The Sound and The Fury (William Faulkner)

the sound and the fury -i picked this book up at goodwill, for a buck and change. i had heard it was good, but never got around to reading it.

turns out, it is one of the best books i have ever read.

set in a combination of locals and times, varied themes and ideals are put forward depending on which section you are reading. the story is broken into 4 parts, each part is told from the perspective of a different individual, all related in some way to the Compson family.

it mainly breaks down the destruction of a family and all they know. mentally, physically, emotionally, you watch as they self destruct.

i will not go into too much detail on the actual story as the book is 80 years old. you can find fantastic plot break downs all over the web.

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the first section was absolutely unbearable. i almost put down the book and gave up entirely. carried out in about a hundred pages, it is told entirely from the view point of Benjy Compson.

sound/fury is presented as stream of consciousness. benjy has no internal clock. he swaps back and forth mid stream giving narrative from 4-5 different times in his life. characters are mixed around and nothing makes sense in the slightest.

…….. from there the book gets phenomenal.

luckily, were you to reread the first chapter after finishing the book, it is far more intelligible.

i highly suggest reading this book.. even if it takes you 2 weeks to make it through the first chapter as i did.. it is worth slogging through it in order to get to the next portion. the second reading makes far more sense, but would utterly fail if you skipped it and went back to it later. it sets the mood and gets your brain mixed up enough to easily assimilate the next three.

that’s all i have..

mmm. good..