The Sound and the Fury
Ratings110
Average rating3.7
Not rating because I think I should read it again someday when I have more time.
Second Faulkner book I've read, and his style is definitely not for me. Painful, convoluted read. Not my thing.
absolutely phenomenal from start to finish. such a difficult read, but one that i enjoyed nonetheless. would love to own a physical copy of this!
Full disclosure I didn't finish this book, I read Benji's section the end and maybe a dozen pages of Quintin's.
Two stars for interesting writing style and concept but ultimately I just don't want to spend the hours required to read the inner thoughts of a suicidal Harvard student and his older brother who is a complete jerk.
Read this while at University and loved it! Tried it again 10 years later and just couldn't get into it.
Can sense that this book was really good, but so much of it went over my head that I can't say I enjoyed it so much. Well written, but not enough for me to want to reread it again to decipher what happened. Glad I read it however.
finally over with this book depression hit hard in the midde so you will have to excuse me; great book but the wild palms is still better
Just finished this book for the second time...my did I get much more out of it this time than when I was 17 years old!
Still continually amazed at the level to which Faulkner can immerse himself into a literary character. I made the comment in a book club that his treatment of Benjy, Quentin (son), and Jason was like an actor preparing for a movie role. There was very little, if any, stylistic carry-over from one section to the next, which made the reader feel like he/she was in the head of the individual narrating that particular section.
This time, I picked up more on the racial themes as well as the struggles states like Mississippi had in the generation following the Civil War. I especially liked how the part of the Compson family that tended to side with Jason (father) - i.e. Quentin (son), Caddy, and Quentin (C's daughter) - were ultimately set free from the deteriorating family through death or relocation. Jason (son) and Caroline (i.e. the Bascomb side) were left to continue deteriorating into obscurity. Benjy was simply caught in the middle with no choice but to watch it happen.
Again, great book. I would not change the five-star rating. My only qualm with it was the jarring transition to third person narration in the Dilsey section. I wish it would have stayed in first person...I just grew too attached to the first person upon this reading. Still, though, an excellent read and re-read.