As I Lay Dying General Discussion

[Kelly (Maybedog), Minister of Illicit Reading]

This topic is for discussing As I Lay Dying: by William Faulkner

[[deleted user]]

Obviously this type of writing appeals to some people, but to me it the whole book was disjointed, incoherent, and frequently just plain nonsensical. If I hadn't been reading it for the book club I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it.

Definitely not a book I would have bothered banning, either. I don't see what people have to get upset about in this book.

[Pam]

Yeah, I just finished reading the book and it was definitely a struggle. I almost wish there was a glossary in the back to explain some of the lingo. In any case, I think I got the jist of what the characters were saying. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, but thank goodness it wasn't any longer than it was because I really don't think I could have fought through another 100 pages of that style of writing lol!

[T.K.]

*As I Lay Dying* was the first Faulkner book that I read that I *got.* I'd read *Light in August* and some others, and my reading wasn't good enough. *AILD* is definitely Faulkner's gateway drug.

And (I'm not promoting here, because my books are out of print because my publisher went out of biz int he Great Recession, so you can't buy them, so there!) I have a scene in RABID that was obviously influenced by AILD. It's one of my favorite scenes.

TK Kenyon