Helpful Score: 3
Hard to follow and sort out the characters at first. I particularly like Faulkner's stream of consciousness style. The characters were very colorful. A good change of style and pace for me.
Helpful Score: 2
A good intro to Faulkner's writing. A disturbing, sometimes darkly humorous account of a family's struggle to properly bury thier mother.
Helpful Score: 2
Oh my goodness. I just love this book. It is written so well, from the varying points of view of the characters. It tells a deeply disturbing tale that may seem so harrowing that the book could be simply labelled as depressing, but there is so much more to it. The motifs, themes, language and development of character are brought together so beautifully. William Faulker excelled on this one.
Helpful Score: 2
Definitely not for everyone, I read it for school and was actually able to get into it and enjoy it, but not everyone can.
Helpful Score: 2
I had a very hard time getting into this book. His writing seems all over the place to me. Although, I will admit that I enjoyed how he ended it.
Helpful Score: 2
Somewhat interesting, though sometimes the language and writing style was hard to muddle through.
Helpful Score: 2
My first Faulkner read.... it was a great book, but hard to read at first until you get used to his style. In the end, I enjoyed reading the story through each individual's eyes.
Helpful Score: 2
Required reading for me in high school. However, I was shocked that I found the book extremely entertaining and funny. Black humor at its best and wacky but real characters. The stream of consciousness writing style is brilliant, Faulkner, ya know, but difficult to get into. Much like trying to read Shakespeare or listen to opera. Well worth it, if you can do it.
Hard to follow the characters so I encourage you to make a list of the characters from the beginning.
Helpful Score: 1
These are real people. This is not a book where everything turns out well; this is a story where life is told as it happens to most of us. Faulkner receives deserved attention as a teller of life stories.
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent read, hard to read if you dont take your time but , once you get started its easy to read.
Helpful Score: 1
As I Lay Dying is a story following the Bundren family's trip across the country-side to bury their wife and mother. The story is told in turns by each family member - including Addie (the one being buried). Disturbing but with moments of dark humor, it's written in that stream-of-conciousness style that isn't for everyone. An excellent read and a slim 200 or so pages, but definitely not an easy read. There are moments where you aren't really sure who is who or what they are talking about until things happen later - unless you're able to keep an eye on some subtle clues. The writing is beautiful.
"Before us the thick dark current runs. It talks up to us in a murmur become ceaseless and myriad, the yellow surface dimpled monstrously into fading swirls travelling along the surface for an instant, silent, impermanent and profoundly significant, as though just beneath the surface something huge and alive waked for a moment of lazy alertness out of and into light slumber again." (p.141)
"Before us the thick dark current runs. It talks up to us in a murmur become ceaseless and myriad, the yellow surface dimpled monstrously into fading swirls travelling along the surface for an instant, silent, impermanent and profoundly significant, as though just beneath the surface something huge and alive waked for a moment of lazy alertness out of and into light slumber again." (p.141)
Helpful Score: 1
Faulkner is poetry. You aren't a reader til you read one of his books!
A difficult read with little payback, but apparently a classic.
There is no way around the fact that Faulkner is hard to read. However, this is one of his more enjoyable books. It is humorous even though the subject matter is so disturbing. Personally, Varderman is the most intriguing character. No one cares enough to explain to him the situation surrounding his mother's death, so while his conclusion that his mother is a fish is disturbing, it still remains humorous.
This was my first attempt at Faulkner. Somehow I managed to go through my entire undergraduate degree in English without so much as glancing at a Faulkner book. I was neither surprised nor disappointed in this book, it was about what I expected. It takes awhile to get in to the vernacular, but the story is interesting enough to get you through. All-in-all a worthy classic but by no means a "fun" read.
This is tough going at first until you get used to the way it is written. Then you see the humor in this picture of the incredible struggle of a lazy man with an obsession. Seems like an oxymoran doesn't it? Read it and see. Very tight and typical Faulkner.
It was a good read overall but a little challenging understanding Faulkner's writing style. The main characters were so annoying with apologies and weaknesses. I wanted them to have a stronger backbone.
Superb story teller. Classic Faulkner.
The conventional wisdom says that this a good introduction to Faulkner's unique style of writing. True, it's short and the black humor gets us readers over white waters in the stream of consciousness. But the multiple points of view may disconcert and disgruntle. And then there're sentences like this: But it's better to build a tight chicken coop than a shoddy court-house, and when they both build shoddy or build well, neither because it's one or tother is going to make a man feel the better nor the worse. Wait, what? There's no getting around that a reader has to read it twice through, once, then again quick. Nothing good comes easy, momma always said. Note: this is not the only masterpiece he wrote in the Thirties.
I've not read anything by Faulkner but this was a good book.
Great Literature, I see that Faulkner is a superb writer for his time.
An account of the Bundren family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife an dmother. Told in turn by each member of the family--including Addie herself.
Didn't enjoy reading this...
Well, it's not my kind of prose, but lots of people disagree with me; it's a classic. From the back cover: "As I Lay Dying is Faulkner's harrowing account of the Bundren family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Told in turns by each of the family members--including Addie herself--the novel ranges from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.
This edition follows the text of As I Lay dying as corrected in 1985. It includes an editor's note by Noel Polk on the corrections as well as line and page notes prepared by Joseph Blotner."
This edition follows the text of As I Lay dying as corrected in 1985. It includes an editor's note by Noel Polk on the corrections as well as line and page notes prepared by Joseph Blotner."
voted Oprah's summer read.
Book set in Mississippi....good read
I love Faulkner's work. I have several of his books. This one is the regular size paperback that you will find in Oprah's collection, but it does have a used sticker on the back because it was from a college library and must have been bought used from the college book store. Other than the sticker and stamp it is in excellent condition!
Summary from back of book:
"As I Lay Dying is Faulkner's harrowing account of the Bundren family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Told in turns by each of the family members--including Addie herself--the novel ranges in mood from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.
Summary from back of book:
"As I Lay Dying is Faulkner's harrowing account of the Bundren family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Told in turns by each of the family members--including Addie herself--the novel ranges in mood from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.
great for teens or college students' summer reading lists
Annotation
As I Lay Dying is the harrowing, darkly comic tale of the Bundren family's trek across Mississippi to bury Addie, their wife and mother, in the town of her choice. The story is told by each family member -- including Addie herself.
Faulkner's use of multiple viewpoints to reveal the inner psychological make-up of the characters is one of the novel's chief charms.
From the Publisher
At the heart of this 1930 novel is the Bundren family's bizarre journey to Jefferson to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Faulkner lets each family member including Addie and others along the way tell their private responses to Addie's life.
As I Lay Dying is the harrowing, darkly comic tale of the Bundren family's trek across Mississippi to bury Addie, their wife and mother, in the town of her choice. The story is told by each family member -- including Addie herself.
Faulkner's use of multiple viewpoints to reveal the inner psychological make-up of the characters is one of the novel's chief charms.
From the Publisher
At the heart of this 1930 novel is the Bundren family's bizarre journey to Jefferson to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Faulkner lets each family member including Addie and others along the way tell their private responses to Addie's life.
