The Sound and the Fury

Rating:
Summary: we seldom agree except about what's his name? what about?
Review: it's not kansas anymore

no its not

well what's a kansas

stick to the story b-but we are supposed to tell people what we think we what?

think?

think what?

mind your own business

hey be quite quiet please i'm reading

reading what

the sound and the fury

b-but we read that last week!

and i wasn't paying any attention

well that's your fault

well i've got the eyes today

Rating:
Summary: excrutiating
Review: This was an excruciating reading experience. An uninteresting story, badly written. Memo to the reading public: do not get on a plane to L.A. with only this book to read.

GRADE: F

Rating:
Summary: Trying but Rewarding
Review: It is 12:15 AM on a Sunday night right now, about 5 minutes ago I finished writing my essay on the Quentin section. This has been a beautiful book, which I realized upon reading it for a second time and digesting it with a group of extremely intelligent people. There are some parts of the Quentin section that I will never understand, that Faulkner himself might never understand (he could have been hitting the bottle a little too hard the night he wrote it). Do not be dismayed by it's reputation as a "hard" book! Read it once, twice, ten times, and you will begin to understand.

Rating:
Summary: Literary masterpiece, interesting read.
Review: This novel details the downfall of the Compsons, a former aristocratic Southern family. It is full of imagery and emotion. One of the images that is prominent in the novel is that of the shadow. Faulkner uses images such as this to tie different aspects of the story together, and relate different parts to one another.

The narrative for the first part of the story is Benji, who is a thirty-three year old man with the mind of three year old. This makes for confusing reading in the beginning, because a three year doesn't distinguish between seemingly important details such as race, sex, and family relation. At the end of the first section, you will be left with one big question mark about who is related to who and what is even going on, but your head will soon clear at the start of the second section, told by Quentin, Benji's brother and a Harvard undergrad with some serious head problems of his own. During this part of the novel, the characters and their intertwining relationships become clear, and you will be able to understand what is going on. Just in time to hate the jerk named Jason who is the narrator in the third part. The last part is written by an omniscient narrator who puts everything in even better perspective.

The whole novel is written in such a way that the reader only gets glimpses into the family and the character, kind of like what happens with neighbors, acquaintances, and friends in real life. The reader is left to draw many of her or his own conclusions. This is not a typical Happy Family story with a Happy Family Ending. It is a realistic story of a family's fall. Faulkner does an exceptional job of recreating Southern family life post-war, and he won all those prizes to prove it. The Sound and the Fury is essential reading when it comes to American Literature, and it is a convincing family portrait. After being immersed in this novel and disappointed that I had finished it, I bought three more of Faulkner's book because he is such an awesome writer! Faulkner is also important to America's literary tradition and I am glad I became familiar with him through this book.

Rating:
Summary: Shows what fiction is capable of
Review: I have to admit, I had a tough time with this the first time through it as well--especially with Benjy's and Quentin's sections. Each section is so difficult in a totally different way form the other: in the first, you follow the thoughts of Benjy, a congenital idiot, and in the second you follow those of the intelligent, introspective, neurotic and suicidial Quentin. Both sections drive you crazy trying to keep up. Yet if you read it a second time, once you have more of an idea of what's going on, you come to see how deeply poetic the writing is (especially with Benjy), and how moving. One of my favorite scenes is when Benjy squats in a dark corner with Caddy's slipper which he can see with his hands and which still smells like trees.

Faulkner, you understand, was not showing off when he wrote this the way he did (in fact, he never thought it would be published while he was writing it). He had a story to tell, and he told the story in the only way that, in his mind, would come close to doing it justice, and with the utmost compassion for his tragic characters, especially for the doomed Caddy, whom he would later call his "heart's darling."

So, if you're willing to make a little effort with your mind, you can experience this novel, which really is one of the best ever written by an American. Just keep in mind that Faulkner isn't going to write the novel that YOU want to read. As with any piece of art, you must make the journey to Faulkner, not the other way round.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult yet rewarding
Review: The structure of this book is totally original and very useful for the author though it may cause the reader to struggle with the first two sections. Don't fight it. Faulkner may write for a page with no punctuation or capitalization in Quentin's portion. Benjy's portion may confuse you silly at times with time. Jason's and Dilsey's portions are more traditional. Much of the novel content revolves around familial changes.

Having the Cliffs Notes isn't a bad idea.

Rating:
Summary: Englightening
Review: Enlightening that anyone perserved long enough to make it through it. I suppose that is, in part, why it is upheld--so the one praising can say they read the work. Aside from that, which I still refute the creativity, at times, detracks from the the work, it is an entertaining, puzzling, perplexing roller-coaster read.

Rating:
Summary: Complex and dazzling, but utterly uninteresting
Review: As an avid fan of difficult fiction I expected more from this offering of Faulkner. I assent that his prose is rich, dynamic, complex, and sometimes otherworldly in its fullness. I would even call myself a fan of Faulkner's other work, but Sound and Fury left me wondering why the label of greatness has been so often attached to this book.

As a book more style-driven than plot-focused, Faulkner creates a canvas on which he can impress and baffle us with his sheer command of the English language. He shows once again that he is perhaps unmatched among 20th century writers in his ability to bewitch a reader through language.

Yet my chief complaint arises from this very issue. Sound and Fury is no doubt impressive, if not remarkable, in its stylistic value, but fails miserably as an enjoyable read. Sometimes experimental fiction (and I feel justifiable in deeming Sound as experimental in its prose) works exceedingly well; as for example Finnegan's Wake - which is both dazzlingly complex and still delightful to read. Faulkner simply does not succeed at making his tale of the demise of the Compton family interesting enough to merit much praise. I am all in favor of impressive literature, but in order for any book, no matter how groundbreaking it may be, to be "good" or a "classic," it still must pass the test of being a worthwhile way to spend one's time. In this, Sound and Fury fails.

While it may be an innovative modern work, I recommend passing on this one.

Rating:
Summary: What is absolute truth? Can it be expressed?
Review: A simple glance at this review's title tells the reader that The Sound and the Fury is no simple read! Of course, that feeling will be confirmed by reading the reviews listed below. As in life, however, the truly rewarding thing never comes too easily...

The book deals with the saga (I hate to use that word but it applies very well in this case) of the Compson family of Jefferson, Mississippi, a once-proud clan now shamefully falling from grace, generation by generation. The story, which I will not divulge, is told four times- each time by a different character, comprising a separate section of the book. Each section is somewhat different, as different people often see the same event differently depending on their viewpoints, opinions, and experiences.

The first section is told by Benjy, a profoundly retarded man. The next is told by Quentin, his brother; the third by Jason (another brother); and the last is omniscient though it concentrates on the thoughts of the housekeeper. There is no narrative to speak of, and the thought patterns of the disturbed characters are very nonlinear, to say the least. All three brothers are, in one way or another, obsessed with their sister Caddy. The reader is never introduced to Caddy and is thus forced to paint a picture of her from the contradictory descriptions of her brothers' thoughts.

There are various tragic twists and turns and the reader is not sure what really happened until the end of the book (and sometimes not even then). But enough plot... read the book yourself for that. I want to talk about Jason-

It is often said that the sections become easier to read as the book proceeds. Fair enough, because the first section refers to events which the reader cannot know have taken place yet. However, it is concomitantly assumed that as the book continues, the character telling the story becomes more sane. Jason is considered as a mean but sensible character, who runs a tight ship. This is, to me, nonsense. Jason is completely psychotic. His interactions with ALL the characters in the book indicate this. He constantly claims that money is not important, and yet he hoards nickels and dimes in his room and steals from his own family... not just theft but an elaborate embezzlement scheme of forgery and pretending to burn checks. He claims that he would never bet on a team with Babe Ruth, even if he knew in advance that it would win- and then complains that his "jews" ie stock informers from New York are withholding market information from him just to ruin him. Paranoia is a definite sign of psychosis to me. Quentin, on the other hand, is completely neurotic.

A psychotic man thinks that 2+2 = 5. A neurotic man knows that the answer is 4, BUT IT BOTHERS HIM! Chew on that one for a bit...

As Faulkner himself admitted, the book was a failure in that it was unclear. This, however, leads to a thesis discussed in his next novel, that of.... can it possibly be revealed using our system? Are words adequate to reveal the story? Words get in the way sometimes, after all, clouding up communication. Either way, it's an interesting idea, no? It sure beats Grisham novels at least....By the way, don't use cliff's notes... instead, go to the site "William Faulkner on the Web" for help with the jump cuts through time in the first two sections.

Check it out!

Rating:
Summary: Literary Masterpiece
Review: A rather simple plot of a southern family that has lost status is turned into a commentary on human nature and the individual both as part of society as well as an antagonist. I cannot pinpoint the one aspect of The Sound and the Fury that made it my favorite book. Human flaws and virtues are realistically depicted making the characters interesting and easy to relate to. Rather than glorifying unusual occurrences, everyday events are presented with their deserved importance. The diction, which at more than one occasion is difficult to follow, ranges from simple to in occasions beautifully poetic.

The first section is told from the point of view of a 33-year-old mentally handicapped man. This character used only description of sensory perception as a tool of understanding. And it is often described as a "man-child", a 3-year old brain in a 33 year old body .

The second section is written from the point of view of a brilliant 18-year-old college student named Quentin Compson. He loses himself in elaborate prose and imaginary conversations; his main concerns are those he cannot control: the passage of time, the changing and growing up of those around him and a contradictory society. Quentin holds on to his idealistic views but soon loses all hope as he replays in his mind his father's cynical arguments and faces a society where he feels he is misunderstood.

The third section is told from the point of view of Jason, the eldest brother. He's most likely regarded as an "unlovable character" characterized by his pessimism and cynicism. He is very practical, greedy and selfish. However, the reader cannot but feel pity for this man. While he's brother was sent to Harvard, he was made to stay in his hometown and become a simple businessman. Jason is also terribly unhappy. Unlike Quentin, this unhappiness is not due to existential causes, but plane prejudice and lack of financial prosperity.

The last section differs from the first three. Rather than being in "stream-of-consciousness" form, it's point of view is omniscient. The section is named after the woman-servant named Dilsey. Unlike Quentin who feared the passage of time and Benjy who was stuck in the past, Dilsey adjusts to time and accommodates her life according to the passage of time.

I have been most impacted by books whose characters are not stereotyped or idealized, but contain human virtues as well as flaws. After finishing each section of The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, I felt sorrow in abandoning the minds characters I had grown to care for, or grown to dislike.