As I Lay Dying

Rating:
Summary: Characters are the Key
Review: Who would travel 9 days on a wagon with a dead body just to fulfill a wife's last wish? -Grits-for-brains Anse Bundren, who thinks a broken bone should be set in a cast of cement. Other characters' stories are within this seeming simple frame; Dewey Dell, is in search of an abortion; Darl is committed to an asylum; Jewel, who hates Darl, tells the family Darl is crazy; and Addie, long before her death, had an affair with the minister (becoming pregnant with Jewel). What some may consider tough reading, the element of the story is understanding each character.

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Read the original book from which graham swift wrote his booker prize winning "last orders"...and didn't even give due acknowledgement to Faulkner. A good novel, heavy with Biblical undertones.

Rating:
Summary: Badly overrated "classic" by an author who knew better
Review: Ugh. Faulkner seemingly wrote this to prove that English professors and 'sensitive' readers can be suckered into ANYTHING as long as the right name is embossed on the cover.
Featuring a fragmented narrative line and a convoluted plot that seems too smug for its "tragicomic" pretentions, Faulkner presents what must be the most irritating attempt at experimental prose in the twentieth century. For the experts reading this, be honest--if you or I had submitted this waste of perfectly good typing paper, we'd get laughed out of every editor's office in the universe. Any good points found are muddled and ultimately butchered in infancy by the author's pointed attempt to insult the reader with his obvious contempt. Maybe Faulkner had a wager with e e cummings on who could aggravate more readers--that is the only valid reasoning I can find.
One can only assume that Faulkner meant to challenge the reader--a noble, if overwraught notion by someone who mastered the cause of brilliant storyline/narrative balance with "Barn Burning". If you really want a "challenge" this bad, go read the chapter on ambergris in "Moby Dick". This is only to be read by persons desperate to prove their Lit professors are idiots, or by the easily impressed/deluded.

Rating:
Summary: Faulkner's Masterpiece: a modern, multivoiced tragicomedy.
Review: Even more than Absalom, Absalom! and The Sound & The Fury, this novel is Faulkner at the peak of his powers. Told in various voices, this harrowing and darkly-comic tale of a family's attempt to follow the dying wish of its matriarch portrays a vision of the universe that acknowledges man's insignificance & inhumanity while celebrating all that is human. Faulkner manages to depict a present caught in the stranglehold of the past even as he constructs a suspenseful picaresque. The Bundrens are not only travelling across a phantasmagoric southern landscape; they are time-travellers using their shared & individual histories as portals to the future. From the visionary Darl to the heartstrong Jewel to the pathetic Vardaman, the Bundrens become more than characters; they become avatars of humanity, and their struggle to bury their mother becomes an existential struggle for identity and purpose. As gripping as any thriller, as epic as The Odyssey, as provocative & inspirational as the Old Testament itself, this novel will reward many readings and readers alike. This is one classic that can still deliver the goods.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult at first, but worth it
Review: Wow. What a book. As I Lay Dying is the story of the Bundren family, who takes their dead mother Addie (she has just died) to the place where she was born so that she may have a proper burial. The chapter title is the name of the family member narrating that chapter. It's extremely confusing to understand at first, but after a while you begin to get it. The entire story is their trip, and as you read through the chapters you get insights into each of the character's personalities, feelings and perspectives. You even get descriptions of the family from people who see them, and that gives you a more objective perspective on what's happening. Each of the chapters is written very differently, which helps give you a better sense for each of the characters. One son is very methodical and precise, and the writing reflects that. Other entries are more like streams of consciousness.

This is a tough book to understand, but it is definitely worth it. Faulkner is a brilliant writer.

Rating:
Summary: Faulkner is as good as it gets
Review: Faulkner is a genius. He might be the greatest writer of this century and that opinion is based on two novels that I have read of his. The first one I completed was The Sound and the Fury, which became my all time favorite book, and I didn't think he could come close to matching that work of art. As I Lay Dying comes close, however, to reaching the greatness Faulkner achieved to the prior. In terms of creativity and originality in writing style it might even be better (although it lacks the same level of genius, complexity, and power that The Sound and the Fury had.) Yet, this is a masterpiece it its own right. Dazzling, complex, and startlingly original, this is a novel that dares to lead you down a daring, unorthodox, dreamlike flow of words, and takes you into a world like no other.

The story is not complicated, but rather simple and straightforward. It is the characters and writing style that makes this book a phenomenon. As I Lay Dying has fifty-nine chapters, told in alternate by various family members and outsiders who are observing. Every chapter is told in first person, and with every character, the writing style is brilliantly changed in order to fit the pathos of the individual who is telling the story. The plot simply is this: A dying mother has a wish to be buried in a town a considerable distance from her own, and makes a request of her family to take her there and bury her when she has passed on. The novel takes us on that journey to bury her, told by her sons, her daughter, her husband, and other outsiders. The most ironic element is that most of the characters have their own selfish, alternative motives for wanting to make the voyage into town to bury their dead mother. Whether it be buying some new teeth or wanting to find a doctor to perform an abortion. Nothing is as it seems here.

One of the main characters is Darl, a son of Addie (the dying mother), who is viewed as insane by the rest of the family, when in actuality; he is the sanest one of all. Darl's sections are told in beautiful, poetic, sublime, and even hypnotic storytelling. The others sons of Addie are Jewel, Cash, and Vardaman. Cash is extremely methodical and can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Thus, his sections are very orderly, simple, and structured. Jewel only has one section of his own throughout the nove and is viewed by the others as violent and uncaring. Jewel, ironically, is the only one in the family that the mother Addie ever cared about. Addie herself being a mean and lonely individual, it is interesting to see how screwed up the family she has created turns out to be. Vardaman is the youngest, mentally handicapped son of Addie. His sections are told in a sporadic "stream of conscious style", that is often confusing, just as he might really think. Dewey Dell is the only daughter of the family. She is very naïve, unintelligent, and sexually driven. The father of this crazy clan is Anse, who is a lazy, worthless father who cares nothing for anyone but himself. The story is also told by other supporting characters who give us subjective views of the Bundren family, which may be the most odd, pathetic family ever to hit the pages of any novel.

Again I want to reiterate that it is not the story, but how the story is told that makes this a marvel and a gem. Notice the brilliancy which Faulkner changes his writing style from character to character. He takes us inside each one of their heads and by the end we know everyone, including the supporting cast, very well. There is also much symbolism sprinkled throughout, and for a full comprehensive study, the Cliff Notes might come in handy (although this book is not nearly and complicated as The Sound and the Fury)

One might argue that why should we even give a damn about the pathetic flight of this pathetic family. One argument to counter that would be that Faulkner wrote this book in order to gauge the reaction of his audience. At times we don't know whether to laugh at the dark comedy that is a central theme in the novel, or to cry out in pity for the characters and their heartaches. The mood of the novel has a very wide range of effect, and Faulkner knew all this. At times, he almost dares the readers to laugh when they shouldn't, or be emotionally stirred when it seems unnecessary.

The one argument that no one can make is how breathtakingly original the material presented here is. I doubt I will ever find a book this creative, even if it is not the most emotional or poignant subject matter. The description is dazzling, inventive, and daring. Overall the book is tour de force of literary creativity and imagination. I was memorized by the whole experience, and this is actually a very entertaining book as well. Of course, it dives in much deeper than the shallow realm of mindless entertainment. Like all great novels, you could continue to discover new things with every read. The characters alone could be talked about for days, and there could be a slew of different opinions as to what their motives are and what makes them who they are.

Yes Faulkner, you have done it again. You have taken the reader into another one of your gleaming, surreal visions. You have lifted us off the boring plateau of mechanical reading and taken us into another one of your worlds full of symbol and uniqueness. It is too bad that too many other writers don't try as hard as you do to make the novels we read this impressive and unforgettable.

Grade: A


Rating:
Summary: Southern Perspective
Review: Published in 1930, As I Lay Dying uses thirteen narrators to explore the many voices found in a Southern family and community.

In this particular novel, Addie Bundren, the wife and mother to a poor white farm family, is on her deathbed. Friends and family members gather to help ease her pain and to prepare for her funeral. She is a proud, bitter woman who is ready to die. She feels her husband is worthless, her neighbors overly-religious and annoying, and of all her children, she only loves her son Jewel. As her last wish, she requests that her husband bury her among her family in the town of Jefferson. And so, upon her death, her family, for the most part begrudgingly, follows through with her wish. We hear from everyone involved in the journey, including Addie from the grave-a testament to Faulkner's creation of an environment so believable that such outrageousness is allowed. The humor is dark. You might not expect to laugh at the image of a dead women's corpse falling from a casket into a river-but you will.

Faulkner used multiple narratives, each with his or her own interests and biases, to create a puzzle that readers could piece together the 'true' circumstances of the story.

The conclusion presents a key to understanding the background to the central event in a way that traditional linear narratives simply cannot accomplish. With that said, As I Lay Dying all of the narrators are believable, even Addie who is dead when we hear from her. This method of narration greatly effects how you encounter the story since a character speaking from his own point-of-view creates a limited but intimate perspective while an omniscient narrator often gives the impression of authorial investment and oversight, yet maintains a distance from the characters.

The most brilliant aspect of this novel is how Faulkner carefully weaves bits and pieces from the many narrative voices, thereby creating a rich tapestry of often conflicting and competing perspectives. With this complex technique, seamlessly accomplished, we are forced to analyze the information and come to our own understanding.

For more books reviews on your favorite southern authors see our website: http://www.southernlitreview.com

Rating:
Summary: As I Lay Dying - review
Review: Faulkner's, As I Lay Dying, is slow and confusing, but eventually will grow on you. Different characters at certain points in the plot present the novel to you. You eventually become accustom to the form of stream of conscious narrative in this Novel. The slowness has mostly to do with the language used and the topic. The characters are basically the slums of white society in the old south, and old southern language is exactly what you read. The detail given is drawn out as well. These two elements make for long and boring reading. The novel is about a woman who dies, and her wish to be buried in Jefferson is carried out by her family. The novel describes their trials along the way. The dysfunction of her family isn't exactly my slice of pie to read about.

Rating:
Summary: Read this as a screenplay...
Review: An easy way to approach this book is to imagine that it is the narration to a movie, but that for some reason we can't see the screen. Remember that Faulkner was a successful screen writer, with Humphrey Bogart's The Big Sleep to his credit. A book usually tells a story, but a movie shows us people. This book might not spend much time on a story, but it does tell us a lot about the people in it.

We find Faulkner's novels difficult because of their style. This classic tale of a morose family burying their matriarch is a stream-of-consciousness novel, meaning Faulkner wrote something that mimics our "internal monologue", i.e. the verbal thoughts that go through our head whenever we daydream, or take a walk, or do something that requires little concentration.

The difficulty, and the pleasure, in this technique comes from having to piece together ourselves what really happens. Faulkner has the main characters talking to themselves and since they already know themselves and the people around them, they don't need to describe what we want to know, leaving us always confused. However, they do drop hints. For example, when we meet Darl early on, we know this is a younger character because he refers to "pa" and "ma". A couple of short chapters later, Cora says that all he needs to become right is to find a wife, so we know he's a young man of age to marry.

By the end of the novel, all that we know of the Bundren family was revealed to us this way. Once we turn the last page, we realize that we know everything important about this family: who has courage, who is generous, who is self-righteous, who is short tempered, who has suffered and when and why. And all this without a plot.

Rating:
Summary: As I Lay Reading
Review: I am presently reading this book. At first the text appears very disjointed if you are not prepared to react differently to the text at hand than one would normally do upon reading a "traditional styled narrative". By about page 50 I finally began to be taken in by the text and am now fully appreciative of what Mr. Faulkner perhaps tried to accomplish. That is write without the usual constraints of time and space being the used as a pattern to follow sequentially.

A very good read if you want to be engaged in the act itself rather than just lazily following the words of the story as pretty well every form of traditional writing technique.

Definately not for the passive reader.