The Sound and the Fury (Collected works of William Faulkner) (Barron's book notes) (Vintage International)

by William Faulkner

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin.

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and  one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

“I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire.... I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.” —from The Sound and the Fury

• ISBN10: 0679732241
• ISBN13: 9780679732242
• Publish Date: 30 January 1991 (first published 12 February 1966)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780679732242

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

I might want to go back in time and plunk young Jamie on the head for having no grasp of what Mr. Faulkner was up to, except it was not young Jamie’s fault that all she saw here was Mr. Faulkner fingerpainting with words. Everyone should read this book but everyone should read it outside of high school.

Five stars. Whoa.

[ibeforem]

Why do the classics have to be so danged hard to read? I appreciate the story Faulkner is telling us, of how a daughter’s unplanned pregnancy affects her entire family in ways she couldn’t have expected or anticipated. The language at times is simply beautiful. But the stream of consciousness writing is painful to read. I spent a solid month trying to get through this for my book club, and still didn’t exactly finish it. And I apparently didn’t fully understand what I *did* read, because when I consulted the Spark Notes for the book, there was a timeline of events that I didn’t pick up on at all. So I got the gist of the story, but a lot of the detail sailed over my head. Since I consider myself an intelligent person, it’s just disappointing.

I do enjoy some "classics" authors: Twain, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, to name a few. But Faulkner is never going to be on that list.

(not rated out of respect for my elders)