As I Lay Dying
by William Faulkner
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone
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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 fits Fa...more
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 Fa...more
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Read in June, 2008
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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...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Jenni by:
I read this book without a recommendation.recommends it for: Faulkner lovers, or people willing to try Faulkner
I begin my yearly sojourn into Faulkner with this, "As I Lay Dying." Though not my favorite Faulkner novel (that'd be "Go Down, Moses), I enjoyed it immensely--for all the normal reasons: Faulkner's obsession with describing natural beauty (reading one of his books is like trekking through a beautiful, pristine wilderness), his penchant for writing about family crises, and his distinctive (if odd) style, among others, which tend to be less tangible.
In fact, the only thing I do...more
In fact, the only thing I do...more
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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, the other great work of stream-of-consciousness:
1) polyvocality. Meaning, there are several voices that are represented. (If James Joyce had done this in Ulysses, maybe I'd be able to read it entirely.) Sometimes you're even lucky enough to experience a scene from several perspectives, and how often d...more
1) polyvocality. Meaning, there are several voices that are represented. (If James Joyce had done this in Ulysses, maybe I'd be able to read it entirely.) Sometimes you're even lucky enough to experience a scene from several perspectives, and how often d...more
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Read in April, 2004
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 the cuff...bu...more
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...bu...more
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
for those looking to get into Faulkner
Years ago, in a misguided attempt at self improvement, I picked up and quickly put down "The Sound and The Fury." I thought Faulkner and I were done forever after that debacle. Luckily for me a well meaning pal turned me on to this amazing book.
Faulkner - along with Hemingway and Fitzgerald - is considered one of the most important writers of fiction in the twentieth century. Faulkner's work though as opposed to the other two is the most innovative and willfully experimental. That ...more
Faulkner - along with Hemingway and Fitzgerald - is considered one of the most important writers of fiction in the twentieth century. Faulkner's work though as opposed to the other two is the most innovative and willfully experimental. That ...more
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Read in September, 2007
As I Lay Dying is not the most interesting book that I have ever read. The book is confusing at times and is difficult to understand some of it. There is not any particular incidents that kept my attention. There is one purpose to the book which is to prepare for Addie Bundren’s death. Her sons were always fighting with each other and did not get along very well. Addie did not have the greatest life and is miserable most of the time. It is terrible that Addie had children that she rea...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
People willing to think about books
I wanted to read this book because of a review of it that I read on this website. The review itself was beautiful, and made this book sound like one I had to read.
So weeks after I initially searched for it at the library (it was out), my Dad got it, and I, in the middle of another book, didn't get a chance to start it until a few days before its due date (but right now is amnesty period, or whatever it's called when you don't pay fines, so it's all good).
It took my a few chapters to get ...more
So weeks after I initially searched for it at the library (it was out), my Dad got it, and I, in the middle of another book, didn't get a chance to start it until a few days before its due date (but right now is amnesty period, or whatever it's called when you don't pay fines, so it's all good).
It took my a few chapters to get ...more
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Read in July, 2008
I'll have to re-read this book. It kind of killed me to turn it back into the library last night, but it was already a week overdue. I really need to figure out how to get an online account set up so I can renew things without having to track down the library phone number.
It took me a while to get into this book, even though a couple of the first chapters were great. I really loved the chapters narrated by Anse, especially his first section when he talks about how God made things that are s...more
It took me a while to get into this book, even though a couple of the first chapters were great. I really loved the chapters narrated by Anse, especially his first section when he talks about how God made things that are s...more
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Read in March, 2005
recommended to Bunxena by:
English profrecommends it for: people starting bonfires
I prefer to call this book "As I Lay Dying...of Boredom, Reading This Book". That's what it is: boring.
The plot, such as it is, is simple. There's a family that lives in the Deep South of Mississippi or somewhere like that in a ridiculously-hard-to-pronounce county. The mother dies, and the family decides to take the body to a far-off city, where she has requested to be buried. So the book is basically them trying to get the mother's body to this cemetery in Jefferson, an interminab...more
The plot, such as it is, is simple. There's a family that lives in the Deep South of Mississippi or somewhere like that in a ridiculously-hard-to-pronounce county. The mother dies, and the family decides to take the body to a far-off city, where she has requested to be buried. So the book is basically them trying to get the mother's body to this cemetery in Jefferson, an interminab...more
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Read in June, 2006
recommends it for:
people who like to think when they read; anyone who liked "O Brother, Where Art Thou"
This is not an easy read, as it requires you to piece together the plot on your own. The story is told by about 10 different narrators, so you're presented with different views of the same events, each through its own lens of interpretation. Some people may find this fascinating, others redundant. At times I found myself wondering what the hell the current narrator was even talking about, and had to flip back to a previous version of the same scene and use another narrator's clues to make sen...more
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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 is no...more
"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 is no...more
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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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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like linguistics
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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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2002
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This book grew on me, first like a tumor, then like pleasantly cartilaginous fingernails (which I've never been able to really grow).
What I mean by that is my approach was sullied by two notions: one, that Faulker's one of the canonical American Bad Boys (and by that I am suggesting the odious term Master, Great American *Southern* Novel or mandatory highschoolcollegelitclassreading), and two, it's divided into bite-sized sections which initially as a poetry/shortstory person I found unsat...more
What I mean by that is my approach was sullied by two notions: one, that Faulker's one of the canonical American Bad Boys (and by that I am suggesting the odious term Master, Great American *Southern* Novel or mandatory highschoolcollegelitclassreading), and two, it's divided into bite-sized sections which initially as a poetry/shortstory person I found unsat...more
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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 wrong with...more
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 wrong with...more
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