Southern Gothic Fever Dream part III

Category: 50 Books

I finally finished Absalom, Absalom! And here’s the thing, there is no hundred dollar reward for reading it. Boo. I know.

At the end of the version I was reading there was a timeline and character list. These would’ve been helpful to have while reading the book, but then I guess it would’ve given too much away? I don’t know. The ending was disappointing because to be honest, there’s not much of an ending. Is there a sequel?

Here’s my problem with the WHOLE book:
The men telling the story (what they know of the story and what they suppose about the story, cos let’s be honest, they just make up a bunch of shit for part of it.) the Compson men and Shreve, Quentin’s college roommate from Canada, the men telling the story HAVE NO STAKES IN THIS STORY. They tell this story over and over, adding shit to it, and they tell it all fevered and manic, like if it doesn’t get told someone’s going to die, and yet, not only is it not their story, it’s not even like, tangentially their story. They get nothing out of it. They aren’t related to it.
ALL of the story? Is none of their damn business in the first place. So I cannot understand why THEY are telling this story.

This is not to say that the story that is being told isn’t a good one, nay, it’s like crazy, out-there good. But it needs to be a Sutpen (or Miss Rosa) telling it. Or maybe one of the people who lived on their land like a slave or share-cropper, whatever. But you know who doesn’t need to be telling the story? Well-to-do white folk who weren’t even there, the closest of which lived 12 miles and a couple decades removed from the story.

Something I noticed while reading the book:
Faulkner really, really likes describing shirtless, young men’s chests. Lovety-loves it.

Also:
I was totally waiting for Quentin and Shreve to make out SO HARD.

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