The Known World (by Edward P. Jones)
This was our latest selection for the Book Club, and I finished the last few pages while actually at the meeting. I found this book to be very Faulkner-esque, specifically reminding me of Absalom, Absalom.
I put it down for a long time when our book club meeting was delayed, and it's so complex with so many characters that I think I lost a lot of the threads by the time I picked it back up again. But I think if you like Faulkner, it's worth reading it and sticking with it until the end. Everything else I want to say is just agreeing with the group consensus on the book (not that we all agreed about everything; that would be a verye boring book group). So as not to step on the toes of the Official Review, I will say no more!
I put it down for a long time when our book club meeting was delayed, and it's so complex with so many characters that I think I lost a lot of the threads by the time I picked it back up again. But I think if you like Faulkner, it's worth reading it and sticking with it until the end. Everything else I want to say is just agreeing with the group consensus on the book (not that we all agreed about everything; that would be a verye boring book group). So as not to step on the toes of the Official Review, I will say no more!
posted by mo pie at 12:29 PM
4 Comments:
Do you like Faulkner?
All I've read is "As I Lay Dying", at the instigation of a friend, and actively loathed it - so much so that I've never dared to read any more. On the other hand, I'm evidently missing something... and I like Margaret Atwood's "Life Before Man" which is supposed to be inspired by Faulkner.
I trust your taste - should I give him another go?
I also hated "As I Lay Dying." I enjoyed the Faulkner seminar I did over on The Usual Suspects, where we read Absalom, Absalom and The Sound and the Fury. It allowed me to appreciate the books on an intellectual level. But I tell you, me and Faulkner? Not so much.
On the other hand, I'm glad that I did study Faulkner because his influence is really everywhere in Southern literature. I have no idea what Beloved would look like if there had been no Faulkner.
And those other two books are less annoying than As I Lay Dying. By far.
I will have another go, then! I need something to make my brain work - and if I don't love the books, at least I won't feel it was a kneejerk reaction.
Late to the party, here, but can I suggest Go Down, Moses as an introduction to Faulkner? It's shortish, it contains some definite experimentation but doesn't wallow in it, and it was the first one I read so everyone must have the same experiences as me, ha!
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