Absalom, Absalom!

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!

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.