Rating: 
Summary: Should you buy it?
Review: Yes, if: you like writing that forces you to work, you like putting together pieces of a puzzle, you expect great books to have great effects, you want to learn more about the craft of writing, you come from the South.No, if: You want to relax, you don't like complexities or ambiguities, you can't stand racists, you like your plots out of a can, you have never and don't intend to read Joyce, Proust, Shakespeare, the Bible.
Rating: 
Summary: I did NOT overrate this book
Review: Though it is certainly not for everyone, it remains to be a work of a creative genius. The writing style is very unorthodox, and it is very compelling and powerful. I especially loved the narrative told by the mentally retarded Benjy, and the characters are highly developed and you get to know them. If you have a long attention span and undertake the challenge of reading this book and succeed, it will whisp you away to a different place where you are in the South and in Southern psyches that snowball down a hill.
Rating:
Summary: Called a Classic for good reason!
Review: If the readers seeks a challenging book, this is a great place to start. Very existential, but the symbolism isn't cheap like a hack writer's. I heard a story once where the publisher, upon seeing the first half of the original manuscript told someone it was brilliant. "What's the book about," the person is supposed to have said. "I have no idea," said the publisher.
Rating:
Summary: There's something about the South . . .
Review: By far the most difficult part about reading S&F was convincing myself that I really wanted to tackle the novel. And yet, upon sitting down to read the book I was immediately engrossed by the Compson's story. A self-proclaimed Faulkner fanatic, S&F presents itself as his most exciting novel. Filled with issues we have all (on some level) contemplated within our own convoluted minds, S&F forces us to reevaluate our understanding of love, family, death, and most importantly why we bother to endure through each day. For those of us desperately searching for conections between Faulkner's books and his nobel prize speech, S&F unfortunately does not offer any overt references as to how we can or should ultimately prevail. Or does it? Maybe the power found within S&F lies in its refusal to indicate a way in which we should all strive to prevail and instead shows how deeply personal the matter must be for each individual.
Rating: 
Summary: Too confusing
Review: Faulkner is good and all, but the book loses too much as it is all out of order. It's like he had the original manuscript and then dropped it and the it fell all over the place and he picked it back up and said, hey, it's a book. it reminded me a lot of pulp fiction in that respect. The only challenging part if reorganizng. After thathe book is pretty basic. they should publish an edition all strightened out and in order, like they did with the godfather.
Rating:
Summary: Challenging, difficult, rewarding - an emotional experience
Review: This book was my reading group's last choice - the brief of the group that we choose challenging books that we may not otherwise read. And Faulkner lived up to that. A tour-de-force! No doubt owing to my own ignorance of his writing I was taken aback by the sheer skill coupled with the ability to involve the reader emotionally. I found myself in tears at one point on the top deck of my bus into work - and I could not pick any one point which caused this, just a general feeling of sadness which overcame me. Faulkner makes you sense the narrator without understanding the context or narrative. I am still not sure I understood the book and I am sure I will gain much by re-reading it - which I intend to do. A great and important novel - read it!
Rating:
Summary: Complete the story with Absolom, Absolom!
Review: I agree with all the rave reviews given here, but don't forget to complete this story by reading Faulkner's greatest work (in my opinion), Absolom, Absolom!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing coherency for such a deep, confusing novel.
Review: Faulkner uses a quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth as the substinance of this novel: "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow/ Creeps in this petty pace from day to day/ To the last syllable of recorded time,/And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/ The way to dusty death. Out, out, breif candle!/ Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more. It is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing." No other author has ever extracted so much meaning from 10 lines of Shakespeare, and from it he draws one of (if not the) greastest American novel of all time, which does not simply recount the lives of a southern family, but decribes us all on levels that we find ourselves, but never admit to.
Rating:
Summary: In Search of Humanity and Truth
Review: This is not your typical book and it doesn't have your typical content. It is tough going from the start. The first section is told by an idiot who can't comprehend time!! The second section is told by a neurotic on the day of his suicide. The third by a Southern bigot. The fourth by the standard secondary narrative. This novel searches into humanity's soul. It questions truth, time, race, history, and many other themes. But don't believe me. Go out and read the book yourself!
Rating:
Summary: One of the most influential books in 20th Century Literature
Review: If you are a reader who desperately needs a strong plot with lots of twists and turns, this is not a book for you. However, if you enjoy strange nonlinear narratives and a piece of literature that makes you work, and work hard, buy this. Faulkner explores the psche of the "New South", delving into socio-politics, incest, the decay of Southern aristocracy, and the pride and dysfunction of the Compson Family. Benjy's narrative can be very daunting, confusing, and unintelligible at times, but the following narratives seem to put things into context. On one page of this novel a reader feels total confusion and exasperation, but on the next she/he feels the joy and beauty of Faulkner's prose. If you are intrigued with Southern Literature, this is a seminal text. Read it, enjoy it, and read it again and again and again.
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