Rating: 
Summary: woohoo for formal innovation
Review: This book has neither the emotional oomph of "The Sound and the Fury" nor the huge scope of "Light in August," but it is absolutely breathtaking as a stylistic tour de force and as an exploration of consciousness. Which is not to say that the book is at all dry; no indeed. The plot is beautifully archetypal, the characters never cease to shock, amaze, and entertain, and of course Faulkner writes like a force of nature. The weirdness of the form may throw off those who aren't prepared for it, but to some extent formal innovation was what modernism was all about. Like Faulkner's other great books, this one requires a high level of reader participation: passive entertainment is not the name of the game. But if you're willing to think about the book while you read it, you will discover the richness of Faulkner's thought about heroism, "artistic" detachment, and the way language and experience are related. Here's something to get you started: how can Darl narrate his mother's death if he's not even there?
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opening
Review: It is impossible to say how wonderful this book is because nothing I could say would do it justice. As I Lay Dying sparked my interest in Faulkner; he is now one of my favorite authors. The book is somewhat difficult to read the first time, but that is what makes it so wonderful. It is one of those pieces of literature that you can read over and over and never tire of it because you are always seeing something that was not there before.As I Lay Dying is a tale of a poor, white family in the south. After the death of the mother, the family undergoes the task of traveling to her hometown to bury her. While the basic story may seem bland, it is actually far from it!!! Like most stories, there are obstacles that must be overcome, but what makes this story so wonderful is Faulkner's characterization. The story is told from the perspectives of various characters, each one explaining the same events from different points of views. Through this type of writing, Faulkner does not simply inform you of the characters, he lets you experience them. I can definitely say that each character touched my heart in one way or another. By the end of the story, I was cussing and crying. It was almost as though the characters and the story were based on real people and circumstances. What else might I say that would explain how wonderful this book is? I suppose that what touched me most was how a family that people sterotyped as worthless revealed more honor, more devotion, and more heroism than could have ever been thought. It is an eye-opening book about life and responsiblity, about honor and pride. It is a book that everyone should definitely read at least twice.
Rating: 
Summary: Dismal
Review: I've been attempting to read at least a couple of books by each of the world's great writers. It is a fantastic process discovering new and varied genius. This book was my first Faulkner and it will be my last. It is one of the few "great books" which completely escapes me. Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I think good writing should have clarity. I just do not enjoy reading a passage and wondering what is being said or what just happened. This book is so abstract and filled with so much hillbilly jargon that I only have the vaguest notion as to what is going on. I can't visualize the action with any exactingness. Some might say it is with artistic intention that this vagueness is created, for "montage" or impressionistic effect. I'm surprised many people find that sufficiently satisfying. To me it is frustratingly confusing. The subject matter of the story is, of course, very dismal. This adds to the depressing experience. "Grapes of Wrath" likewise dealt with an impoverished and arduous journey, but the strength and merit of the characters was revealed through clarity of writing and dimension in the story line. Here, character development is minimal. By the end of the book I don't know these people, and furthermore I don't find myself liking them all that much. I do appreciate the different character first-person perspectives of each chapter, that is the only aspect of the book which I find myself admiring. But it is not redeeming. I do give it an extra star, for that reason only. Normally when I finish a paperback book the pages are filled with my markings which highlight the passages or phrases or ideas which I want to return to some day. I finished this book without a single mark. Hopefully I'll have better luck with Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, the next book at the top of my stack.
Rating:
Summary: Faulkner with training wheels: helmet still advised ;-)
Review: To quote the briefest chapter, the one that would surely catch your eye if you picked it off a shelf and skimmed through it: "My mother is a fish." As with his stunning _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_ and _Absalom_Absalom_, this book makes use of the author's masterful use of stream-of-conscious writing to render an entire reality with internal monologues. The story unfolds as you construct it from the observations and responses of the characters. Though briefer and less challenging than these other two books, it's as absorbing a read as they have been for decades. When you reach the end, you can imagine that you'll pick up the book again someday, sure there's more to explore. The structure is simple once you get the hang of it. Each chapter is the name of a particular character in the story of the family of Addie Bundren, dead in the first few pages, and being transported by her clan to the land of her birth for burial-by wagon, in the heat and dust, over rivers, for weeks, before the vacuum seal... There is no "Once upon a time." Instead, whatever that character is thinking at the instant the chapter begins is what you're reading. Soon, you know who everyone is and what she thinks of everyone else. The effect of this structure is that you can inhabit the narrative as each of the players, can see how events are interpreted differently. It's also like a mystery-someone will have troubled thoughts about something you can't quite distinguish; then, twenty pages later, you figure out what they've been talking about and you flip backward in a frenzy to see how the early references to the issue flesh out the story. This is a terribly rewarding way of reading. This is a great first Faulkner for everyone. You develop the ability to read his complex novels by virtue of the simplicity of the story and the mostly brief chapters, each from a fresh point of view. You learn to read on if you don't get something. (Important skill: Faulkner is one of my absolute favorite authors since high school, and one of my favorite things is that you have to trust the story to tell you what you need to know in time. Not only do you get the reward of context for the occasional non sequitur, but you have the thrill of anticipation when something weird happens. This book is a great example of how, unlike Hemingway, where you have to read a basically boring story over and over to understand all the juicy stuff, Faulkner gives you nibbles of fantastic plot to hold you through the ultimate analysis.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Faulkner Book
Review: Many people contend that Faulkner's books are only concerned with the nature of man in the American South. Although set in the South (Faulkner was, after all, from Mississippi), I think his books explore the nature of man...everywhere. In my opinion, As I Lay Dying is his masterpiece. The Bundren's are the poorest family Faulkner ever wrote about and their journey across Mississippi to bury their wife and mother is both harrowing and revealing. Faulkner uses multiple viewpoint and writes perfect stream-of-consciousness. This is not the poetic stream-of-consciousness of Virginia Woolf, however, or the elegant stream-of-consciousness of James Joyce. Faulkner's unique brand is more intimate and revealing, more raw, more down-to-earth.
Each of the characters we hear from has his own unique perspective and voice, but the differences are subtle and never jarring as is the case with lesser authors. Faulkner had enormous talent; he knew there was no reason for him to "try too hard." As I Lay Dying isn't always an enjoyable read, but it's a classic of American (as well as world) literature and definitely should not be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't be scared to pick this book up
Review: I had only heard bad things about William Faulkner's writing, so I was a little leery of this book. However, once I got into it, it wasn't that bad. I liked how Faulkner was able to construct a plot without having the reader even noticing it. As I Lay Dying is a very good representative of stream of consciousness writing. I also like how Faulkner develops his characters through what the other characters in the book think about each other. Not only do you get to learn what each character thinks of the other characters, but it allows you to form your own opinion on the characters, which would otherwise be hard to do if you only had one point of view to go by. The story is about the Bundren family who find themselves having a hard time trying to fulfill their mother's last wish, to be buried with her family. Through these experiences, Faulkner explores many themes including the importance of family and religion. Faulkner also explores other social issues that arise from being a poor country family living in the South. This book should be read in literature classes at the high school and college level. It is a good introduction to stream of consciousness writing and brings up a lot of good topics that can be discussed.
Rating:
Summary: Intro to William Faulkner
Review: I've read three of Faulkner's great novels, "Absalom, Absalom!" "The Sound and the Fury," and this one. Of the three, "As I Lay Dying" is the easiest and perhaps the most fun. Actually, after about the first 10 pages or so, the storyline is pretty easy to figure out. The only thing difficult is differentiating and remembering all the character names and associating the characters with their actions. Taking notes might actually be helpful. A family tree in the beginning would have been helpful too, but I'm sure Faulkner would have objected. Faulkner forces you to figure out simple things like gender, relative age, and familial relationships without giving you too many clues, but things soon become clear. Of the three Faulkner novels I've read, this is by far the funniest, and has a great punchline at the end. A must read for Faulkner fans, and if you're going to dive in to his works, this is a great place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Requires Patience
Review: This is at least the third or fourth time that I've read this book. The first two or three times were over 30 years ago in Literature classes. Then I was impressed by the writing. Today after many years of living I am still impressed by the writing, but even more so I am impressed by the understanding that Faulkner had for people. Anse is still the feckless, malicious, narcisist that gets me so incredibly angry that I wish he were real so I could use a baseball bat on him. (Not that I would do such a thing). But I find that he's more than just an evil character as Darl is more than the poet/philospher "good" character gone nuts and then betrayed. All of the characters are as human as can be with incredibly rich inner lives that can't be articulated in the world that they inhabit. . . Everyone has some kind of depth to them. It's just that it takes art to reveal that depth as fully as can be. And that I think is the value of a book like this. Read the book and try to feel what the characters are feeling. Oh my God! Does that mean our President has depth??
Rating: 
Summary: really stupid and annoying characters
Review: really ahrd to understand. The characters are really selfich. It was really un realistic as well and all in all I thought that it was aretty stupid and not worth any one's time. Byt the way, even my dad and Mom agree with me and my mom is and English magor.
Rating:
Summary: The Quintessential Faulkner
Review: Among academics and literary connoisseurs at the moment, William Faulkner is generally the greatest American author to ever write. This novel, his quintessential work, is one of the main reasons why; it also epitomizes his work in many ways, collecting in one place many of his most pivotal techniques, themes, and concerns. The book's narrative complexity is widely-noted and highly-praised: the novel is composed of some 50-odd sections of narration by 15 different narrators. Each speaker has a distinctive personality, parlance, and way of viewing the world. The entire story is built around one central event: the death of the Bundren family matriarch, hence the title. As with The Sound and the Fury, the structure is not linear: it is told in bits and starts by each narrator, each revealing something that the others didn't reveal while also concealing something that the others did not. Different people often present the same event in totally different ways. The different sections of narration and the multiple narrators also provide insight into the psychology (and psychopathology) of each speaker. In the writing, Faulkner alternates between what the characters say, what they consciously think, and even what they unconsciously think. These latter two, especially the unconscious thoughts, are presented by Faulkner in a realistic and true-to-life manner: sometimes random, sometimes seemingly nonsensical, and sometimes incomplete. In so doing, Faulkner skillfully and successfully employs the often-cited but much-maligned and frequently-misunderstood technique of stream-of-consciousness. One might get the sense that Faulkner had a hard time running back and forth between the various plates that he had spinning, in order to keep any of them from falling down. If this was indeed the case, it is not apparent, and Faulkner pulls off the immensely complicated and complex task with grace, skill, and even apparent ease where a lesser author would've fallen flat on his or her face. In my view, anyone who can pull off such a task is nothing less than a genius. As one might expect, it is not exactly an easy read, especially the first time around -- for the text simply cries out for multiple readings -- but, once one gets the hang of the narration, it moves quite quickly and one is able to enjoy the storyline to its full extent. While the story and plot themselves, aside from the narrative complexity, might be quite simple, Faulkner manages to show much simple humanity in it. The Bundren family, in attempting to bury its matriarch, undergoes Job-like traumatic experience after traumatic experience. In relating their adventures and misfortunes, Faulkner lays on thick his particularly macabre brand of dark humor. The book is also positively dripping with Faulkner's particular brand of pathos. He also explores many of his central themes: the importance of the family, and particularly the matriarch to Southern life; the importance of the church (God and religion) to the same; the after-effects of the Civil War on the South; issues of class and race; the cyclical nature of life (as in the book's surprising, if not outright shocking, ending). In all of As I Lay Dying's broad implications and features, Faulkner created one of the great American novels. If one has never read Faulkner before, this is the place to start: it is basically an epitomization of his work, while also being an easier first read than, say, The Sound and the Fury. If one has read Faulkner before, pick this up for another great read.
|
