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

by William Faulkner

Retells the tragic times of the Compson family, including beautiful, rebellious Caddy; manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant.

• ISBN10: 0394446402
• ISBN13: 9780394446400
• Publish Date: 12 February 1966
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Random House (NY)
• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English

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)