William Faulkner

[Brad Coelho]

I'm working my way through 'As I Lay'...surprised to see no descension from the complimentary opinion here (perhaps I am jaded by the wine boards, where no one agrees!).

[Jason Lycurgus]

I like Absalom, Absalom! the best. Probably the hardest though. As I Lay Dying is a good one to start with. The Sound and the Fury is also incredible. Absalom, Absalom! is fairly difficult the first time through but it is worth it and serves as sort of a prequel to The Sound and the Fury.

[joebob]

I couldn't finish As I Lay Dying! I mean, it wasn't horrible, but I don't see what all the fuss is about.

I'll give the sound and fury a go though.

[dfloyd]

is a much harder read than As I Lay Dying. If you are just starting Faulkner, As I Lay Dying is a good place to start. Faulkner was prolific for dying relatively young so don't expect every Faulkner novel to be a classic.

Thus far, I have enjoyed Absolam more than any others. As I lay Dying, in spite of its title's classical allusion, was not particularly interesting to me. It was like Steinbeck writing a novel where the Oakies go to a funeral.

[Rogers_68]

I am currently reading As I Lay Dying. It's my first novel by Faulkner. So far, I like very much. I'm about half way through it.

[bluosean]

As I lay dying is better classified as a fable than a novel. This is easy to tell because the actors are fish. This can be seen in lines such as "My mother is a fish", and in the part where they go diving in the river for stuff that has fallen to the bottom. They are also in love with the river and keep hanging around it. When they decide to go past it one fish starts a fire and ends up getting cooked. Obviously fish shouldnt play with fire.

Can you guys tell that I am bored?

In all seriousness though the young people in the book are trying to find out how things are and it is very confusing for them. They don't have very good role models. They are a little like fish out of water. They arent doing that well. I agree with the Steinbeck comment. The way that the characters deal with things is the important part of the book. The plot itself is not very interesting.