This book is narrated by a plethora of characters, each presenting their own unique perspectives in a stream of consciousness style.

Consequently, it demands time, effort, and intense concentration from the reader to fully grasp the subtleties of the story. These subtleties include the characters' complex states of mind, hidden secrets, and in one instance, even psychosis.

The story essentially revolves around the Bundren family of Mississippi. They embark on a journey to bury the corpse of their wife and mother, Addie Bundren, in her distant hometown, as per her request.

However, due to a series of self-imposed delays in securing the appropriate carriage, as well as storms that wipe out bridges and the tragic death of their mules, the trip becomes a chaotic and black comedy.

To make matters worse, a family member breaks a leg, and other unforeseen events occur. As a result, the journey to the cemetery takes well over a week, during which the corpse decomposes and emits a foul odor.

The patriarch of the Bundren family, Anse, is a lazy and disrespected figure in the community. The Bundren children, Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardamon, each have their own distinct personalities and traits.

Other characters in the story include local people such as the minister, doctor, and neighbors.

Throughout the story, the various characters exhibit a wide range of behaviors, including gallantry, foolishness, infidelity, fear, selfishness, kindness, and meanness. These behaviors, for me, etched the characters firmly in my mind.

Although some of the people in the story may not be particularly likable, most of the characters are engaging and memorable.

This is a good and quite interesting book, but it is best suited for readers who are willing to put in a significant amount of effort into their pleasure reading.

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And since sleep is is-not and rain and wind are was, it is not. Yet the wagon is, because when the wagon is was, Addie Bundren will not be. And Jewel is, so Addie Bundren must be. And then I must be, or I could not empty myself for sleep in a strange room. And so if I am not emptied yet, I am is.

Seriously, there are people who actually like this? I'm pretty sure I get the concept, but I just don't like it. There's a family here, and each member is a reflection of a certain way of living or, in some cases, a way of dying. Anse is the 'woe is me' type, and Addie is the 'Serve your purpose and die' type. It's a cool idea for a book, but I just don't like Faulkner. Skill has very little to do with inventing a concept. I'm still not convinced that Faulkner is the genius he's made out to be. In fact, I'm not sure I should like him at all. Based on his biography, he seems kind of pathetic, a liar, and a failure. So what am I supposed to think of his writing?

Stream-of-consciousness is one thing, but writing in Faulkner's way is another. Scenes are dropped on us in incomprehensible ways, and actions are portrayed without explanation. And the unfairest part? Faulkner knows what he's trying to say, he knows all about these characters, but he's not showing us anything. For example, originally there were no names at the beginning of the chapters. He just wrote this stuff with no explanation of the speaker and expected us to figure it out. That's not genius. Writing is about connecting with a stranger, bridging the gap of confusion to create understanding and share an idea, a theme, an image with thousands or millions of people we've never met. Faulkner writes in jargon he understands with little respect for the reader, and I can't forgive him for that. If you don't believe me, write something. Write a short story. Write 3, 4, or 5 pages. Develop the characters and their histories and conflicts. Got it? Now, when writing a scene with multiple people, use only the pronoun he. You'll know who you're talking about, but do we? That's not good writing.

It's easy to be confusing. It's easy to write something beautiful and understandable for yourself. But it's hard to write universal words that we can all connect with. Good idea, Faulkner, but poor performance.

From the rare cases of writers who manage to vividly experience the climate of the era and along with it the mindset of people. A Faulkner in time is what is needed.

William Faulkner is a renowned American writer. His works are deeply rooted in the history, culture, and social fabric of the South. Through his powerful and evocative prose, he was able to capture the essence of the times, the struggles and hopes of the people. His novels and short stories explore themes such as race, class, family, and the human condition. Faulkner's unique writing style, with its complex sentences and rich vocabulary, adds to the depth and authenticity of his portrayals. He was a master at creating vivid characters and immersive worlds that readers could easily get lost in. In a world where the pace of change is rapid and the human experience is constantly evolving, a writer like Faulkner is essential. His works serve as a reminder of the past and a guide for the future, helping us to understand ourselves and the world around us.

**Will the Circle Be Unbroken**

By and By, Lord, by and by?
Is a better home awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky?

... Habershon, 1907 (adapted/recorded by The Carter Family).

[4.5 stars]

This 1930 novel is truly remarkable in its structure. It is narrated through the stream of consciousness of 15 characters over 59 chapters, with each chapter beginning with the name of the narrating character. The story follows the Bundren family in Jefferson County, Mississippi, as they face numerous trials and tribulations while taking their mom/wife Addie by horse/wagon to bury her in her hometown of Jefferson, 20 miles away. The river between the Bundrens and Jefferson has flooded, the bridges are out, and embalming methods are nonexistent at that time.

The story is told in first-person stream-of-consciousness narratives mainly by the sons (Cash in his late 20s, Darl, Jewel, and Vardaman about 10), the husband Anse, and her 17-year-old daughter Dewey Dell. They deal with crossing a flooded river, fire, mental health issues, and other problems on their way to bury Mom. Faulkner adds some sparse dialogue to the narrative, but the essence lies in the narrators' deep and perceptive thoughts. In addition to themes of death, adultery, and child-bearing, a major theme is the conflict between a character's thoughts and the words they use to express them, a significant issue for the Southern poor then and now. This leads to another important theme: social class. Faulkner believed social class distinctions were more prominent in the South than in other parts of the country. He aimed to accurately depict a poor white Mississippi family, showing their humanity while not ignoring their ignorance and backward values. I can relate to this social hierarchy from my own experience.

Although this novel is set in the 1920s, 60 years later, I knew of a family very similar to the Bundren family, but probably lower on the socioeconomic scale. I grew up in the suburbs until I was 15 when my dad decided to buy land and raise horses. The nearest school was about 10 miles away, so without a driver's license or friends in the area, I had to ride the school bus for a semester. While I disliked it, I found most of the kids to be okay, not what you might expect, dear reader, but generally clean and without any obvious class traits.
However, I will never forget the day when the bus turned onto a dirt road and climbed a steep incline. I looked out the back and saw dust swirling into rust-colored clouds below, wondering what on earth was happening. The bus seemed to grind upward for 10 minutes, turning and twisting to the top. When it stopped, a scruffy man with a full mustache under a snub nose and ferrety black eyes walked in through the door. As he took a seat near the front, his greasy, knotted hair hung over the collar of his washed-out red and black flannel shirt. I caught a whiff of something rank in the air, but it passed quickly. Stan, a guy I had met the day before, told me our new passenger was Johnny Boy, who was repeating the 6th grade again this year. I'm not sure how old Johnny Boy was, but he must have been at least 17. When I complained to Stan about the long ride up the hill, he laughed and said, "you ain't seen the half of it."
As we headed back down the hill, we took a quick right into an open field, and in front of us was a shack with several large pieces of junked home furniture scattered around it. Dad was sitting on a recliner 20 yards to the left. Two girls who looked about 7 and 9 jumped onto the bus, while to my immediate right, mom was resting on the couch with her furry robe half-open, holding a toddler and waving goodbye. As they approached me in the back of the bus, I saw that neither girl was wearing shoes on that January morning, and layers of dirt covered the sores on their feet and ankles. Above their blue tattered dresses, caked dirt ran along the lines of their necks, their hair was tousled and tangled, and in their gaping mouths, their teeth were cluttered with what appeared to be plaque, food, and snuff. Worse than all that, though (my face grimaces), was the awful smell of body odor and who knows what else, which was like a combination of sulphur and ammonia. I gagged a couple of times and stuck my head up to an open bus window to get some fresh air.
I realized then how sheltered I had been in my suburban middle-class life in Mississippi. I never looked at the film Deliverance in the same way again. This novel made me feel sad and embarrassed that the 15-year-old me thought of that hill family as no better than animals. It also frustrates me that there is no simple solution to breaking the circle for kids born into poverty, ignorance, or abusive families, as those kids continue the cycle with their own kids, and so on. Sadly, the circle here remains mostly unbroken. By and by, oh, By and by.

**"As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner: A Masterpiece of Southern Gothic Literature**

"As I Lay Dying" is a remarkable 1930 novel belonging to the Southern Gothic genre, penned by the renowned American author William Faulkner. Faulkner, in an extraordinary feat, claimed to have written this novel from midnight to 4:00 AM over a span of six weeks without changing a single word. He accomplished this while working at a power plant and later published it in 1930, describing it as a "tour de force".

This novel, Faulkner's fifth, is consistently ranked among the best novels of 20th-century literature. The title has an interesting origin, deriving from Book XI of Homer's Odyssey, where Agamemnon tells Odysseus, "As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades."

The book is narrated by 15 different characters over 51 chapters, presenting a rich and complex story. It revolves around the death of Addie Bundren and her poor, rural family's arduous quest and various motivations, whether noble or selfish, to fulfill her wish of being buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the story unfolds, we witness the family's struggles and the chaos that ensues.

From Addie's illness and the construction of her coffin by her firstborn, Cash, to the family's difficult journey with her non-embalmed body in the coffin, facing numerous obstacles such as washed-out bridges, heavy rainstorms, and financial hardships. Anse, Addie's husband, refuses offers of assistance and loans, leading the family to go hungry and sleep in barns at times. The family members have their own individual dilemmas and desires, adding to the drama and depth of the story.

After a long and eventful nine-day journey, the family finally reaches Jefferson, only to face more challenges. The stench from the coffin is quickly noticed by the townspeople, and the family members have different tasks to attend to. Cash's broken leg needs medical attention, Dewey Dell attempts to obtain an abortion, and Anse's actions further complicate the situation. In the end, the novel concludes with a series of unexpected twists and turns that leave a lasting impact on the reader.

Goin' to Town written by William Faulkner is a story or a chronicle that is not easy to describe. Faulkner has incorporated a wide range of human emotions such as pain and suffering, naivety and ignorance, self-will, violence, and a sense of guilt in his story. Goin' to Town has 59 chapters and 15 narrators who describe the story from their own perspectives. Each chapter and each narration is like a piece of a puzzle. Although at the end of the story a clearer picture of the puzzle is drawn for the reader, some pieces of it remain as dark and mysterious until the end of the book.

Faulkner starts his story without any introduction. His narrators tell their own stories and narrations without any preamble. It seems that the writer has no intention of introducing the characters and only wants to present his story. Therefore, the different perspectives of the same event by different people are sometimes the same, sometimes different, and sometimes to the same extent. Perhaps the general goal of Faulkner can be known from the multiplicity of narrators, which creates confusion, a sense of doubt, and uncertainty. Also, the simple plots that are drawn from these narrators, instead of identifying them, create more confusion.

Of course, the difficult and arduous journey in the area around the fictional town of Yoknapatawpha can be considered the basis and background of the story. What is the purpose of this journey is to fulfill the request and will of the mother of the Bundren family, Addie, to be buried in the ancient town of Jefferson. And in this way, the difficult journey of the family to Jefferson begins.

Although the flood, rain, and fire threaten their journey and put their lives in danger many times, the Bundren family finally, of course, with the忍受 of different misfortunes, fulfill the duty and will of their mother and are ready to return to their village.

However, the goal of Faulkner should not be considered as telling an exciting story. The painful journey of the Bundrens has caused the writer to have a critical look at the dominant culture in the southern United States. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king? The stupidity and simplicity of the Bundrens are accused of fanaticism. They are driving a rickety wagon into a flooded river when they have no chance of salvation and freedom. The stench of the decomposing corpse, the vultures and crows have followed their wagon, and the people have fled from them. The encounter of the father of the family, Anse Bundren, with his son Cash's broken leg, his decision to put cement on his leg, and the silence and agreement of all of them, and Cash's satisfaction with this act, while being ridiculous, causes a disaster.

In the midst of this faceless crowd, Darl should be considered as the one-eyed man. Darl is the only one who has followed this journey aimlessly and pointlessly. He has understood that the mother's request and the father's insistence are not only illogical but also dangerous and deadly. That's why he tries to get rid of the evil of the corpse. Darl is the one who follows the secret of the devil's heart with a glance. But he will not have a good end in this crowd. The collection of broken things The journey to Jefferson has turned the Bundren family into a group of survivors. One has lost his horse, one has lost his healthy leg, the nerves and mind of another have been lost, and even the coffin and the corpse of the mother have been damaged. But Anse Bundren, the father of the family, who has a striking resemblance to Ishmael, the character of the father in the brothers' story, should be considered the complete winner of this marathon. Since there is no Lila in his family, at the end of the story, with an open mouth, he not only smiles at the other members of the family but also at the reader to complete his victory.

Although more than 90 years have passed since the publication of Goin' to Town, Faulkner's book still seems so fresh, new, and of course revolutionary. Although the writer has told his story simply and smoothly, his book, because of the stream of consciousness and the unreliability of the narrators of the story, must be read very hard, complex, and difficult, and of course, it should be considered as one of the memorable masterpieces of world literature.

I know you're "supposed to" love this book because it's Faulkner, but I HATED IT!

I know that in certain circles, you're considered "cool" and "intelligent" if you read Faulkner. However, I just can't stand him.

Sorry, but I truly don't know what he's talking about. And at the risk of sounding immodest, I do consider myself to be bright.

I DON'T think it's cool and "hip" to write in a confusing manner. I don't try to impress others by feigning a liking for ambiguity.

I had my fill in college with snobs who pretended to like this kind of stuff. They would act all superior just because they could supposedly understand Faulkner's convoluted writing.

Sorry if I sound harsh here. I'm really a nice person at heart, but YUK! This book was just not for me. I prefer writing that is clear and easy to understand, not something that makes my head spin.

As I Lay Dying seemed to linger ostensibly on my 'currently-reading' shelf for several months. The reason was that I simply hadn't been able to come to terms with it. I could indeed recognize the quality of the writing, but frankly, I was really struggling. Partly, it just hadn't seized my interest right away. However, mostly it was the difficulty presented by both the voices in which each chapter is written. The individual slants on the broad Mississippian dialect made it a challenge. Also, piecing together the story from these separate viewpoints was a significant impediment. Maybe I'm just becoming lazy in my reading habits.

I went back to it last week, starting all over again from the beginning. And perhaps this was what made things start to fall into place. While it's still not an easy book (and who ever said books should be easy?), I was now able to both appreciate the writing and understand the book well enough to enjoy it.

The story it tells is about Addie Bundren's death and her family's attempts to transport her body for burial to the town of Jackson, in accordance with her wishes. Narrated from the perspectives of various characters - the several children of different ages, her husband, assorted other people variously connected to the events, and a couple of times, even from Addie herself - the tale constructs a complex and incomplete narrative. It reveals secrets, ulterior motives, and a web of drives and agendas similar to those behind all human activities and relationships, whether of simple country folk or others.

In the end, we are left with very little resolution and more questions about this family than we had at the start. Although perhaps this in itself is a fitting conclusion as we step back out of their lives.

This is my second Faulkner after "The Sound and the Fury" and the result is almost the same.

It starts extremely disconcertingly, reaching a point where you no longer know who you are....., let alone understand what you are reading.

But the sun rises as always around the middle of the book, where everything magically returns to its place and those characters who until that moment you didn't even know who they were, now seem to be known to you for a lifetime and you are already completely affectionate towards them.

I don't know how all this can happen, this is Faulkner and with him the mind travels greatly, it just needs to be left in the hands and words of the author.

His writing style is so unique and captivating that it draws you in and makes you experience a world that is both strange and familiar.

Faulkner has a way of making you question your own perception of reality and making you see things from a different perspective.

It is a challenging but ultimately rewarding experience to read his works.

However, I am no longer sure to what extent one has the right to say what is acceptable and what is not. It is as if within each of us there was another person who was beyond the boundaries of sanity or madness, and who, being a witness to our logical and illogical actions, judged them with the same horror and satisfaction.

I think there are some books that you must have the right state of mind and the right age to read them. I feel that if I had read this particular book at a younger age, I probably would not have connected with it. Now, having passed my twenties, having settled down in my opinions and with many more concerns than I had at 20, and with a strange emotional disposition and psychological makeup, I was able to walk this difficult path, as sharp-witted as it may sound. A really difficult text despite the author's elegance and really particularly descriptive and quite impressive and descriptive writing. A book about loss and the emotional addictions that it creates in the people it concerns, about the management of grief. For book lovers ready for reading challenges, it is a book that must be read at least once in your life and adorn your libraries.

E mezza. And now comes the film by James Franco (rated 8 according to Quinlan). This film has the potential to add a new dimension to the story. It might bring to life the characters and events in a way that the written word couldn't fully capture. The visual and auditory elements of the film could enhance the overall experience for the viewers.

And then there is the encounter with the Bright Lights Bookclub. This meeting is expected to dissipate the last doubts and raise the evaluation to five. The discussions and insights shared within the bookclub can often offer a fresh perspective on a work. Different members may have unique interpretations and analyses, which can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the story. Through this interaction, the flaws that might have been initially noticed could be reevaluated and perhaps seen in a different light.

Second Reading.

Faulkner is at his absolute best in this remarkable work that showcases his mastery of stream of consciousness and interior monologue as a narrative technique. The process of coming unalone, as he describes it, is truly a terrible one.

We are plunged into the Southern "Gothic" storytelling of a deeply flawed and disturbing family, a family full of lingering bitterness, decay, and despair. It is an absurdity that manages to be both comic and tragic, a strange and captivating blend.

The text takes us on a travelogue through the derelict southern settings, where characters are entangled in grotesque situations and sinister events related to poverty, religion, alienation, and violence. We see a glare at the human soul that is without reproach, without anything at all, just quiet.

There is a lost faith in human nature, assailed by doubt, an irrevocable quality that pervades the narrative. The words "I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth" and Vardaman's strange proclamation "My mother is a fish" add to the overall sense of strangeness and brilliance.

And the idea that the space between us is time, that time no longer runs straight but parallel like a looping string, with distance being the doubling accretion of the thread and not the interval between, is a truly profound and thought-provoking concept.