Customer Reviews

The Sound and the Fury

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Before commenting on the content and value of the book, let me warn that this is one of the most difficult to understand and appreciate of all American novels. Several factors combine to create that difficulty. First, one of the narrators is a person with mental deficiencies. Second, the first section uses an unusual flashback technique that cannot be understood very clearly until you have read the whole book (perhaps more than once). Third, Faulkner is sparing in his clues of how the stories weave together. You have to watch carefully for them. Fourth, the sensibilities of the day meant that much is implied rather than stated overtly. But you have to understand what those hints are about, or you miss the story. Finally, there is much dense Southern black dialect here that requires slow reading to capture the sense of. Fifth, the interior dialogues are interspaced with external dialogues . . . which can create confusion. Sixth, there is a lot of crude stream of consciousness material here, but it will not enchant you as Joyce's or Proust's will. Seventh, the book is heavy with unusual symbolism that is easy to miss. Eighth, the center of the story is often drawn in by looking at the edges rather than looking directly at the center.

So if you like a challenge (like extremely complex puzzles), you will love The Sound and The Fury. If you like your fiction more straightforward, you are going to wonder where you are at times. If you like new experiences in your reading, you will find the book very rewarding.

You will meet three generations of Compsons in this novel, along with their servants, friends, and coworkers. Each Compson is experiencing perceptual disconnections that make them ineffectively connected to reality. But each is different in their dysfunction. You will move inside the minds of three of them to experience those perceptions for yourself. It will not be pleasant. All of this occurs against the backdrop of a precipitous drop in economic and social status in a small community where status is very important.

If you are like me, you will find the beauty of this story in its structure, symbolism, and the character of Dilsey, the family's servant.

The structure allows the reader to discern the book's reality from a subjective perspective, like good art does. There's lots of raw material for judgment here, and your opinions will slowly build. There are obvious connections among the characters and the story, but these connections leave you with basic questions about what causes what. Those questions of causation are one of the strengths of the novel. Because you can start with any circumstance and move off to look for connections, and you will rejoin yourself at the same circumstance eventually. Even in our disconnectedness, we are powerfully connected is the message. I think of this book as a five dimensional puzzle: with time, space, self-interest, subjective perception, and family being the five dimensions. Pulling it all into a coherent image is a worthy task that should delight your mind.

I normally would not dwell on one symbol in a book as complex as this one, but I was very impressed by how well Faulkner boiled down his message into one tiny golf ball. I also mention this symbol here because it will also save you rereading the book at least once if you pay attention to that symbol the first time you read it, and realize that it is important. The roundness of the golf ball also gives you a hint of the book's structure at a time when that structure is totally opaque. You will be returning to variations on this symbol through several circles in the rest of the novel. I will not say any more about this ball's symbolism, because that could ruin the story for you.

Finally, Dilsey is as fine a human being as you can hope to meet in person or in any novel. She reminds me of a good family friend of ours, Cecile Antaya. Her heart is full of practical Christian charity and patience. Her support is critical to the family and to the story. A good question to ask yourself at the end is whether or not this book is really focused on Dilsey rather than on the Compsons.

The title also deserves mention. This book is far more aural than almost any other novel. Sounds reverbrate at key moments to provide critical meaning. The book often speaks without sounds, but there is much fury when the words are internal. Some of the sounds, especially Benjy's sounds, help cause the fury. You will enjoy the interplay of the story with the title.

Difficult books make us better readers. I hope you will find these challenges rewarding! After you have finished making The Sound and The Fury part of yourself, I suggest that you conduct a little experiment. Take a mealtime conversation that you participated in. Write down what you remember and what you thought was going on. Then ask each of the other people to do so as well without any checking with one another. When everyone is done, compare the results and discuss those results. I think what you will find is that you have created a minor version of the communication issues in this novel. I think you will understand much more about what Faulkner was saying about perception as a result.

Build understanding by being more forgiving!

I will never forget my first reading of The Sound and the Fury. It was frustrating, challenging, and it took me forever. And it was worth every second. It remains one of the most powerful and intense books I have ever read, and Faulkner's style is utterly unique (he himself called TSatF "the damndest book I ever read").

The title is taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, and as with nearly all Faulkner's titles, the source is important. As Macbeth says, life is a "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Accordingly, the first chapter of this four-part book is literally a tale told by an idiot--a stream-of-consciouness tale from the point of view of a 33-year-old retarded brother of the main character, Caddy Compson (who never narrates). The second chapter is another brother, Quentin; he is possibly the most wonderful neurotic ever written. Third comes brother Jason, who represents the New South, evil, and money. Finally, in the sanest perspective of them all, we hear from Dilsey, the Compson's black servant.

There's no way to summarize this book, except to say that it may be the most challenging and powerful read of a lifetime, and utterly unforgettable. Beautiful and desperate.

Two tips for reading The Sound and the Fury (trust me): if you're intimidated and worried you'll have trouble, read As I Lay Dying first. That's the best gateway to Faulkner's work; it doesn't share any characters with the Sound and the Fury, but will introduce you to Faulkner's style and it will prepare you as well as anything can for the first pages of The Sound and the Fury. However, it is doable as a first Faulkner; I read The Sound and the Fury first, and I'm still alive (and I liked it!). Second tip: GET A COPY OF THE COMPSON APPENDIX. If the Compson Appendix doesn't appear in your copy of The Sound and the Fury, then buy the Portable Faulkner, in which it appears. Read it *after* you finish The Sound and the Fury, because it will make you feel better. It will explain who everyone was, and what happened to Caddy, and make a bit of commentary that will enhance the impact of this already high-impact book.

Lastly, have fun and don't get too upset if you get lost. You're supposed to. And I loved it; this book goes on the "keep forever" shelf, even if I never read it again.

After you read this book, your next Faulkner should be Absalom, Absalom!, in which Quentin appears, and which is every bit as great as TSatF, and maybe a bit better.

The first time I had to read this book, I didn't so much read it as scowl and condemnt it. How dare a novel be so dense, so distant from the reader! What's the point of classic literature if it can not be read by the comman man? However, in order to pass my Literature class, I had to stick with it, forego the Cliffs Notes... trudge in with a knife in my teeth, ready to kill that white elephant.

To say I respect this book is an understatement. The Sound and the Fury was my Rosetta Stone. When I finally understood the degradation of the post-slave south, the swiftly eroding morality, the hypocrisy, and the questioning of the meaning of religion and human value... all books became easier to read. I have become a literary snob, reading only those books that attack my values and intellect, and I blame that torrid dypsomaniac William Faulkner. From the Macbeth Act V, Scene V quote that sets the stage to the reccurent symbols to the overwhelming pain of every carefully chosen word, I have never been so challenged since. Don't buy the one-star reviews. Great works of literature and art aren't great because they are pablum for the masses, they are great because they demand the reader to grow and question everything held dear. Emily Dickensen said the only poetry worth reading is that which lops your head off. This novel is the guillotine for anyone who believes intelligence is a matter of cleverness. Caveat Lector and enjoy.

Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. The idiot narrating the first chapter is Benjy Compson, down syndrome adult, and the sound is his bellowing every time he is reminded of his beloved big sister Caddy, who no longer lives with him. Some of the fury comes from Quentin Compson, Caddy's oldest younger brother, who can't bear the thought of Caddy's boyfriends taking her to bed. There is more fury from youngest brother Jason Compson, an intolerable little brat who grows into a thoroughly evil adult. And there is Caddy's daughter Quentin (named after her uncle) who suffers the bullying of uncle Jason until she's had enough of it. She lives with uncle Jason and with her worthless, infuriatingly stupid grandmother.

The book is divided into four parts, each part told by a different person. Part One is told by Benjy, Part Two by brother Quentin, Part Three by devilish Jason, and Part Four by the black servant Dilsey, who has more sense than all the others combined.

Benjy's chapter may be the most amazing ever written. Faulkner gives it the oddest stream of consciousness structure. Benjy's mind constantly shifts from the present to the past. Faulkner wanted to minimize the confusion by color coding the paragraphs to let the reader know when Benjy was shifting from one time period to another, but the publisher didn't go along with color coding. All you have are a few italics as hints that something is changing. It's not enough. When you pick up this book you will need to pick up the Cliff Notes at the same time. Cliff Notes give an excellent and clear explanation of what in the hell is going on in the otherwise impossible to understand first section. Without the Cliff Notes, the sound and fury will refer to you smashing the book against a wall and screaming at Faulkner - Why are you putting me through this, you idiot! Why don't you just write in plain English! But with the Cliff Notes the chapter becomes really fascinating.

I'll give you a clue. Benjy is standing by a fence looking into an adjoining yard where people are playing golf. Benjy is supervised by one of Dilsey's children. If one of the golfers calls to his caddie, and the young black child then says Hush Benjy! that means that Benjy has just had his heart broken for the millionth time hearing his sister's name but not seeing her, and he is screaming his fool head off.

The first two parts of this book are like love letters to sister Caddy, who was expelled from the house for promiscuity. In this disfunctional family, promiscuity seems pretty understandable as an escape. The mother is a useless waste of protoplasm.

It's difficult enough to distinguish a rare cultural fuse of the once-proud South after its stoop in the Civil War; Faulkner's overwhelmingly powerful pen only heightened the tension of a Southern aristocratic family melting away in this ghastly clash of old-time unity and new-time individuality.

Set in the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi, this 1929 masterpieces focuses on the fall of the infamous Compson clan. Similar to Joyce, Faulkner stresses the stream of consciousness rather than sheltered outward expressions. As a great technician who was not afraid to experience with his pen, Faulkner divides the book into 4 parts having 3 Compson brothers and the family slaves lead the readers through. "Through what" is the huge challenge as Faulknerian lyrics harshly bash the complex character's shallow projection by allowing the readers to trace the thoughts forming process. Named after the renowned MacBeth line:"It is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; Signifying nothing", Benjy the man-child begins the story in a rather confusing tone. Due to his impaired memory, the first part paints a devious path that leads into overlapping time zones where the past, the present, and the future exist as one for the youngest Compson. Like his brothers whose lives are more or less dictated by their sister Caddy's sexuality, Benjy mourns over the loss of Caddy as he drifts into a darker adulthood.

The eldest son Quentin is situated at an extremity where everything evolves around Caddy's promiscuity. "Chosen" as the aristocratic heir, Quentin goes to Harvard where he stays haunted by the mirage of a distorted youth. The only Compson who actually appreciates the Southern pride, Quentin comes to represent the fatality of a fallen giant's anguish and helplessness. Besides the disturbing twist to his relationship with Caddy, Quentin is neurotically concerned with a false sense of honor when Caddy does lose her virginity. His deadly obsession with purity and pride further compel him to grope towards a personal Hell. Jason the 3rd eldest child is the brute that lays in dormant in all of us who bears a strong hatred for Caddy. A natural cynic, Jason fully demonstrates human capacity of Satanism. His character is an ever-flowing current that gallops in no direction and in every direction at the same time. And the very paradox of Jason's identity help explain the decadence of his nature that appears unthinkable in a human being. Jason has no soul, rather, it dissolved in his own current of attempting to find himself in a dysfunctional family where he (!) is left to play the role of the patriarch. Later in the novel, his relationship with Caddy's illegitimate daughter further intensifies the devilish fury in Jason as he tries to suppresses his niece who wishes to sound her own voice-in a house where her mother's name is forbidden. The last part is narrated by Faulkner himself who ties the ends up through the black servants in the household who witness the moral fall of their masters. The beauty of this book is manifested in the final chapter when Caddy's, 2nd eldest child, tragic but in a way heroic tale is reiterated. The brilliance lies in Faulkner's ability to create his most powerful character without painting a complete picture; instead, Caddy, as the beloved mother-sister, the fallen angel, and the hated attention-grabber, comes alive through broken pieces of narration that are weaved into one another. She never has a chance to reveal her thoughts, yet through her decisions, Faulkner invigorates a courageous young woman whose only weapon against the world is rebellion. She is the heart of the story although not one full glimpse of her face is given; it is indeed the invisible and extensive vibes that connect her to every brother that enable her to become the source of the Compson sound and fury.

I'm searching for words to describe this novel, because it is so very complex and unusual that it defies traditional explanation.

This novel is so COMPLETE, so WHOLE, that I have not found another that comes close to its ability to convey a story.

Faulkner makes use of MANY techniques to describe what can only be called the tragedy of the Compson family, a once-wealthy Southern aristocratic dynasty. These techniques include: 1. Recurring imagery 2. Intensive use of symbolism 3. First-person narration from 4 different viewpoints 4. Occasional stream-of-consciousness passages which let you literally see into a character's thought process (in Quentin's section) 5. Ingenious sequencing of narratives (in Benjy's section, in particular)

AND MANY MORE!

The central role of imagery to this novel cannot be understated. Each section has its own recurring motifs that (whenever they appear) conjure up an entire armada of connotations. Faulkner was a master of envisioning images and then writing at breakneck pace to describe them. He once stated that The Sound and the Fury began when he got the image of Caddy up in a tree with soiled britches in his head. That was the basis for the novel. Everything else came from his attempt to explain its significance.

I was forced to read this as part of an AP English class in high school. It was painful because of its difficulty. But I can't overemphasize the incredible rewards you will reap once you begin to piece the puzzle together. Faulkner's writing is incredibly deliberate; his sentences convey more than the sum of their words because each word's connotation is an entire image. Faulkner relates images, then conjures them up again at will, to iron into our minds what the characters must be thinking and feeling.

Many have vilified this novel because some English professors have dubbed it a classic example of "stream-of-consciousness" technique. Such a label is a blatant stereotype, and this great novel should not be trivialized by such a categorization. Stream-of-consciousness is used sparingly and only where it has its most poingant effect. This technique is so perfect in this novel that seeing it in any other setting makes it seem artificial and awkward.

My only criticism: I would like to see an edition that colorizes Benjy's section as Faulkner originally intended. You see, Faulkner REALIZED that Benjy's section would be difficult to follow, and wanted to print each period of time (there are approximately 11, if I remember correctly) in a different ink color to help the readers follow the narrative. But being limited by contemporary printing technology, his editor fell back on a rather poor use of italics, which falls fall short and only seems to add to the confusion.

Once you've thoroughly read this novel, you can't help but appreciate the masterful way that Faulkner has told the story. After seeing the same story told from four points of view, you reach a higher level of understanding the plight of the family's existence and history and downfall. It's truly amazing.

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"(Macbeth V.v 25-30) One day I was looking for a new book to read and I decided it was about time I read something by Faulkner. I knew nothing about Faulkner or Yoknapatawpha or The Compsons. All I knew was that he'd been compared to some of my favorite Southern writers: Tennessee Williams, Capote, and Barry Hannah. I am ever grateful that I read "The Sound And The Fury." I haven't been authentically moved in such a long time while reading. Reading each section is like reading a new book. I kept forgetting this was the same book. I've seen from the other reviews on Amazon.com that a lot of people have complained about the difficulty and stream-of-conscieness technique of the book. Well, all I can say is yes it is, I almost stopped reading this book half way through Benjy section but you have to work at it and the end result will be an amazing experience and great insight. I'm very tired of such lazy readers these days, they read ten pages of "Ulysses" and cry because they don't get the plot. If you really pay attention to the various scenes occurring throughout the Bengy sections you'll see reoccurring ones and by the end, you should be able to isolate each scene and understand it somewhat. I personally find the Quentin section the hardest to fathom. Rich in detail and thoughts often drifting one into the other. The ending of his section is perfection! It sums up the absurdities of life that is equal to Beckett and Camus. The Jason section shows the brutal side of The Compsons and the South. Once again showing how amazing Faulkner can shift view points so quickly and perfectly. The final section is told by the author but revolves mostly around the African-American slaves and Jason and Quentin's (Caddy's daughter) feud. I normally despise Cliff Notes but with this novel, they may be essential to most readers. The best part of the Cliff Notes is that they fully break down Bengy's section, scene-by-scene. Oh and make sure you get a copy of "The Sound And The Fury" that has Faulkner's appendix at the end. "The Sound And The Fury" is a story of struggle that touches the human heart and gives the reader fascinating insight into the human condition. Faulkner makes all his characters human, even the most repulsive like Jason Compson. Faulkner once said that he was just a man that tells folk tales and these tales bring us back to the impact of myth and reminds us of the fundamental human need to communicate and affect someone. Faulkner has deeply affected me spiritually and intellectually. I hope everyone will give this novel a chance sometime in their life. I've already started to dive into "As I Lay Dying" and I rarely read an author's work one after another.

Whether The Sound and the Fury is worthy of being accepted as one of the 20th century's greatest, I'm not sure. At times it was great, at times it was woeful, at times it was downright tedious. Much effort, I'm sure, was given in writing this novel (though by the first part it may not seem so), but it isn't the best book to hit the stores since the Bible.

The story, through different monologues, is told by the slow-minded Benjy, the downcast Quentin, and the apathetic Jason - all brothers of Caddy Compson. Because Faulkner uses the stream-of-consciousness technique in the narration of Quentin, the book becomes very difficult to understand. For indeed, the lack of punctuation renders you mad with bafflement.

If read casually, the book would seem like any other book; though if read more carefully, it seems as if Faulkner was trying to get a message across: that everyone suffers in their own way. Every character in the story is, in some way or another, miserable. Not one of the characters is content with what they have or how they live.

The Sound and the Fury, in concluding this review, is a good yarn. Faulkner's experimentation in writing this book deserves high merit. A book written in that form back then was a novelty - too bad it could no longer be said so in this day and age. William Faulkner made no mistake in writing The Sound and the Fury, and we should make no mistake in reading it.

There had never been a novel like THE SOUND AND THE FURY (published in 1929) previously in American literature, and it's safe to say we probably will not see anything like it again. It has long been on every American Literature required reading list as well it should be. The professors got it right this time.

The novel is about the unraveling of the Compson family in Mississippi in the early part of the 20th Century. Faulker abandoned the often-used linear plot for stream of consciousness narration--- as anyone who has ever heard of Mr. Faulkner of course knows. The novel is divided into four sections by dates: April Seventh, 1928, which belongs to Benjy, the youngest Compson child who is an idiot-- thus the allusion to Shakespeare in the title-- June Second, 1910, seen through the eyes of the suicidal brother Quentin; April Sixth, 1928, which is narrated by the obnoxious brother Jason; and the final section-- April Eighth, 1928, which is told by a third person narrator but belongs to the black servant Dilsey. Additionally in the Modern Library edition which I reread, there is the Appendix that Faulkner originally wrote for THE PORTABLE FAULKNER and published in 1946. It was the author's desire that this section become a part of the novel and that it be published as the first part of it. In this edition, however, it follows the novel. If people reading this masterpiece for the first time start with the Appendix, they will get an easier grasp of the convoluted plot.

I read this novel for the first time in 1963 and several times more but not since about 1969 or 70 so I was interested in seeing if it is as good as I remember. It is. I can think of no family in literature, American or otherwise, where the characters are more real. By the time you are finished with them, when Luster drives Benjy around the town square, you know literally a myriad of details about even the most minor of characters. Is there anything more poignant in American literature than the grown Benjy's running around the fence at the golf course-- the Compsons sold that land in order that Quentin could go to Harvard and Candance could have a fancy wedding-- because he thinks the golfers are calling his beloved sister Caddy's name? Or Jason's refusing to let Caddy see her baby Quentin-- named after her dead brother-- after she had paid him a hundred dollars to let her see her child. Under cover of darkness Jason wraps the child in a raincoat, gets a driver to drive the hack with him and Quentin in it near where her mother is standing. In the words of Jason: "He was afraid to pass the stable, so we had to go the back way and I saw her standing on the corner under the light and I told Mink to drive close to the walk and when I said Go on, to give the team a bat. Then I took the raincoat off of her and held her to the window and Caddy saw her and sort of jumped forward. . . we went past her like a fire engine. . . I could see her running after us through the back window. . . When we turned the corner she was still running." An argument could be made that with passages such as these, this novel should be called "An American Tragedy."

These characters act and talk the way most Southerners would in the early part of the last century, so anyone looking to be offended by the language, probably will be. The Compsons make derogatory comments about Blacks, Italians and Jews, in a word, any group of people not like them. On the other hand, Dilsey, the black servant of many years, holds this sad family together. In the words of Faulkner, she endured. As does this masterpiece.

The Reviewers above and below warn that the novel is difficult to read. If you a person of average intelligence, all you need is a character list and a careful reading and you will have absolutely no problem finding your way through the greatest novel ever written. (It's an incredibly easy read the second time around.)

The Sound and the Fury is a summation of Faulkner's works. Everything that is done in the rest of his novels was first done in The Sound and the Fury. The Sound and the Fury is poignant and tragic. It is monumental in its mythical power. It is Southern and yet it is universal. It is Faulkner's triumph as a novelist. It is a study of human consciousness, perception, and existence. The novel follows the decline and eventual fall of the Compson family. In Faulkner's world of Yoknapatawpha County, the Compsons and Sartorises, the Sutpens and de Spains, in other words, the established old families of Jefferson declined as the invasive and unethical Snopes, portraits of the modern businessman, ascended to power. The story is an intimate portrayal of the Compsons, and yet it is a symbolic and mythical account of decline and tragedy. Why is it the greatest novel ever written? It takes the innovations in narrative technique as developed by Joyce and Woolf in the movements of European Modernism (which it does better and with more purpose than Joyce and Woolf) and combines them with an exploration of storytelling and an intense devotion to a portrayal of place and region. The story is great and moving. The characters are loveable, hateable, tragic, and intensely vivid. The place is conceived and presented with taxing reality. The language, as with all of Faulkner's novels, is at times soaring and at times quite terse. The structure is perfectly balanced and symbolically paired with the passion of Christ (the three days are Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday). In short, it is the paradigmatic example of what literature can (and should) do; even the greatest of literary feats stand in its shadow.