Absalom, Absalom! | William Faulkner | Southern Gothic at its best

Absalom, Absalom! | William Faulkner | A beautiful mess of a novel

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Absalom, Absalom!

	Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner Vintage, 1991 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 123 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Southern Gothic at its best

With every William Faulkner book I have one criteria as to whether or not I'm going to keep reading past page 50 - is it worth the headache. Faulkner has a style that rivals Joyce for sheer incomprehensibility. Sure, he comes from a time of experimental writing, but he survived where dozens of writers disappeared into obscurity.

The reason why he survived is because he plays games but he has something to say. This tale of a Southern family gone bad resonates long after its finished. Incest, murder and slavery plague these people and the world is in constant decay. Like the wisteria that shows up throughout the novel, the family is pretty on the outside but rotting from within.

This is a beautiful book full of pathos and angst, and thankfully the publisher or author provides the cast of characters with time line in back. Now this will ruin the surprise of the last few chapters, but Faulkner is a writer that works best if you know where you're going so you can enjoy the stops along the way.

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A beautiful mess of a novel

Faulkner masterfully mixes narratives and chronology in creating an epic tragedy that permeates the space and time of the era of Thomas Sutpen et al. Certainly one of Faulkner's most challenging novels, ABSALOM, ABSALOM is also one of his most rewarding. For those new to Faulkner, this might not be the best starting point. I'd recommend AS I LAY DYING or THE UNVANQUISHED as first reads.

Shreve: "The South. Jesus. No wonder you folks all outlive yourselves by years and years and years."

-william faulkner, an american genuis-

Absalom, Absalom! The title treks back to the lament that King David has for his very treacherous very dead son, Absalom. The title parallels events in the book that relate very closely to the power of a family members deviancy. Faulkner takes the reader of this novel on a truely literary adventure. Faulkner's structure is incredibly complex, sometimes leaving this reader far behind eating dust, but just when a burn out on the book is close Faulkner rekindles the hunger for more. The complexity of the novel starts from the very beginning. Immediately the reader is thrown into a story of lies, hatred, and fisticuffs between characters. Once I thought I had a grasp on the story taking place with Thomas Sutpen and the other characters, my feet are pulled out from underneith. The story is much deeper and darker than I had imagined. Based in Northern Mississippii, this novel takes the reader through the southern countryside during the Civil War. The story revolves around the tangled lies and dark secrets that the Sutpen family has twisted itself into. Every page holds a new clue or fact that makes the reader hunger for more. A great book.

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