The death and burial of Addie Bundren is told by members of her family, as they cart the coffin to Jefferson, Mississippi, to bury her among her people. And as the intense desires, fears and rivalries of the family are revealed in the vernacular of the Deep South, Faulkner presents a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the Old Testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn.
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The death and burial of Addie Bundren is told by members of her family, as they cart the coffin to Jefferson, Mississippi, to bury her among her people. And as the intense desires, fears and rivalries of the family are revealed in the vernacular of the Deep South, Faulkner presents a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the Old Testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn.
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This book is really good if you're willing to read it. Faulkner, traditionally, is somewhat of a deterrent to many, but his writing in this novel is understandable and emotionally-charged. That said, the book is not for everyone; there are some strong themes of adultery, madness, and the cruelty of human indifference. If you decide to read this book:
1. Read it all at once. 2. Don't try too hard to understand it. It all comes together at the end.
rejoyce
Oct 2, 2007
Comic Allegory of Family
William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is a kind of comic allegory of family, duty, honor, and pride. Scene upon scene are plainly grotesque: Addie, the Bundren ancestor, looks out of the window to see her son Cash building a coffin, her body placed in reverse to accommodate her bridal gown, the smell emanating from the box, the journey to her hometown Jefferson, the episode on the river, Cash laid on a palette atop the coffin after breaking his leg. This is an essentially comic treatment of death--and a harbinger of black comedy--but Faulkner complicates a relatively simple plot by maddening the reader with 15 different points of view. Perhaps it's as Cleanth Brooks wrote: the novel's multivocal nature highlights the human isolation within the Bundren family. Less important than The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! in the Faulkner canon, but darkly funny if the reader can bear the relentlessly shifting perspectives.
Selina
Sep 22, 2007
A family drama
The story shifts point of view in this epic tale of a disfuctional family. The story is told out of order due to switching perspectives. A family comes to terms with thier mother's death. The fueding brothers Darl and Jewel take up most of this sad tale.