As I Lay Dying- a masterpiece!

Submitted by kchow81 t3_z4uvc7 in books

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I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to reading this book. It has been on my reading list for ages, though I was completely unaware of what it was about. It’s a short but dense book set in the 1920’s in rural Mississippi. It is written in stream of consciousness style from the viewpoints of several people, many of whom are members of the Bundren family. After the Bundren matriarch dies, the family embarks on an odyssey to bury her in Jackson, 40 miles away, as was her dying wish. We meet the Bundren family members through their own thoughts, as well as through how others see them. It was incredible how the characters interacted with each other, with the land, and with animals. Faulkner amplified emotion with the juxtaposition of love with violence, poor education with innate intelligence, action and inertia. While I recognize that the writing style may not resonate with everyone, I hope that if someone is on the fence about reading this book they will take a chance on it. I will be thinking about this one for a long time to come!

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swissie67 t1_ixsvo7h wrote

I just love seeing that people are actually making the effort to tackle Faulkner. He's not an easy read, but I find his writing to be very rewarding. He's been one of my favorite authors for decades.

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serjorahluver420 t1_ixtg1cf wrote

I’m sorry if this is annoying, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to! But what about his work is not easy? Is it the language or is the plot confusing?

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ojandnj2 t1_ixtiawj wrote

The plots aren't very confusing. His sentences and prose are very dense and you'll have to reread things occasionally, but there's just so much you get out every book, his stuff is so amazing in my opinion, and As I Lay Dying is his best work

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A_Powerful_Moss t1_ixvr3f8 wrote

I compare it to swimming in honey. It’s a bit tough to do, but oh man does it taste sweet

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hobbestcat t1_ixw8klg wrote

I can only read Faulkner if I am on a long vacation where I can read for several hours at a time. It takes me 30 minutes to get into the prose and the language (kind of liking listening to Shakespeare).

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swissie67 t1_ixwigcn wrote

Its not like you can pick up one of his books and read for 5 minutes at a time, that's for sure.

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Routine-Telephone888 t1_ixt67x1 wrote

My mother is a fish

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Ok-Alps-2086 t1_ixurdfb wrote

It’s been many years since I read this in high school but I still think about that line.

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mortal_walnut124 t1_iy3awin wrote

This kind of reminds me of>!"Where are my breasts? Where are my breasts?"!< from Myra Breckinridge.

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Top-Abrocoma-3729 t1_ixsviyu wrote

Ironically, this is one of Faulkner’s most accessible novels! But it is still challenging and very rewarding. Great work of southern lit. Absalom, Absalom is well worth your attention if you enjoyed this book!

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CreativeLemon t1_ixtdvbf wrote

>How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.

Goated quote in this one

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Smirkly t1_ixt0tow wrote

Some of the darkest and most delicious humor ever.

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Crimkam t1_ixtbp3b wrote

We read this in high school. I remember thinking it was a good book, but short and utterly ruined by us having to discuss it in excruciating detail for what felt like two months.

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Head-Kiwi-9601 t1_ixvza0f wrote

Many English Lit professors teach students to hate books by discussing them ad nauseam.

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cheesymouth t1_ixt87gj wrote

> I will be thinking about this one for a long time to come!

I read this in like 2007 and I still think about it regularly

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malthar76 t1_ixu7h7h wrote

Read this in 1993 and still have it bouncing around my noggin more that stuff I read last month.

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Stegopossum t1_ixtj5f5 wrote

My favorite English teacher in college was from Oxford, Mississippi and he would see Faulkner all the time around town but especially on the main square around the courthouse where Bill would stand for hours staring at the building and sipping from a tall glass of whiskey. He was actually writing, in his mind, as he stood. Everyone knew who he was and even the children knew not to bother him. My teacher went on to be a Shakespeare scholar and a Faulkner scholar. He filled up two blackboards one day with family trees of F’s characters and the interesting intermarriages between them.

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ur-socks-sir t1_ixtjwvf wrote

Sorry, I know this doesn't have much to do with your story there, but your post reminded me of it. I met my new dentist two weeks ago, he said I looked like an English teacher. As a creative writing major, this was a nice compliment.

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Stegopossum t1_ixtonwg wrote

Learn the proper numbering system of the teeth and discuss them that way and he’ll think you’re a genius. It was perceptive for him to identify you that way but dentists do have the advantage of studying people closely. I should finish my master’s in Eng but even if I did nobody could guess from my appearance which is like an old truckdriver which is not wrong.

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Saxon2060 t1_ixv0cxw wrote

My favourite passage is from this book.

I said You don't know what worry is. I don't know what it is. I don't know whether I am worrying or not. Whether I can or not . I don't know whether I can cry or not. I don't know whether I have tried to or not. I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.

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ApocalypseSpokesman t1_ixtauz7 wrote

This was perhaps my least favorite read of my entire life.

I absolutely hated it.

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yeetedhaws t1_ixuyuvy wrote

The dark humor got me. The auger scene in the beginning and the ending of the book just seem gratuitously cruel. I know some people love dark humor but it was too much for me!

Otherwise I can appreciate the book for what it is and what it does. Gorgeous writing and interesting topics but just not handled in a way I personally enjoy.

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ApocalypseSpokesman t1_ixv3xm8 wrote

>Gorgeous writing and interesting topics

I see people say things like this, but I don't get it in even the smallest sense. I found the writing to be execrable. Inane and pointless. Reading it I felt that Faulkner was pointing a pen of disdain at his audience. As if to brag to his fellows, while thoroughly drunk, "See what drivel I can set down in print, and they'll lap it up, the dogs they are!"

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A_Powerful_Moss t1_ixvs1ip wrote

Out of curiosity, what’s your fav book you’ve ever read? Also, I trenchantly disagree with your take on Faulkner, but to each their own.

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ApocalypseSpokesman t1_ixw74iv wrote

I can't answer what my favorite book ever was. Not like "ooh, there's so many," just like I usually don't keep track of them in my mind that way.

One recent read that struck me very favorably was The Death of Ivan Ilych.

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yeetedhaws t1_ixxlt8o wrote

Oh see I hated the death of Ivan Ilyich, to me it was extremely dry and straight to the point. I didn't even really understand why it was written because the point was so straight forward/I didn't have to really think deeper to understand it.

Faulkner is on the opposite end of the spectrum, he writes through implications and pastoral descriptions. I still remember the chapter where the daughter went to get an abortion and her little brother waited outside. The reader isn't directly told what's happening but we all figure it out in a way that a careless writer wouldn't have been able to pull off. Same with the ending and dad getting his new teeth, the reader can imagine what happens next and what happened leading up to it without it being explicitly explained.

It's definitely written in a way that looks clumsy but that makes the relevant information that much more hard hitting.

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ExcitedStone t1_ixx4ubu wrote

Have to agree with you. Not sure how he is put in the same category as McCarthy or Melville. Did you find any of his other books worth reading?

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ApocalypseSpokesman t1_ixzhzba wrote

I read another of his books, it might have been The Sound and the Fury.

I don't remember details but I remember not liking it much.

It wasn't anything like the feeling of angry disgust I got from As I Lay Dying, though.

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Letters_to_Dionysus t1_ixtqkhm wrote

The sound and the fury, light in August, and Absalom Absalom were also excellent reads, but as I lay dying is my favorite Faulkner that I've read so far. Excellent book!

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newusername118 t1_ixuvzfv wrote

Just read that this semester for my American Lit class, it was great! I want to read more Faulkner

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fatherjohnmilfy t1_ixuzck4 wrote

Faulkner is goated. Nabokov was brilliant but him saying his works are hillbilly hogwash is a shit take

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hdawnj t1_ixsvjhp wrote

I agree. It is a masterpiece.

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uselessartist t1_ixuo2qa wrote

Sound and Fury sounds similar, only one I’ve read and was wowed by it.

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A_Powerful_Moss t1_ixvr00u wrote

Faulkner is the greatest author of the 20th century and beyond. Dude is unreal.

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pegicorn t1_ixw00mj wrote

I found it to be well-written, but I hated all of the characters so much that it was not an enjoyable read

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wistfulmaiden t1_ixx0pzd wrote

I read it in school but i can’t remember it! I think maybe i didnt read it just skimmed through. I should re read it as an adult.

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