Customer Reviews

Absalom, Absalom! (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Absalom, Absalom! is Faulkner's great novel of the rise and fall of the Sutpen dynasty and a great allegory of the rise and fall of the Old South. It should be noted that first of all this is probably Faulkner's greatest and most difficult work.

The book told through three interconnected narratives tells the life story of Thomas Sutpen. The story parallels the rise of the Old South. The narratives are not straight forward and present a constant challenge to the reader. But if the reader does not close the book in despair the rewards are great indeed.

The mood of the storytelling alone is worth the price of admission here. The long flowing sentences are marvels and testaments to Faulker's skill as a writer. The narrative drive makes reading the book almost like reading Greek tragedy. We gets views of Sutpens life from several townspeople and also across generations.

This is the first book that I've read in a long time that made me feel like I had accomplished something when I finished it. You don't so much read this novel as you become lost in it. Jump in get your feet wet and prepare for some of the most intense Southern gothic that you are ever likely to read.

My favorite book used to be The Sound and the Fury, but Absalom! Absalom! simply blew that away! A novel of themes dating back to the Bible and Greek tragedies--love, hubris, fratricide, incest--juxtaposed with the most peculiarly American of settings. Despite what many readers might say (my one friend said this was the first and last book she's started reading that she could simply not finish), it's not that diffiuclt once you get in the rhythm--reading aloud to yourself helps as well. While I would place this at the top of my "greatest books ever written" list, I would not recommend it to a first-time Faulkner reader. I'd read (in this order) The Unvanquished, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, Go Down Moses, and Light in August before tackling Absalom! The Unvanquished is probably your best bet to start out on--its stream of consciousness style is not nearly as extreme as in Sound, Absalom, or even As I Lay. This book is worth all the page-long sentences and multiple voices...It's the finest work of not just Faulkner but of American writers as a whole.

I struggled through this aggravating yet breathtaking book, but I don't think very many people can say they've read it and not struggled through it for Faulkner is still experimenting with style, and in this novel, considered by many to be his masterpiece, he does this by writing confusing page-long sentences for which he became famous (or should I say infamous) - this overall effect, combined with Faulkner's overuse of SAT vocabulary, makes the book a hard but worthwhile read; some read it and love every word of it, some read the first fifty pages and say it's "unreadable" - I happened to really enjoy it, but then again, I am a big Faulkner fan, and these sentences I'm writing are written in the same style Faulkner uses in Absalom, Absalom! - so if you think this style is annoying, don't even pick up this book! The story itself is told from a twisted angle: Quentin Compson (yes, the same Quentin Compson from The Sound and the Fury) hears the story of Thomas Sutpen's life and of his desire to forge a dynasty in Jefferson, Missisippi, a desire which failed due to the actions of Sutpen's children and of Sutpen himself - this story is told to Quentin from various different members of the Jefferson community (each account is slightly twisted or bias, and the reader, along with Quentin, is left to patch the "true" story together from the myriad accounts) in an attempt by Faulkner to show how a community tells and twists a story as it passes through the town - Faulkner masterfully succeeds at this, but in doing so, he only gives the reader enough information to just keep the story going, and things happen later in the book that explain the mysteries in the beginning. I recommend this book if you DON'T read for quick, coherent plot development, but rather, if you like hearing stories told in unique ways, if you like figuring out what's happening on your own instead of having everything being told to you up front, if you can stand mile-long, ungrammatically correct sentences, and if you like Faulkner (warning, this is NOT a suitable introduction for a reader who is new to Faulkner), otherwise I recommend you stay away from this book, and if you really want to read Faulkner, start with something easier, like Light in August, or even As I LayDying, then perhaps move on to The Sound and the Fury and finally, when you think you can handle it, challenge yourself and move onto the confusing but rewarding world of Faulkner's most twisted work, Absalom, Absalom!

I am glad to have read Absalom, Absalom!. The unknowable story of Thomas Sutpen and his doomed progeny is haunting, the heavy gothic atmosphere is effective, and I'm certainly not likely to forget it any time soon.

On the other hand, I have to say, by no means did I actually enjoy the process of reading Absalom, Absalom!. The Sound and the Fury, Light in August--those I actually got pleasure out of reading. Absalom, Absalom!, I did not. I won't deny that there is some brilliant writing on display here, the sort of thing that makes you pump your fist and shout "yeah! Go William!" (c'mon, I know I'm not the only one--'fess up), but more often than not, the prose just seems convoluted and tangled, for no other reason than that the man wanted to display his virtuosity. More often than not, this does not work, and sometimes it actively damages the novel. Regard, for instance, the following passage:

"...because I had learned nothing of love, not even parents' love--that fond dear constant violation of privacy, that stulification of the burgeoning and incorrigible I which is the meed and due of all mammalian meat, became not mistress, not beloved, but more than even love; I became all polymath love's androgynous advocate (117)

Yes indeed: polymath love's androgynous advocate. Faulkner would seem to be going for the 'bad prog rock lyrics' effect here. Even if you can figure out what this is supposed to mean, the fact remains: it looks damned silly, a clear case of complexity for complexity's sake. Sometimes less is more, Bill.

So no, slogging my way through three hundred pages of this stuff was not an enjoyable task. And yet, for some reason, it really does stick with you, as previously noted. I'm still not sure I'd recommend it, though. I suspect that if it's your first Faulkner, it will also be your last. If you have read others of the man's works (both of the aforementioned novels come highly recommended by me), and you have a high tolerance for literary self-indulgence, you may find it worthwhile, but I would take all the rave reviews on this site with a grain of salt: everyone likes the feeling of pride that comes from finishing a book like this, but we shouldn't let that blind us to its very real faults.

This is Faulkner at his best (and, some would say, least comprehensible). The book integrates Quentin and Shreve (The Sound and the Fury) with Sutpen, the main character, beautifully. If you loved the gloriously neurotic Quentin Compson, this is a must-read book, as well as a beautiful portrait of what Faulkner sees about the American South.

However, what sold me on this book, and what made the entire journey through Faulkner's labyrinth of parentheses more than worthwhile, was one line--the final line. The ending of Absalom, Absalom! absolutely blew me away and left me speechless. It was the perfect closing if I have ever read a perfect closing to any book.

This is one Faulkner novel a fan should not go without reading, but it's not the one to start with; As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury should be read first (in that order). In addition, it will enhance the reader's enjoyment if s/he first familiarizes him/herself with the Biblical story of Absalom (it's short and it'll help, trust me).

This is a book I will keep for the rest of my life.

I'll admit straight off the bat that I'm not a huge fan of stream-of-consciousness narratives. In fact, I dislike such styles more often than I enjoy them. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! was also the first work by William Faulkner that I have ever read, which (judging by the reviews on this site) is apparently not the best place I could have started. Yet despite these potential problems, I quite enjoyed the overall book. There were several places where I found the narrative voice to be quite tedious, but the story was so captivating that these difficulties were well worth struggling through.

As I said, I don't usually like the stream-of-consciousness style of writing. When done incorrectly, it can lead to books full of hopelessly incoherent rambling that is neither insightful nor interesting. However, in the case of ABSALOM, ABSALOM!, I'll grudgingly admit that the style does help the story quite a bit. Some of the asides and passages were extremely effective at conveying the atmosphere of the South during the Civil War. The various misconceptions that several characters have (the reader can only gradually piece together the truth) are perfectly true to their personalities and reveal more about the people in this story than the actual events would have. That said, some of the more esoteric portions of the text had me nearly throwing the book across the room in angry confusion. Fortunately for the sake of my library, my walls and my sanity, those more obscure sections are not terribly numerous, and many of them can become penetrable, albeit after the second or third reading.

One of the aspects of the novel I most appreciated was Faulkner's ability to set my expectations in one direction, and then completely pull the rug out from under me. There were several major twists and turns that I genuinely did not anticipate. Characters' understandings are fallible, and yet whenever something that someone had said turned out to be false, I never felt cheated. While a lot of the narrative shocks stem from people misunderstanding events from long ago, the mistakes they make are perfectly valid, and I never once felt that Faulkner had deliberately caused people to misconstrue happenings merely to drive the plot.

Racism plays a major part in this story, so be prepared to see some language and activities that aren't politically correct. Faulkner is showing racism for exactly what it was at the time, an everyday fact of life, and a concept that was applied randomly and irrationally. He doesn't compromise, but neither does he dwell on this subject. He records it exactly as he saw it, from a perspective that none of his characters have the benefit of sharing.

Despite my own apprehension upon reading the first few pages, I ended up quite enjoying ABSALOM, ABSALOM!. It took me a couple of chapters before I got into the rhythm of the prose, but once it clicked in my head I was able to read it with very little problem. If the text looks intimidating at first, I advise you to attempt it anyway to see if you can't wrap your head around it. I managed to make myself understand it, and I am very glad that I didn't simply give up before the end. The symbolism, the tragedy, and the bare emotions - they all contribute to making this a fantastic story. The way that Faulkner manages to portray hopes, dreams, heartbreak, blind ambition, and hubris in a manner than somehow all manages to be perfectly believable is a huge achievement, and something well worth the time it takes to read.

Be warned: The first 100 pages of Absalom, Absalom! are some of the most confusing narration ever written in English. No matter how literate you consider yourself to be, you will have a difficult time in this novel until you get your bearings. There are multiple narrators, and the narrative shifts from one to the other, with little or no warning. However, by the end of the novel my jaw hung open in appreciation for how incredibly well crafted this novel is. In fact, it is almost perfect.

The story concerns the rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen, an outsider with a shady past who attempts to build a family dynasty in antebellum Mississippi. The events of his life and those of his children are told in a fascinating style where each narrator gives his or her take on each of the different events. Seeing a scene a third or fourth time from a different perspective, with a new twist of information, evokes an eerie feeling of inevitability. If you have ever seen CITIZEN KANE or PULP FICTION you know what I am referring to. Faulkner was brilliant for his deep-lunged prose style, for his fascinating plots, but most especially for his ability to understand the events he creted to such a degree that he can keep his trump cards hidden and dance around THE TRUTH for 250 pages and then drop the A-Bomb on his audience and leave them floored, slapping their heads for their failure to recognize where the story was going all along. This is a masterpiece of style. I can't give it a stronger recommendation.

Although I've read several of Faulkner's books, this was the first to leap out at me as indicative of his genius. The work that must have gone into it is staggering. Absalom, Absalom! is Southern tragedy at its very best, replete with dark meditations on the South's Civil War legacy and a story so fascinating, so magnificently plotted that it leaps out at the reader despite Faulkner's often mind-bending prose and endless parade of parentheses. Thomas Sutpen is the type of tragic character Shakespeare would have written had he been alive and living in Mississippi at the time--a self-made man whose ruthless, myopic vision of forming a family dynasty is destroyed through chance and his own grave mistakes. Faulkner unravels this dark tale with perfect timing, leaving the most tantalizing, informative details to the very end. The whole novel possesses a kind of brooding atmosphere which lasts to the closing words. I would not suggest this as the first Faulkner book to read--better to spend some time on the less important works in order to get a feel for his style, otherwise you will miss too much. And even then, it helps to keep a finger on the family tree at the back of the book to get the characters straight. But it's well worth it--this is one of the finest, most introspective and fascinating American novels I have read in a long time.

When I was in college, wandering the aisles looking for a book for some other assignment, I would often find myself standing in front of Mr. Faulkner, and I would often find myself thereafter seated on the floor, flipping the pages of this book, marvelling at that first sentence that lasts for two pages. This book reads like Beethoven to me, and I'll admit that I'm in love with it.

First, it's not an easy or a light read. I've read this book three times all the way through (I've read chunks of it countless times), and I can't say that I understand everything. There are a few different narrators, and the narrators themselves will often slip into other voices - Quentin telling Shreve the story that he heard from his father of what Sutpen told the elder Compson twenty years ago - that sort of thing.

Let's talk about the basic plot. There's a chronology included in this edition (I believe) that helps. Yoknapatawpha County, of course, and a stranger moves into town named Thomas Sutpen. Brings a strange bunch of wild slaves, claims a hundred square miles, builds a house, and then tries to find a wife. Marries the daughter of a respected local man, has some children, and then the Civil War comes along. Eldest son rides off to war, happens to fall into communion with his abandoned half-brother, and chaos ensues. It turns out that Sutpen is himself not your average guy, and we hear some very interesting stories about his family, his history, and the lives of his children.

I wouldn't recommend this book to a first-time Faulkner reader. If you want a good Faulkner novel that isn't too dense, try Light in August, or maybe Sanctuary. Both are relatively straightforward. If you've read either of these, or if you just want to dive in, this one is probably his best.

What really "gets" me about this book is the way that we are made to admire, respect, even love the horrific creature that is Thomas Sutpen. He's a fascinating character, and the passages retelling his personal history are alive with tension. You can imagine this man barricaded in the home of a white planter, facing doom at the hands of a slave rebellion; you can see the weird light in his face when he puts down his rifle, opens the door, and steps out into the "darkness" to "subdue" the slave revolt. It's a kind of meditation on the nature of colonialism, tied into myths of patriarchy and gender, with a shot at Christianity stirred in for good measure. I suppose that sounds garbled - but believe me, the fact that Faulkner can effectively blend all of this into one story speaks to his genius. What a book.

Faulkner's most compelling trait is he doesn't tell a story--he involves the reader in it so the reader, in effect, pieces it together in his mind as he reads it. It's hard work, but hard work is always more rewarding than the slop that passes for much of fiction these days (as well as back then). Faulkner makes you work, and this brilliant story of a doomed Southern family is a brilliant allegory for the entire South. It's about the human condition, and no one explains and explores it better than Faulkner. Read it and you'll understand....