The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


William Faulkner‘s The Sound and the Fury is a tricky novel, a puzzle that requires thought, discussion, and rereading. Published in 1929, its modern approach, delving into the distressed, disorganized thoughts of its mostly unhinged characters, was innovative at the time but much tread since. Reading it on a claustrophobic cross-country flight, I sometimes felt like throwing it out the window, but going through it a second time at home, I gained more of an appreciation.

The story concerns the disintegration of the Compsons, a wealthy family of the old South, and the greater society around them. It is a scathing critique of the moral bankruptcy of white Southern society at the time. Having read numerous books about the American South from the perspective of black people, I had trouble empathizing with the Compsons, so the novel was more of an intellectual exercise for me than anything. The characters are representations of ideas as much as they are people. If you like that sort of thing, this is a brilliant book, but it wasn’t the most involving.

That said, I wouldn’t diminish its place in history, telling part of the story from the point of view of someone who is mentally disabled and two others from the perspective of extremely disturbed young men. It’s an impressive feat of writing, and an engrossing challenge to decode what actually happened. You might also see this book as shedding light on where we are in American now, if you’re so inclined, but this isn’t a world you’d particularly love to spend more time in.

Overall, The Sound and the Fury is a clever, difficult novel that would probably best be read in a class or with a book club.