows her family's journey with her body to her hometown where they intend to bury her.

The narration moves between (I think 17 total) narrators, but primarily through her children, which means that most of your impression of Addie comes from her family, people who presumably have either affection for her, or a sense of obligation toward her. As each narrator takes his/her turn, the reader begins to develop a sense of what this family is like. Dysfunctional isn't the right word for it, since 'dysfunctional' implies a kind of active inability to function, an attempt to function that goes awry. These characters are far too lackadaisical, particularly Addie's husband Anse, to be described like that. A better description may be "inertia-sensitive" since when they are at rest, they tend to stay there, but when they get going, they stubbornly continue going despite good advice against such action.

The family's sensitivity to inertia and the dearth of emotional expressions of mourning, make them seem cold-hearted in the face of their wife/mother's death. Until Addie narrates her own story.

Then the reader realizes that the feeling is mutual. Addie never cared much for her husband or for her family, and her response (after a brief affair) seemed to be to distance herself from everyone around her, including her family. The only time she seems connected to them is through bodily pain or suffering.

This revelation, which comes at the center of the book, and is the only time Addie speaks, changes the reader's perception of her family's narrations till the end of the book.

In the undergrad class that I sat in on (the one my friend is teaching), they seemed to think that Anse's actions at the end of the novel were justified, or at least that they could empathize with his decision. I was disturbed by what I saw as his callousness however. Is that because as a mother I could understand Addie's attitude to her family? Is it because I'm older? What is it that I bring from my own experience, whether personal, or my experience of reading other books, that compels me to read Anse's final actions of the book as a betrayal, rather than a suitable ending that they seemed to see? Perhaps not all of them felt that way, or perhaps they discussed the ending more when I wasn't there, but I certainly had a different opinion of the ending when it came up in the discussion that I attended.

I will admit it was a difficult book for me to get into. If I'd been browsing in the library and picked it up, I would've put it down again because it took me a while to get into it, but the multiple voices of the text started to fascinate me and kept me going through the rest of it. I'm glad I read it.(less)

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Jun 04, 2008

Eri-chan rated it

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I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure what my reaction to this book was. I picked it up mostly because I've never read anything by Faulkner and know that he is regarded as one of the great American writers of the 20th century. I make it a point to expose myself to as much "classic" literature as I can. However, the writing style through me for the proverbial loop - it struck me as way ahead of its time - and I had a difficult time following the plot and understanding the character...moreI have to admit that I'm not entirely sure what my reaction to this book was. I picked it up mostly because I've never read anything by Faulkner and know that he is regarded as one of the great American writers of the 20th century. I make it a point to expose myself to as much "classic" literature as I can. However, the writing style through me for the proverbial loop - it struck me as way ahead of its time - and I had a difficult time following the plot and understanding the characters because of the extent to which Faulkner really pushed the limits of his prose.

The book observes a family in what is assumed to be a very small town in the deep south or the back country. The mother figure in the family dies, and the family is bound to uphold a promise, made to the mother before her death, to bring her body back to her original hometown and bury her there. The book, told in each chapter from the point of view of a different member of the family (or other individuals who come into contact with them), follows the family's journey in a horsedrawn wagon with the body of their mother in a wooden coffin in the back as they make their way to to their destination with agonizing slowness and no shortage of perils. Each character's chapter is written in their own voice, and some character's natural argots are nearly unintelligible, making it difficult for the reader to really understand what's going on or what the characters are thinking. It does serve to add a lot of realism to the novel, but makes for a challenging read. I will say that the writing of the character of the youngest son, while confusing at first, was really impressive in the way it evoked a small child's speech and thought patterns. I found myself really drawn to this character and really attached to him, as his obvious confusion and lack of understanding of the situations he found himself in really shone through his words.

The story, as a whole, is somehow humorous and tragic all at once, evoking some complex emotions as the plot plays out. The absurdity of the whole situation, coupled with some truly unique characters, keeps things interesting. The ending of the book is abrupt and open-ended, but may very well be the most powerful part of the story, driving home just how absurd the whole thing is.

All in all a thought-provoking read, and a welcome challenge, and I'd like to seek out other novels by Faulkner (The Sound and The Fury seems an obvious choice) but it was definitely a bit difficult to wrap your head around. Not something I'd recommend to the casual reader who doesn't want to work too hard to hit pay-dirt with a book.(less)

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Jun 23, 2010

Charles rated it

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Shelves: novels

11/30 Currently about half-way through the book, thanks to a good friend who lent it me for Thanksgiving break. A few things Faulkner does, in my mind, that make this superior to Ulysses, that other great work of stream-of-consciousness:

1) Polyvocality. Meaning, there are several voices that are represented. (I wish James Joyce had done this more often in Ulysses.) Sometimes you're even lucky enough to experience a scene from several perspectives -- and how often do we get to d...more11/30 Currently about half-way through the book, thanks to a good friend who lent it me for Thanksgiving break. A few things Faulkner does, in my mind, that make this superior to Ulysses, that other great work of stream-of-consciousness:

1) Polyvocality. Meaning, there are several voices that are represented. (I wish James Joyce had done this more often in Ulysses.) Sometimes you're even lucky enough to experience a scene from several perspectives -- and how often do we get to do this in real life? (Hint: The answer is never.)

2) Short chapters. It keeps things moving... even though the characters themselves are sometimes slow to move.

3) Realism. Very fitting for a book that (partially) aims to represent the way we think.

4) Understandability. Although Faulkner may first stun you with the introduction of a new theme or character, in a few chapters he usually provides enough hints that you can figure out what's going on. There is a puzzling back-story to this family, and I'm enjoying trying to figure it out.

Beyond that, I feel like there is something terribly poignant to this story. (It is after all about the death of this family's mother.) Seeing the different reactions is fascinating from a psychological perspective, as the characters are all pretty different, yet related and in close proximity to each other.

The biggest drawback is that these characters all seem kind of emotionally numb to me, and I didn't really identify strongly with any of them. I suppose that Addie's first chapter got my attention, when she relates simple matters to her theology, but pretty soon she moved into the realm of "not-like-me." Even Darl, the most prosaic of them, seems a little untrustworthy to me because of how he writes... something just doesn't feel right there.

Of course, the fact that I'm not finding myself terribly like any of these people may also be one of its strengths as a book.

In the beginning, it felt like work. Having reached the middle and then gone a little past, I'm looking forward to when I'll have a little bit of time to start reading it again.

6/2010 Update:

Still reading. On occasion, I find this book, and my notes, and stumble through a few pages, like a man lost in the desert. But lately have been too distracted. (less)

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Mar 12, 2011

Kim rated it

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Shelves: fiction

Love it, of course, because it's Faulkner. This is a great Faulkner starter, for those who are intimidated by his work. I read it for the first time in high school and fell in love with this book and his work generally. This is an "epic journey" story for a Southern family. It's beautifully crafted, delving into each character's psyche with a different tone and writing style. One of the best!

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Mar 02, 2008

Kirk rated it

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Shelves: essential-reference

This is my favorite Faulkner because I find it the most structurally sound of his novels---his "major" novels that is. It's built around a technique that I (humble namer of techniques that I am) call writing at right angles: that is, you juxtapose points of view so the plot still progresses linearly but in a refracted way. Of course, Absalom, Sound-Fury, and Sanctuary all have multiple povs, too, but they're more likely to be built like a gyre or spiral, circling back on significant mo...more

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Nov 28, 2008

Gregg rated it

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Shelves: rereading, classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 04, 2009

Jocelyn rated it

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Shelves: read-in-2009, fiction

Reading this book is like watching someone struggle for breath. Each chapter narrated by a different person displays grief in many ways, some with understanding and others without sense. How this odd family copes with the loss of a family member is so well portrayed by Faulkner.

A friend of mine warned me that Faulkner was very wordy, so I went into this book a little apprehensive. I definitely didn't agree to begin with, but I've come to conclude that his verbose style is probably i...more

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Apr 10, 2008

Suzi rated it

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Recommends it for: Doreen Nidey

Some say it's his greatest book. All I know is that you feel drained and satisfied at the end. It's like Shakespeare and Tobacco Road and stink and death and stupidity and nobility and pers-a-friggen-verance...... god knows. Get it done. Mama is rotting in her hand-made wood coffin, and they are taking her to where she wanted to be buried, and it's a long trip, and it's hot, and mama's corpus delectible ain't doin so well, and the trip is arduous and......... every character in it... well, w...more

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Aug 21, 2008

Morgan rated it

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I loved how Faulkner used 13 different voices as narrators to help the reader piece together the puzzle that is this book. Faulkner had a great appreciation for the cubist painters of his time, especially Picasso, and has been described as a cubist painter of words. I never understood what that meant until I read As I Lay Dying. A brilliant crossing of mediums. My favorite passages is;
"He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that ...more

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About William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was a Nobel Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. One of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, his reputation is based mostly on his novels, novellas, and short stories. He was also a published poet and an occasional screenwriter.
The majority of his works are based in his native state of Mississippi. Though his work was published a...more

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