Rating: 
Summary: Complex by design and difficult to read
Review: William Faulkner wrote this book in 1929; twenty years later it was awarded a Nobel prize. It's been hailed as a masterpiece and some people think it's the best book of the 20th Century. I disagree. Of course, I do have certain preconceived expectations for a book. I expect it to make sense immediately. This is not the case here.The first long chapter is written from the point of view of the retarded Benjy, one of four siblings in a dysfunctional southern family. It is all random phrases and feelings covering a time span of thirty years, mixed up and confused and impossible to follow. It made no sense and I found it extremely difficult to plod through. The second chapter takes place 18 years earlier and is also told in a stream of conscious style with an entirely different voice, that of Quentin, the Harvard College student obsessed with his sister Caddie's innocence and promiscuity. His death wish is apparent throughout and it is not surprising that he commits suicide. I'm glad I kept pushing myself to get though all those seemingly random thoughts, memories and impressions because the third chapter, told from the point of view of Jason, is written in logical prose. Jason is the supposedly sane son who works as a clerk to support his mother, retarded brother and niece, the illegitimate child of his sister Caddie. The prose is all logical sentences here and the narrative is fast reading as the reader really gets to understand the sorrowful and hateful person that he is. The last chapter is also in clear narrative, told through the voice of Delsy, the African American cook who has lived her lifetime watching the demise of this once aristocratic family. Her life is difficult and she is always treated with disrespect and yet she's just keeps going, an example of strength and perseverance. The edition I read had an appendix that the author wrote in the 1940s. It somewhat pulls the whole story together and made the reading experience complete even though there were still many parts of the plot that were never resolved. This, of course was Faulkner's intention; he creates the characters through their voices and he leaves the world untouched, exactly as he originally found it. It is complex by design and supposedly shows his great genius. Well, I DID wind up enjoying the book in spite of its difficult beginning and I'm sure I would understand it better if I read it again. I have no intention of doing that though. One taste of Faulkner is enough for me. I want to read books that have a logical core. Obtuseness just doesn't work for me. I cannot say, "Don't read this book" though. It certainly is worthwhile to check it out. After all, it did win a Nobel prize. I just can't give it my highest recommendation. But don't say I didn't warn you.
Rating: 
Summary: Describes a decadent family through his inventive style
Review: William Faulkner, considered one of the greatest American writers ever, once wrote a novel called "The Sound and the Fury" and published it in 1929; no one suspecting the upheaval that this work of art was about to cause. Faulkner has an inventive style decisively of his own, in which he truly uses his novel's narrators and personalities to show different aspects of the disintegrating and degenerate Compson family, the subject of his book. The book's four parts are narrated by three speakers, "an idiot" named Beny, and his two brothers, Quentin and Jason. The novel is bassically about self-centredness and the lack of love that causes the Compson family to break down progressively as their story unfolds. It depicts greed, hate, arrogance, and prejudice as forces that are destroying the family as an institution in the United States. One cannot help but feel amazed by Faulkner's way of telling the story. He never tells the story as a whole, instead he prefers to make his characters tell parts of the Compsons' history, while these elements allow the reader to glue together "the big picture". A truly revolutionary novel, it is a must-read for anyone interested in the development of American, or world-wide, literature.
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