William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury BOOK REVIEW

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Big thanks to Ridge for sending me this wallet and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you want to check them out! > ridge.com/BETTERTHANFOOD

[@Michael-Hammerschmidt]

In Highschool my Ap English teacher told a story of how she once found Faulkner's journal when researching for an essay on The Sound and the Fury in college. In it Faulkner described a man that he used to interview. Out on his porch in the evenings, after downing a few bottles, he would just talk about his family. I can't quite remember the details that tipped her off but she felt the man has some striking similarities to her great-grandfather. Eventually she brought it to her mom and aunt to see if they knew anything. They told her they had a feeling she would find out eventually. Apparently Faulkner would come by from time to time to chat with her Great Grandfather and listen to his stories. I guess her Mom and Aunt were rather ashamed to admit that Faulkner was at least partially inspired by their family to write The Sound and the Fury.

[@mehran7449]

This is crazy.

[@illustriouschin]

Sounds legit.

[@mattjmjmjm4731]

A lot of people shit on modernism for being difficult are missing out on great literature. I just go along for the ride when reading, even if I don't understand everything. To be honest I believe As I lay dying is a superior book to The Sound and the Fury for me. I like it but As I lay dying is short and sweet, Faulkner's great prose shines in that book more.

[@mattjmjmjm4731]

@@MrDinghus Well Harold Bloom got me to read that book in the first place :) A lot of my favorite books come from me reading about them in a Harold Bloom book. The guy was great in passion for great literature, I felt quite sad when ha passed away, he helped me become the reader I am today.

[@TerryStewart32]

Mattjmjmjm Harold Bloom was a modern day Samuel Johnson. He modelled himself after him and he was just as vastly read with an impressive memory facility and unrivalled erudition when discussing literature and books that are canonical to the west. Both Christopher Ricks and James Wood are also great literary critics

[@bsnoguera]

I think they're on that level of quality that makes them incomparable. Both are incredible, I couldn't choose one.

[@mattjmjmjm4731]

@@bsnoguera To a certain extent that is true but I felt more emotion when reading As I lay dying so I prefer that one.

[@carlosdiaz7573]

Actually the greatest writers are the ones who have the easiest language and are easy to read...

[@Ryan_Ek2]

You should really make this a yearly thing: reviewing a book by Faulkner. I'll be waiting for your 2021 review of As I Lay Dying haha.

[@burke9497]

Even better would be a Faulkner review every 4-6 months.

[@uniquechannelnames]

Man I tried AILD and just, idk it was too slow. Lol and I read slow Russian novels.. I do want to get into Faulkner cause I love McCarthy..

[@Ryan_Ek2]

@@uniquechannelnames Give it another shot. It sure took me a couple of tries to get through it and that was when I wasn't really exposed to much southern authors.

[@bighardbooks770]

@@Ryan_Ek2 #FaulknerInAugust2020

[@bighardbooks770]

@@uniquechannelnames #FaulknerInAugust2020

[@choggerboom]

Just finished this ride. My God. Read this. My advice for first time readers, once you course through the midway point it will all begin to fall in place. Everything you thought was nonsensical comes into clarity. Genius, genius novel. Experience it for its genius.

[@illustriouschin]

What specifically makes you like it so much?

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Clearly one of Faulkner’s masterpieces! Having just finished this with some friends, I’d offer the advice that if you’re nervous about reading Faulkner, consider doing a buddy read. Being able to talk to someone about how the novel’s impact on you or your takeaways from what you just read is infinitely valuable to appreciating some of his work!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

MrDinghus great point! My buddy that records with me lives in Florida while I live in Indy. We always do a Faulkner read in August each year and it’s a blast doing it with someone! #FaulknerinAugust2020

[@bighardbooks770]

_Hola!_ #FaulknerInAugust2020

[@Judge_Meridian]

Why would one be nervous reading Faulkner?

[@ramadhan1481]

damn i hope i have friends

[@ryansuttree8054]

Love this book. I read it a few months ago while we were under COVID lockdown in Moscow, Russia. Beautiful, tragic southern story. Loved your review!

[@choggerboom]

I remember, years back now, you had a glowing review for Absalom, Absalom! and my uninitiated self went and picked it up as my entry into Faulkner and was completely pummeled by its challenge, made it 100 pages through and was completely lost and abandoned ship. I’m happy to say, as of recently, I got back into Faulkner after having read nearly all McCarthy except that I’ve started with Light In August, which I must say, has utterly blown me away in regards to his prose and pinpoint accuracy of complex thoughts and emotions. It’s been transcendental really, as far as my experience with fiction. I have you to thank for pushing Faulkner into my radar, and I cannot wait to give Absalom a go after I finish up TSATF and AILD which I have in the bullpen. Faulkner has simply blown me away.

[@klausmaccus4397]

How did those other books go? Faulkner is my absolute favorite!

[@choggerboom]

@@klausmaccus4397 what a pleasant surprise to be asked about this! I indeed went on to read TSATF, AILD, Absalom Absalom, and the Snopes trilogy. A mlong with a myriad of his short stories. Let me share that I became quite devotional to him upon my journeying through his works. And another thing, this is well over a year ago or so, but from the time I finished Light in August I became inspired to write. I’ve been doing it each and everyday since, and I cannot imagine going more than a day without doing this now. Faulkner showed me both the possibility and the profundity that can happen in literature, that can trump just about any other thing there is to do, experience. I’ve had many sublimely little moments across my lifetime, in travel and in nature and within lived social experiences, but the peculiar possession I fell so abruptly to the bone --upon starting Quentin’s section of TSATF, had me levitating on the couch. It was that sublime. Right then and there I thought, this is how I can make it in life, this is the reason to be alive. And I hate that this will all sound much too melodramatic but I really might have to list that occurrence as my most significant, paradigmatic moment in life. As good as sex, mushroom trips, and hiking the Annapurna mountains of Nepal amidst a snowdrift; As good as all of these things. So thanks. Faulkner once stated something to the effect the writer’s desire is to permanently imprint themselves onto their readers, so that their remembrance goes so deep that they will come haunted across life and so forever live on, by them in this way. No doubt has he accomplished this with me, as just one of his subjects. I think all Faulkner lovers will admit as much. It can be very subtle. I’m curious what works of his are your favorites? And if you happen to want to go further, how has Faulkner affected you?

[@klausmaccus4397]

@@choggerboom Wow thanks for such an amazing response! I'm so happy to hear that Faulkner inspired you in such a powerful way. I have similarly been affected by him. My top 3 favorite works by him are 1. Absalom, Absalom! 2. As I Lay Dying and 3. The Sound and the Fury. All unbelievable MASTERPIECES in my opinion. I think he was a Literary genius and the best American writer ever. No writer has inspired and influenced me more than him and Shakespeare. Faulkner just has such a way about him that it's really hard to put my finger on it. Even though his subject matter is often very bleak, his work is ultimately life affirming because of its striking depth. These depressing stories are redeemed by their author's uncanny awareness and brilliant insights. His sort of repetitious and hypnotic contemplation of everything, his rigorous penetration of the truth, really just inspires me to think and feel DEEPLY on a daily basis. That's why I think it's life affirming. It's like Hamlet or Dostoevsky's Underground man, where no matter how dark the subjects they explore are, the characters themselves contain a redeeming self-awareness that makes it all worth it. I think Camus alludes to this in the Myth of Sisyphus, saying "there is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn." I think Faulkner pulls this off. He tells you unbelievably bleak and hopeless stories, but does so with such a sharp and borderline divine sense of awareness and eye for observation that the writing itself lifts you up and inspires you to live, feel, and think in a deeper and richer way. Anyways I'm sorry for rambling! I thank you for your thoughtful response and I totally wish you luck with your writing! Enjoy it as much as you can because it's a gift!

[@choggerboom]

@@klausmaccus4397 such an insightful reply, ripe with evaluations, you’ve got me nodding my head in approval, incessantly, as if desiring to punctuate each point. I agree that he is the greatest American writer, and as it stands now, one of the greatest writers no matter of nation. But I’ve got too much reading to do for either claim to have any significant bearings, or mean anything that significant. But you’ve demonstrated perfectly just one of the subtle facets to his mastery, in how he redeems from the tragedy he creates something innocent, baroque, beautiful and worthy. It’s the damndest thing when I’ll have finally gotten a close friend or family member to try on Faulkner and then see how this epiphany doesn’t seem to land for them, which is understandable, for I think if I had not my sensibilities to words and language already innate and this routed-so that I’m surcharged a rush of endorphins on a nearly line by line basis-then I can easily see how the language can appear taxing, estranged, and abusive even. But I think all who are charmed by his prose find the delicacy of his structures. It is the characters, isn’t it? Alive, dead, toy-like, Christian, Buddhist, supernatural, insignificant, omnipotent, death-driven, innocent, straying in the present, past, future, or none of these places, indomitable, to use a Faulkner-favorite. And his plot structures, entwined with the narrative structures. When I began to see cleanly what was occurring all along in Absalom Absalom (with help, no doubt, with assistance) I became quite petrified. One can’t help but to see his face come up in your eye, smiling and winking like a demon. There’s just so much praise to address. In the minutiae of finding a vigor in just that of a strand of hairs and in how the way it lays upon a working man’s forehead before the suns come up, is to almost tell me everything. He’ll use a magnifying glass then switch it out for a kaleidoscope and then option to use a spyglass. And then in some of his stream of consciousness installments as I’m reading and falling out of time along the excursion Into any hypnosis I’ll pause upon some elicit of impact, come briefly out from my trance, and wonder whether I’ve just eaten a superior kind of gummy prior, because this feeling cannot come from just the words. But it did, but it does. Now I’ve been rambling and at some point one figures they should stop. I will fall back. But I must mention finally, since you’ve rightfully mentioned both Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky (who I need to read more into, each), Samuel Beckett’s trilogy is another profound masterpiece that affixes upon these same themes. Especially if you’re looking to get there through the heady steam of a hypnotic reading, I cannot recommend it enough. And thank you for the kind words and encouragements about writing. It’s a faculty so necessary to me now as food, sleep is. I’d hope to be able to do what these authors have done for me the same for others, some day, but I won’t fret on it. When I’m writing I just want to get closer, you know. But it’s been a pleasure engaging with you Klaus! Kind of a universal reminder that there are friends out there, waiting to bump into one another, however briefly, so that about life, you remember that it does happen.

[@nicolasr7209]

Just watched your review of Samuel Beckett, and bought his trilogy as a result. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever read- and I'm only 70 pages into Molloy. Thank you so much for the review/recommendation.

[@yasmeenayrn]

I just read and loved As I Lay Dying, can’t wait to start this

[@tanya.24]

I read it last year november (hope I'd seen your review then), I'm 15 and I'm confident the subtleties (also most of the book pretty sure) went completely over my head, but its been my favourite book ever since. The atmosphere created is unbelievable, even while reading the incoherent thoughts of Benji, you can still feel the sinister and morbid atmosphere. The chapter with Quentin hit hardest. It was haunting, as the punctuations gradually disappeared and his mind got progressively disoriented...oof. I know stream of consciousness is a popular format but I'd never read anything like that before. Hopefully I'll read it when I'm older and not stupid to understand more

[@rileskiley3341]

When I lived in Oxford, I used to drink with Faulkner at his grave. I’d pour some out for him. His wife, a non drinker, buried next to him I let alone, sometimes just gave her a flower. His home, Roanoke, is really cool. I never went inside, but he’s got this amazing landscape with willows you can nook up into and read. I wasn’t into literature then. I just admired him. I was attending school at Ole Miss. I’d only ever spark noted “As I lay dying” in high school. I’m immersing myself into The Sound and the Fury now, thanks Cliff! Oh another funny memory about his grave, aside from the bottles of whiskey people leave on his grave, I found one English student had graded one of his stories for grammatical errors and lol oh man…harsh

[@pandaredemption]

Thank you for consistently inspiring me to take the initiative on reading. I just got my copy of Story Of The Eye today, after hearing you review it about a year ago. Been introduced to a lot of beautiful and challenging ideas through you, Cliff. Thanks for all your hard work.

[@rubeng9092]

You made me read Absalom,Absalom. Thanks to you I got into faulkner in the first place. Perhaps its time to continue.

[@rubeng9092]

@@MrDinghus Yeah. I enjoyed Absalom alot. But I might ease myself in with As I Lay Dying first.

[@nicholasmaxwell9899]

@@rubeng9092 As I lay Dying was FANTASTIC. The story itself is very simple yet incredibly layered. That was my first Faulkner. I just started The Sound and Fury and unless I dread that, I will go to Absalom Absalom next.

[@jpmisterioman]

@@nicholasmaxwell9899 Thoughts on Sound and Fury?

[@radishhousepictures]

just finished reading this book. it was so full of depth you're right. i had to read chapter 1 before reading the last chapter, which was so worth it. benjy seems to live entirely outside of time, and the only one who understands the family in a way, in an ineluctable sort of way. chapter two brings me to tears, gorgeous, need to take a second pass through it. beautiful beautiful beautiful novel

[@dbob3405]

One of the great books of modern literature. The Quinton section can still bring me to tears. The philosophy of the father is both beautiful and terrifying.

[@AscensionOfAuriel]

William Faulkner is the one who brought me back into the literature. Because of his influence, I want to become a writer. When I read The sound and the fury, I was amazed after a long time with his work. Also, As I lay dying, cruel as they come.

[@emilycorwith1119]

Read TS&TF 50 years ago when I was in college. Your review reminds me that tackling books like this back in the day was no big deal! How times have changed.

[@Joe-ol5bq]

I dont know why I just love watching the first 4 minutes of these videos so much. Im sure the review's are solid as hell all the way through, just find the intro's relaxing and that alone gets me to check out the book discussed LOL

[@kannot1]

You allowed me to read books I never thought I would, and I'm so grateful. Thank you for this!!!

[@24sherbear]

Your video popped up on my KZbin today. I thoroughly enjoyed your view and insights. In fact, I watched it twice to make notes as I have not read this yet. Thank you!

[@djunajoy244]

just finished this force of a book and was so excited when your review popped up unexpectedly!

[@williamneal9076]

So true. Great comment.

[@jessemcelroy2019]

I think Mr.Compson’s monologue when gifting Quentin his watch also symbolizes the passing down of his philosophy and the family legacy which he presses upon Quentin which in the end poisonsQuentin as it did Mr.Compson

[@ChristyLuisDostoevskyinSpace]

Thanks for the rec- Wuthering Heights, Flannery O'Connor, Shakespeare...sounds like my kind of thing.

[@burke9497]

I have been looking forward to this review! As always, you nailed it. This channel and your book reviews are rays of light in this dark hour. Thanks for doing what you do!

[@trock7542]

Have read the book twice and listened to it 4 times. Never gets old…

[@Pastorius23]

I NEVER watch commercials on KZbin videos, but your commercial kicked ass. You are a great pitchman, my friend.

[@oblomovtheunknown]

Thumbs up - love your summation of this novel which is one of Faulkner's best - I like his "Wild Palms"

[@alifeworthfinding2838]

Everytime your vids show up in my feed I end up watching till the end . It's time well spent . I feel your reviews are the most thorough on KZbin. You pack a bunch of summary in a short amount of time . I'd personally like you to review a book The Orphan Masters Son , it's a book I think you'd like . I think it would make for a good review 🤔 Thanks for helping to keep the power of books alive .

[@fiilisboa]

This was my first Faulkner book... After finishing it, I re-read it all over again. Much better the second time. My favourite Faulkner is Light in August, but The Wild Palms is the best introductory book to his work. The ending of As I Lay Dying is pretty bad, but overall it's a good book too. Anyway, southern gothic is the best. Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Harper Lee and Cormac McCarthy are the best USA gave to literature.

[@TheJudgeandtheJury]

I've read Gravity's Rainbow only once and it was difficult. Good luck on that one. Also, Faulkner is one of my favorite authors glad you're doing more reviews of him!

[@jpmisterioman]

Should I read Sound and Fury, Absalom or Light in August first?

[@TheJudgeandtheJury]

@@jpmisterioman Out of these choices I like Absalom best but I recommend Light In August first.

[@montanagal6958]

I like how you talk, thank you for your video. Personally obsessed with this book, describes my family. LOVE Sanctuary too!!!

[@haileywarner5109]

What?? You have to read Macbeth immediately!

[@bobsbigboy_]

shakespeare sucks

[@davidnorris166]

Shakespeare is the opposite of sucks

[@maxalserda9127]

Love your channel, Mr. Sargent! Thanks for recommending Clarice Lispector and now I'm on a new literary journey. I'm grateful for the impact you made in my life. Hope you're having a great day, cheers!

[@briancollins1296]

The Compson family has to be one of the contemptible families in literature without being outright villainous (except for Jason at his worst), because they really are a cursed lot. The way Dilsy and her family treat Benjy is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, because frankly they treat him better than his own family does. These people are unlucky, to put it lightly. But they endured.

[@Wire_Clot]

really love your reviews please keep doing them

[@farf0m3home]

I lived in Oxford, Mississippi for ten years. I remember when I was getting my drivers license in 2010. I went the wrong way around the round-a-bout on the Square, and lets just say I experienced an "utter hiatus" and I had a huge Benjy moment flapping my arms around in distress. My world temporarily shattered. All I could think about was Jason's line: "Don't you know any better than to take him to the left?" Also, another great book by Noel Polk: Children of the Dark House. A great collection of critical essays on Faulkner and "Freudian meanings".

[@evelynmayton470]

The greatest writer William Faulkner ❤

[@Craw1011]

I would love to see your top 5 or 10 books of all time. Your top books of each year video is one of my favorites so I'd love to see which books have maintained their positions over the years. EDIT: Also, I think you forgot to add in the link to the Faulkner video. I'd really appreciate it if you could add that in when you get the chance.

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Thank you for watching and the feedback. Yes, you're correct, it's now in there, thanks for catching that.

[@latrmpa28]

What a coincidence, i just started reading it for the second time a few days ago, and now i see this video. My native language is spanish so im reading it in spanish. I can't imagine how hard it must be for a translator to translate this novel. Is insane and beacuse of that i get lost in so many details. I understand the digressions, but there's a lot of little details that get lost in the way. Even so this is one of my favorites books and one of my favorites authores in north american novel, thanks for sharing.

[@bluebaboon6382]

Hey Cliff, idk if you read your comments but it would be nice to have AILD next. My introduction to Faulkner and remains my favorite after reading the wild palms, soldier’s pay, rose for Emily, and go down Moses

[@apeculiarproject3501]

This is by far the best book I've ever read. (haven't gotten to Absolom!) I agree with everything you said. My half-hearted exception is that I thought there was incest - at least, implied, maybe only intended on the part of the brothers? My take was that the three brothers were all obsessed with their sister. I see I never finished my notes on this book, I couldn't stop thinking about it! I'll have to read it again.

[@klausmaccus4397]

Did you get to read Absalom, Absalom! Yet?! It's Faulkner's best book in my opinion.

[@strawberryfeels6479]

This is a great review of a great novel. Your videos are a pleasure to watch.

[@BlahBlehBlooh]

I think you'll really enjoy Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.

[@williamneal9076]

Balso Snell.

[@matiasmas617]

You will love Guimarães Rosa's novel, Gran Sertão: Veredas. The biggest brazilian novelist of XX century.

[@evelynmayton470]

Thank you, this is an excellent review!

[@MeganNisbet]

would love to see you read and talk about some westerns, lonesome dove, true grit, stuff like that.

[@Wa7edmenalnass]

I think the antagonist of the book is time, how it passes and how things change, the family fault is they didn't change as time did, it's about humen beans who in herit a lot of values and manners of how to act and why, but unfortunately it doesn't work anymore, the family fault is they didn't know any better. It is about the pride of the defeated.

[@tadhgcronin175]

I really like your reviews but I can't watch them through until after I've read the book. I think Faulkner is just so amazing, I tried Absolom Absolom but had to postpone it and read Light in August instead. It's astonishing. I thought Cormac Mccarthy was going to be my absolute favourite writer, started with Blood Meridian, the border books but Sutree is so much more evocative and developed. The Sound and the Fury is next up.

[@Saygoodbye130]

Love your stuff

[@coopaloopmex]

I just had a landmark realization, thank you @BetterThanFood. The book "The Family Golovlyov" is very the Russian version of this family, and I hadn't made the parallels until I saw this review. Perhaps it is more nihilistic and without any sort of protagonist, but clearly the descent and collapse of a Russian family in the same way this is about the South. Thank you SOOOO Much for making this review. I read Sound+Fury probably 12-15 years ago and it really sticks with me quite strongly, I should have a re-read sometime soon.

[@menaclaura]

Just thinking about you commenting On Heroes and Tombs by Ernesto Sabato gives me goosebumps

[@NoPr0bl3ms]

When coronavirus hit and my city locked down, I started reading for pleasure for the first time in YEARS, and I started with The Sound and the Fury. I had never been assigned to read it in school but had always heard about how notorious it was for being a difficult classic, so I wanted to finally tackle it. So glad I did. Now that I'm back into reading I have like a million books I want to read, but I will definitely be coming back to Faulkner at some point (that was the first of his novels I've read).

[@patrickoneill4807]

Sanctuary has one of the best villains I’ve ever read in a book.

[@bluebaboon6382]

I’m scared to read it lol

[@jojodogface898]

ive never seen someone more resemble the person they're talking about. i feel like i just watched william faulkner talk about william faulkner.

[@heraalltheway]

thanks!!!

[@basthejokester]

Even though a lot of your reviews have had spoilers I don't think it takes away from my wanting to read the book. But I'm also the type that doesn't care about spoilers for most things really and do think it helps going into a book or film

[@omarwjwiippa8726]

V. well done. Before you said, you write this but it comes across as extemperaneously spoken. V. good. I always thought this was the Faulkner book pushed on people to read. I read The Hamlet a hound's age ago and I had to read it with a dictionary. The anecdote about WF is that when he won the Nobel, reporters couldn't find his books in print. I didn't listen to the whole video because it became to sound soap opera-ish, or rather, southern Gothic but I have tried to listen to everything you put out. I will start putting the books you review in my books-to-read list. I will listen to that thing you did about Bloom because it caught my eye

[@Antastesialit]

I'd be really curious to know what you think of Aragon's novels..

[@Gauche69]

You should review “House of the Fortunate Buddhas / A Casa dos Budas Ditosos”, by João Ubaldo Ribeiro. It is so amazing.

[@uniquechannelnames]

Yes! haha I was literally just wondering if you were still reading Gravity's Rainbow, and BAM, you confirm it! Brother, well I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but IMO it *is* worth it in the end. After reading it I'd suggest looking at other discussions on the book, as it's so large and confusing especially on first read, other perspectives will definitely spark some clarity and thoughts in you. I feel so lucky lol, two of my favourite booktubers are finishing GR at the same time (R.C Waldun is also reading it, he's around 200 pgs left)

[@NineInchFailz]

Good luck with Gravity’s Rainbow, man. Good luck...

[@Neat0_o]

What’s that book about?

[@Ine7tia]

@@Neat0_o It honestly defies summary, which is said about a lot of books but it's really true here. It's broadly about an American soldier in WW2 Europe who is suspected by various agencies of causing V2 rocket strikes by his erection. He's pursued by these agencies throughout the late WW2 "Zone" of Europe. I'd highly recommend it, it's insane and brilliant in every way.

[@uniquechannelnames]

​@@Neat0_o Like guy above said, pretty much impossible to summarize but yes, the main-ish protag is an American "soldier" in Europe during the end of WW2, his paranoid adventures through London during the rocket bombing of it, his time in the bombed out European mainland ("the zone"), it's a psychedelic mish-mashing between perspectives, changes of tone between slapstick vaudeville, somber, silly... There are a handful of scenes that will make your stomach turn over and over, but it's also very funny.. A boat of hedonistic (and degenerate) aristocrats, this special rocket 000000 that this sadistic Nazi Blicero launches. (V-2 rockets in general play a gigantic, central symbolic role in many different ways. The other major concept, which is also tied to the V2 rocket, is the reversal of Cause and Effect. Because V2 rockets were the first thing to break the sound barrier thus the rocket would strike first and explode before making a sound, thus reversing cause/effect.) This rocket is hunted by a group of Hereros as well as Slothrop (the American soldier protag-ish). There's a spy named Katje, a heartless and conniving Pavlovian scientist named Pointsman, large paranoid conspiracies about corporate conglomerates and governments, it talks about power, death, war as a continuation of business, dehumanisation, science as a mechanism for either increased death or prosperity (but mostly death). The best summary I could give is it's a "historical semi-fiction" of WW2's lesser known history, (All the big hits are mostly one paragraph at most, like one of the prison labour camps that were building these rockets that a German rocket scientist has been developing the whole book, is only made aware to you once in a single paragraph. The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki is 1-2 sentences I think) as well as 40s culture (way over-the-top slapstick/vaudeville references abound) all presented in a kaleidoscope style, with a postmodern philosophy as in there are no Grand Narratives or Grand Truths, everything is connected but there is no closure or finale, it's presented in a psychedelic annihilation of normal fictional arcs. There is very little closure, no Grand Answers, but it sparks a lot of interesting debate about many topics, like I said above about national, corporate, and personal power, death, perspective relative to one's position, desire versus outcome, sex and death, destiny. Sorry for the fucking wall lol. It's a hugely dense book and this is really a "highlighted greatest hits" and I'm really glossing over and dressing up a lot of the concepts. They don't come out this sexily especially on your first read because it's so fucking confusing and shocking and fast flowing, everyone misses a lot. The author never comes out and sits you down to talk about "power", or "science". It's all mashed together within the story. It's touted as one of the hardest books around for very good reason, but don't be intimidated as it IS possible and it's one of the best books around IMHO. My 2nd read of it was SO MUCH more enjoyable and much easier to appreciate the goofy and clever humour, and just overall made me fall in love with the whole book. The first time is very masochistic reading and tough, dense to get through. Most difficult books "teach" you how to read them so they slowly get easier the deeper in you get, but this book is cleverly and subtly designed to further confuse you the deeper you get, the last 200 pages are a notorious whirlwind of craziness, but beautiful too.

[@Neat0_o]

D.S Tice very very interested now that you beautiful explained it to me. Thank you! I enjoyed reading your highlighted responses. I think I’m going to actually read it instead of using audible lol. The book sounds fucking nuts but I love that so I’m in!

[@Wasp9513]

What a coincidence! I just bought it!

[@FlintSL]

Lovin it my man. This was a dazzling read for me, strange and hypnotic. On another note Cliff, I'd like to see you do a coffee video. Maybe merge it in with a book review somehow. I don't know, I'm just rambling. Keep up the good work

[@trock7542]

I love my Ridge Wallet have had it over 3 years.

[@prioritystrength]

I committed to reading more fiction this year and found The Sound and the Fury on my bookshelf knowing nothing about it other than "Faulkner... that's a classic, right?". Surprise, surprise, it was a rather big bite for my first real attempt at literature in... far too long. But hey, it's how I found your channel! Cheers from a fellow Portland resident!

[@rayanknezic8682]

I hope you review gravity's rainbow soon. I want to get back into it... But man, it was confusing

[@GeorgeRahn]

One of my favorites: E. Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden. Not for the sexual issues but for both his descriptions of Cote d’Azure and Spain.

[@marysalmon2367]

i am reading absalom absalom right now because of your review.

[@jpmisterioman]

Did you like it?

[@montezmahal4795]

Cliff is more entertaining than anything I have ever read-certainly more interesting!

[@redo88]

Have excellent style, congrats!

[@cosmicsoup2998]

Hey Cliff...Wondering if you've ever read Emile Zola and, if you have, would say Faulkner's novels are anything like Zola-esque novels of the American South? If so I'm going to binge the shit out of it

[@drewhargrove1392]

"So I, who had never had a sister and was fated to lose my daughter in infancy, set out to make myself a beautiful and tragic little girl." ~William Faulkner, in the introduction Sometimes, all it takes is one sentence to make an impact.

[@xgryphenx]

Something worth looking into is the lost southern modernist writer Evelyn Scott. She was so well regarded in the 1920s, Faulkner's publisher commissioned her to write a small booklet speaking to the merits of The Sound and The Fury which they worried would be too obscure for a great deal of the American reading public, so they figured a well regarded modernist could make the sell to both bookstores and readers alike (you can read the full text of that booklet here: drc.usask.ca/projects/faulkner/main/criticism/e_scott.html). Years later, after Scott fell into obscurity, Faulkner, when asked if there were any women writers he admired, said that Scott was "pretty good for a woman," which I'm sure stung as she lived the remainder of her life from around the '40s onwards in increasing marginality in a run down New York hotel, her once grand stature toppled. Scott's most famous novel (and the only one still in print) is The Wave, which is one part of her Civil War Trilogy, though each volume stands novelistically on its own. Well worth your time, and anybody's who happens to be reading this.

[@novelsandcrumbs3558]

I haven't read Faulkner yet but I do have Absalom, Absalom!. Mason & Dixon is in my opinion better then Gravitys Rainbow. Hope you stay safe and continue to grow as a channel.

[@tigerboy1966]

The thing about TSATF is that you should not give up. The first section is very hard going but the book gets progressively more readable. And it's worth it. BTW did anyone else think that the male Quentin Compson was gay? The problem that most of the characters have is that they cannot love.

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

who dislikes this? If u wouldnt like the things being said, u could still appriciate the cheer passion of it.... I however loved it! Great review Cliff!

[@tmonti7275]

After Reading Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, yeah The Sound and the Fury stylisticly was a breeze. Outside of that, damn this one stings.

[@TheAdri00]

You were amazing with mustache! Iconic...😘

[@VaidaAndreea]

Benji is the perfect avatar for the South, he is obviously my favorite character in the book so my statement ain't a diss on the South. Who is considering that hasn't really given the necessary attention to the book's nuance and subtility.

[@albertcovington9942]

That's interesting. Based on what characteristics? Of both Benjy and the South.

[@dbob3405]

The Father tells Quinton that Caddie’s honor in the form of her virginity not only has no meaning in the modern world, it never had meaning. Hence, it is all a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”-past, present and future. It is a terrifying book as relevant today as the day it was written

[@unknow8794]

Can you do a list of your favourite books of all time ?

[@ANASantos519]

You make me buy more books. 😂 Hug from Portugal 🇵🇹🤓

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

which part is it when jason holds quentin out of the car? Which page?

[@enescurobert7725]

Is that what I think it is? Oh, it's happening, isn't it? You're tackling one of the big boys, and you have it in hardcover as well and what an edition that is. I'm looking forward to seeing THE review.

[@absoluterkrieg2035]

MY VERY FAV BOOK!!!!!!

[@PoppyB2011]

I got my first perfect grade in college because of Faulkner and this book. I compared his writing to Margaret Mitchell. I win. LOL

[@pufyshoes]

He truly was the best.

[@erikestrada4383]

I’m pretty sure that Caddy’s child is the result of an incestual relationship with Quentin. Which leads to his torment and demise.

[@anushakhanal3851]

He looks like Arthur shelby from peaky blinders.

[@Pretzels722]

Whens the Harry Potter review coming out?

[@Desperation--Live]

Hahaha lmao I was rooting for Jason at the end. I knew he was the worst. But watching this I only realised how bad I feel haha I completely understood when he desired to get stuck inbetween towns in the rain.

[@downerasmarvin]

i swear to god i just bought this book. if this isn't a sign, i don't know what is.

[@romuluscreative]

is it that cold in your house?

[@JoeDiLillo]

Nice jacket! Where is it from?

[@GeorgeRahn]

Faulkner’s short story “That Evening Sun.” Check it out

[@canisdivinus6218]

Yessssss. And recommendations similar to this? I need me some more southern Gothic. This novel changed me.

[@NineInchFailz]

Check out Cormac McCarthy for some later era southern-gothic style

[@ryansuttree8054]

I read these this year Blood Meridian (not Southern but must read) Child of God Suttree Sound and Fury As I Lay Dying Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Everything that Rises Must Converge Moby Dick (not Southern)

[@nikkivenable3700]

Ray Pollack, Cormac McCarthy. Both are excellent!

[@williamneal9076]

Faulkner wanted to have different colored text for each section.

[@stino9635]

Love your shit man

[@hermanparsons7206]

While weaving southern literature reviews ...when you furiously boil down Faulkner's South...you can render up two especially raw stories of lived recognition ..Flannery O'Conner's "Wise Blood" and Harry Crew's "A Feast of Snakes" and can as well add in Crews' auto-biography "Memoir of a Place" ..as a Southern Appalachian writer/poet...I find the journey from Faulkner to these two a great and volatile literary graffiti of the guts of Dixie

[@williamneal9076]

Wise Blood for sure. John Huston's film of it is GREAT.