A Faulkner Workout - Book #12

Fact # 1: I love William Faulkner Fact #2: I'm not stupid But for the first third of The Sound and the Fury I was very confused. I felt like a fish flopping on the dock - back and forth - loving it - hating it - loving it - hating it, until I ended up going to Sparknotes to read the plot overview. I know, that's cheating, but I just could not get a handle on what what was going on until I did. Faulkner is such an amazing writer - the cadence of the writing, the clean but lengthy descriptions, the fullness of his characters - are uniquely his, and always perfectly done. His roundabout way of getting to the point is like literary foreplay.

I wonder what kind of friend he was. ( I guess I had better find a biography) Someone that insightful, and that much a student of human nature might have been intimidating to know.

The book was wonderful, once I got myself pointed in the right direction. Love, pain, money, sex and family are what make us all interesting and human, and Faulkner loves to peer in at it, stir it up, watch what happens, and can see both the ugly and the beautiful. When I finished this book I felt all shivery and tense...as though I had just come through a frightening cabin de-pressurization and survived. I can see myself pulling myself up from a head on the knees position with the realization that I was going to live. That's what it felt like. Yes, that means you should read it!