As I Lay Dying

I respect Faulkner, but I can't say I love him. Still, this book was something. What that something was, I'm still figuring out.

The novel tells the story of the Bundren family in their quest to bury their recently deceased (well, she's alive but on her death bed when the story opens) mother, Addie. And if you thought your family was dysfunctional, you haven't read enough Faulkner yet. Think turn of the century white trash and you're getting close. The Bundrens are a muddled mass of secrets, lies, confusions, poor choices, selfishness, insanity, and grief. Each chapter is told by a different narrator, and so the story is told in tilted chunks, leaving the reader to piece together the objective truth.

There are moments of comedy, and moments of tragedy, and plenty of moments of terribleness. And in the end, I'm not sure who is the heart of the novel. Not Addie, though her death is the central focus of the plot (or at least the inciting incident). Not Anse, who is too mule-headed and self-centered to make good choices for his family. Not Dewey Dell, too much caught up in her own life. Not Vardaman, too young to make much sense of the world. That leaves the three older boys, all of whom are scarred in various ways by their family, mentally, physically, emotionally.

I have to admith, though, at times I feel like I have to fight more than I want to in order to understand what's happening. Faulkner is so good at taking you inside the mind that sometimes you're not even sure what exactly the character is actually thinking about. The book grew on me as I read, and it's certainly less daunting than The Sound and the Fury , but I still can't claim to be a major Faulknerian. To respect and appreciate is one thing. To enjoy is something else. As always, click the cover to buy from Amazon--and notice that this book wins the award for creepiest cover.