Great American literature | A Summer of Faulkner: As I Lay Dying/The Sound and the Fury/Light in August...

Challenging and thought-provoking | A Summer of Faulkner: As I Lay Dying/The Sound and the Fury/Light in August (Oprah's Book Club) | William Faulkner

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	• A Summer of Faulkner: As I Lay Dying/The Sound and the Fury/Light in August (Oprah's Book Club) William Faulkner Vintage, 2005 average customer review:based on 71 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A challenging read

A good value. Faulkner takes a while to adjust to, but a good opportunity to start in on classic American literature.

Great American literature

The Oprah's Book Club is a great, inexpensive way to own these literary pearls. If you do not know what you are getting into I suggest you read first Light in August, then As I Lay Dying and finally, after bracing, The Sound and the Fury. I found the second a tad too dry and dark, but that's Faulkner. The last one is a book you will eventually reread. The first reading could be helped by the many high quality institutional web sites where this masterpiece is dissected and even rearranged for ease of approach. I am witholding a star simply because I have formed the opinion that Faulkner is, to put in mildly, racially biased or at least wrote for the racially biased. I would love to hear what Oprah thinks about this aspect of Faulkner's but I do not have the time. Enjoy.

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Challenging and thought-provoking

These novels are not to be read for sheer pleasure, but rather for the challenge and the depth. They are not easy to read, though *Light in August* is the easiest of the three. The prose is so difficult at times that I needed to reread again and again. I had to stop and take numerous breaks because my brain got twisted around.

I strongly suggest getting research materials from a university librray if at all possible to help navigate the stories. In the end, the depth of these novels is profound and extremely rewarding. It was only after I finished them (and read a lot of extra research articles) that I truly appreciated them. These novels are definitely amazing and a great account of southern life in the early part of the 20th century (and after the civil war), and I admire Faulkner more than I ever thought I could.

If you thought James Joyce was complex, try Faulkner!

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The 2005 Summer Selection is available in an exclusive three volume boxed edition that includes a special reader?s guide with an introduction by Oprah Winfrey.

Titles include:
As I Lay Dying
This novel is the 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. Originally published in 1930.

The Sound and the Fury
First published in 1929, Faulkner created his ?heart?s darling,? the beautiful and tragic Caddy Compson, whose story Faulkner told through separate monologues by her three brothers?the idiot Benjy, the neurotic suicidal Quentin and the monstrous Jason.

Light in August
Light in August, a novel about hopeful perseverance in the face of mortality, features some of Faulkner?s most memorable characters: guileless, dauntless Lena Grove, in search of the father of her unborn child; Reverend Gail Hightower, who is plagued by visions of Confederate horsemen; and Joe Christmas, a desperate, mysterious drifter consumed by his mixed ancestry. Originally published in 1932.

Take a seat in Oprah?s Classroom and sign up for Faulkner 101 on www.oprah.com/book club.

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