William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying BOOK REVIEW
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- čas přidán 2. 05. 2021
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Hey Cliff, Long time viewer. Second time commentor. I love the literature you review. I read Stoner after your review and I will never forget it. Read The Peregrine, and I got goosebumps. I love that you explore all kinds of lit. I have been meaning to recommend you "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry. I am not going to pitch it to you. It's one book that has become a part of me and wouldn't leave. Hopefully, you read it, even if you don't review it. Thanks for the videos and reviews. Cheers !
you should check out "the alienist" from machado de assis
You should read Quincas Borba by Machado de Assis. It is interlinked with the epitaph of a small winner.
@@turma8eac I need to read this one.
@@Paulo-qz5rm he has reviewed books my that author before. Though it might not be the specific title your taking about
Your friend reading As I Lay Dying while laid up in the hospital. What a badass.
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
"My mother is a fish." The shortest chapter I've ever read in a book. It's also pretty stunning within the context of Faulkner's novel
Chapter 98 or 99 of Life of Pi is just two words long. That's probably the shortest I've seen. And the chapter makes sense.
probably the longest in length of time that is covered . if he's trying to make a connection with our common ancestor from the sea, the tree of life.
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
My eyes were away from the computer and then he said "Ernest Hemingway" and then I was instantly paying full attention again... Good job, Cliff.
Cash's quote "But it is better so for him. This world is not his world; this life his life." has to be one of my favourite lines from any book.
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
“ Because people to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.”- Addie Bundren
@@jessemcelroy2019”death is a function of the mind and those of its bereavement” - Peabody
The end of this fucking book left me speechless for honest to god about 20 minutes before I could even close the thing and collect my thoughts. Faulkner is really master of his craft in so many more ways than I could even try to name.
Faulkner is no doubt one of the greatest of all times. I read Light in August for about forty years ago, and it never stopped haunting me.
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
Finished reading this masterpiece for the first time today genuinely and it really has left me speechless. Literature just doesn't get better, As an aspiring writer it makes you feel inspired and inadequate at the same time in a good way "My Mother is a Fish" is one of the most brutally resonant sentences in all of litereature
You’re honestly the best book review channel on CZcams. Know that, feel that, and keep that passion for as long as you can. Hopefully it’s a full lifetime.
agree 100%
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
Congrats on the move to WA!
You’ve been reading some prime literature here lately, my friend.
Just as i was starting to miss you. This channel is an inspiration, thank you so much for your work. Faulkner never disappoints.
I love seeing your channel evolve, improve, and increase my hunger for books since 5 years ago when I first subscribed to your channel. Keep up the great work brother
Always happy to see another Faulkner review. Keep up the great work.
One of the best channels on CZcams, always guaranteed a wholesome fix. I send you many immaterial blessings.
I've been wanting to get into Faulkner, and this sounds like the perfect introduction. Thanks for the awesome review.
Loved that book! The different characters perspectives were the most fun of all. And this "comic relief" character was so lovable with his constant questions to Darl
I took your advice and this was my first Falkner. I've just finished it this morning and I really enjoyed it! Definitely my favorite chapter was Addie's. How sincere she was! Thank you very much for this review
Ah, the literary Arthur Shelby strikes again. Keep up these bloody fantastic reviews my friend.
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
he really does resemble Arthur hahah
@@thatkid6908 do your homework kiddo
Thanks a lot for the review. I was postponing this one for a while, but now I'll grab that asap.
My theory for why Cliff moves so much is that he's being chased by a malevolent spirit
More so his partner, but we digress...he is WRITING still, and we contain our selves barely for the work to finally emerge. Write On, Mr. Clifford, wherever your head may call itself 'headspace' or bombas foot coverings or pillowcube may lay the noggin. We adore the.
Been hoping for this review, thank you
Love you're reviews! And I'm still eagerly awaiting a review on either Sebald or Krasnahorkai!
The barn burning chapter is one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever. The whole book is amazing but that chapter was so cinematic, dream-like, and beautifully, beautifully written that I’ve gone back and read it out of context many times. Faulkner is a GOAT.
I agree on its cinematic qualities - for whatever reason, it’s the only chapter during which I imagined the characters’ faces
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
Happy to see this book get some more attention, definitely in one of my all time favorites. Im also currently reading Light in August and them im officially done with Faulkner, great reads!
The "my mother is a fish" chapter changed my life forever. I'm not exaggerating. Read this goddamn masterpiece in 10th grade and didn't sleep. I had not known great literature until that night
Hey did you read the book and willing to write and essay? I’ll pay
Another great review! As I lay dying is on my list. I just finished Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’, I found it both utterly astounding and gripping, and at times... tedious. Would love to see you review it sometime. Keep up the amazing work !
I am so happy to see this video!!
Hey! Greetings from Brazil! Thank you so much for sharing this review. It will save my Wednesday presentation at college. I had to subscribe in this channel haha I loved it :)
I enjoy your reviews. I once lived on the third floor above the Faulkner house at Pirate's Alley. Keep on doing good.
What a coincidence!!! I’m reading this book and I’m half through, this video it’s been helpful!! Thank you!
Great review! I have always found Faulkner as a really hard to read author, but, at the same time, an extraordinary one. I loved As I Lay Dying as well as The Sound and the Fury. He inspired many latin american authors.
Thank you, read As I lay dying and Absalom Absalom, without your critique and explanation doubt I would have read them. Currently reading the peregrine. As a hawk watcher, finding it beyond intriguing. Recently reread City of the Plains, and at the end was crying. Again.
Hope you are well. Love the channel.
Just bought this book today. It wasnt so easy to get, since I'm in Colombia, but Im very excited to read it.
Loved your review and love your content. Hope you read Crime and Punishment, my fav novel, the novel that inspired me to write.
Amazing review as usual. Funny too, the Hemingway bit haha. I highly recommend you Light in August. That's my favorite Faulkner. Have a good one 😌
Thanks for this review! I’m subscribed!
Fabulous review. Definitely following.
first off, love your book reviews. I am a die hard Faulkner fan, belong to his William Faulkner on line book club. Curious your buzzard encounter. Faulkner was asked once what he would come back as and/or would wish to be. It was said he wanted to be a buzzard, no one bothered with them and they could eat whatever they wanted！ Your buzzard encouter was pretty special.
Thank you for your reviews, we are currently reading Absalom in our book group, I hope you review soon. I shared your Faulkner review.
Great review. Light in august is now waiting for you, and it is my favorite book of Faulkner, followed closely by Absalom, Absalom. It has a "normal" structure compared to the others, but has something so charming, so unique. Also, Sanctuary is pretty good.
Faulkner's life was a struggle to keep the proverbial lights on. He and his wife were spendthrift. His bio is full of hardship, work, misery in relationships, drinking, petty spitefulness, quarrels with his spouse. It was a hard book to finish. I read Parini's bio. I think it was called One Magnificent Time or like that. Faulkner is a favorite of mine. I have read about fifteen of his novels and the collected stories. The stories are keys. Go Down Moses and Flags in the Dust are my favorites, but I like just about everything F wrote. He is often compared to Macarthy. The POVs of the two could not be more different. Faulkner is very communally minded while C.M.'s characters live in a world all their own.
@ Linville Wiles, of the 15 Faulkner books and novels that you have read, was one of them "A Fable"? I just finished reading it last night, but you don't see much discussion of it, despite the fact that it won a Pulitzer. It was frankly a tough read and not that satisfying. I was blown away by "As I Lay Dying", but not all Faulkner is at that high level, at least for me.
Hey Cliff I´m very curious in what would be your book recommendations for teens and young adults.
Fantastic content as always. This was my first Faulkner, followed by The Sound and The Fury, and soon I'll be hitting Absalom! Absalom! (so actually the order you suggested). I absolutely adored this book - and also watched the brilliant lecture by Weinstein afterwards, which really enriched the experience. A masterclass in the art of concision, just so much genius crammed into a relatively short read. Loved the review, man.
I would do terrible things to watch you review Moby Dick dude. In my top 3, next to Blood Meridian and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Can't wait for the day!
What is the title of the Weinstein lecture? I can't find it on CZcams, curious. There is a book by him in Audible... many thanks
I could listen to u talk all day 🖤
After watching this video, I definitely need to reread this! I remember loving it, did I even read it the first time?!
Interesting. I've been meaning to start reading Faulkner's work as he was one of the major influences of my favorite writer: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. They both won the Nobel, and apparently, their books are fairly similar.
Great review!
Do it! Faulkner is my favorite writer. Read As I Lay Dying and then Absalom Absalom. You will not regret it. The man was special.
I wouldn't say their styles are similar at all but they are both absolutely some of the best writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Very different vibes and atmospheres but identical outcome: damn near perfection.
THANK YOU FOR THIS REVIEW 😭😭😭😭😭😭
This book and The Sound and The Fury both just fermented my soul
Just started reading this yesterday, halfway through already! Faulkner is a rare kind of drug. Damn fine review.
A true genius in every sense of the word.
Read “Sobre Héroes y Tumbas” by Ernesto Sabato! It is known to be the best argentinian novel of the 20th century.
Have you ever thought about reading 2018 nobel prize winner Olga Tokarczuk? I tried reading the book of Jacob because the premise seemed really cool but I dropped it 200 pages in (it's around 1000 pages) because nothing happened. But I think you might like it. The 2019 nobel prize winner Peter Handke is not good. I tried reading "The goalie's anxiety at the penalty kick" but it was the worst book I've ever read. It's essentialy miscommunication: the book. He didn't deserve the nobel prize.
Great book. Gets even better with subsequent reads.
Reading sound and fury now. Enjoyed this one so much, the multiple points of view is my favorite element. Wish I had this writing style for every story! I also enjoy an element of insanity coming from the narrator, idk why but it always makes the out there events seem more believable and you don’t know if you can trust their word on how things unfold.
I really like your videos. You should review one of Milan Kundera's books.
i love the moment of silence when he is looking for a word to describe the emotion a passage of the book gave to him and he just say EPIC
One of the greatest books of all time. What an amazing review! Thank you!
Completely agree but I did rate Absalom Absalom just a BIT higher.
This is my absolute favorite book of all time. And while I disagree with this being the most accessible Faulkner novel (Light in August takes that title imo) it definitely is one of the greatest of his works and is a good starting place.
This book is dense beyond belief, even though it's relatively easy to read and kind of slim. This book has so much to analyze and is so gorgeously written that it definitely benefits from multiple rereads. One of the things I'm absolutely baffled you didn't cover is the purpose of Vardaman seeing his mother as a fish, which is possibly my favorite thing any author has ever done.
Early in the book, Vardaman finds a dead fish in the river, and tries to show the family it. They promptly brush him off. But Vardaman gets obsessed with the fish, while also becoming obsessed with the box that Cash is building and his mother who isn't working as much as she usually would be. But Vardaman doesn't understand why she's like that, why Cash is making that box, because nobody has bothered to explain to him what death *is*. So Vardaman is left in the dark about why everything is so different.
But, in five words, Faulkner shows us a young child making that connection, and learning what death actually is. When Vardaman says "My mother is a fish," he isn't making a metaphor, he is literally making an analogy. This fish I found is unmoving and lifeless, even though there are more in the river, still swimming, and my mother is in a box, unmoving, unworking, even though the rest of my family are, so therefor, my mother must be like this fish. My mother is a fish. By saying "My mother is a fish," Faulkner is showing us that connection Vardaman is making to understand the world around him, and is making that metaphorical connection. But Vardaman's head can't entirely process death, so he sticks with the fish analogy, which turns into more metaphors that demonstrate how a child might see the world, especially a child that is so mistreated and abused like Vardaman is.
This book has so much to it, and the amount of analysis done on this book would make you think it's a tome the size of Ulysses, but it's not. It's a slim little thing that just shows how powerful Faulkner was as an author, that he could write these extremely deep themes and topics with so few words. The fact that he was able to describe a child learning what death was in five words still baffles me to this day.
Anyways, wonderful review! Super cozy and fun to watch, definitely sticking around this channel from here on. Cheers!
Going to be brutally honest. The prose and story kept me very engaged throughout most of the book but I hate the last few chapters and the ending especially. Darl's descent into madness felt super rushed and Anse getting the last laugh just pissed me off to the Nth degree. It's probably part of the point but still.
The book that inspired me to write my first - and so far only - screenplay. One of my favorite novels.
Working title?
@@estebanb7166 "While I stand living"
@@klausmaccus4397 Thank you, Klaus. Well played.
“Bestiary”
I read a little of The Sound and the Fury. But i watched the movie of As i lay Dying by Franco. One of the best movies ive ever seen. Cash and Dewey Dale are probably my favorite characters in the movie atleast. I still need to read the book. Im from the south and in my 40s now. But there is something about it that is hauntingly nostalgic. I don't know how to explain it but id go back to live in those times despite it being a harder life. Thank you for the review.
Love the soul patch, read Light in August next.
Also, great review. Where are my manners?
Damn lol, I just moved to Portland a few months ago. Was hoping I'd randomly run into you around here.
Esteemed Mr. Sargent, ever read Dune by Frank Herbert? It's one of my favorites and I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Thoroughly digging your channel, reviews and otherwise. Cheers from Brazil!
There is a movie version of the book, often quoted as an unfilmable novel. It stars and is directed by James Franco.
Thanks!
My pleasure. Thank you very much for your kind support!
You should try reading 'News From the Empire' by Fernando del Paso. It's great. (I don't know if the english translation is good, I hope so)
It’s been said but needs to be said again...Light in August is a MUST
just reread it on the Faulkner on line book club.
This is not my favorite book, but it may be the best that I've ever read.
This is my favourite Faulkner (but I haven’t read Absalom), Light in August runs it close but it wins for the intensity - a plot that can be told in one sentence but a book that contains so much.
Read Absalom Absalom ASAP. It absolutely blew my mind page after page. It's insanely great and I would have to rank it just a hair better than As I Lay Dying. I need to read Light In August. It's that good, huh?
@@klausmaccus4397 I don't think Light in August is anywhere near As I Lay Dying or Absalom Absalom or The Sound and the Fury. I could be wrong. I was put off by LIA.
@@michaelgarza8271 Good to know. Have you read any of his lesser known novels? The Reivers? The Hamlet? Sanctuary?
@@klausmaccus4397 Considering the greatness of William Faulkner, I want to make sure not to mislead any potential readers. I might have been in a bad state when I read Light in August. I would like to read everything of his. I have heard great things about Go Down, Moses, especially "The Bear." I did read Sanctuary. I definitely think it's worth reading. It almost seems like David Lynch might have been inspired by it. No spoilers, but I'm thinking of Blue Velvet. I'm glad for this review on an astounding book by this terrifying writer.
@@klausmaccus4397 During my college days in Santa Cruz (back in the mid 90s), I was bored and I strolled into a used bookstore and asked "can you recommend a good book". Lo and behold, he handed me Absalom Absalom. It was the greatest novel I had ever read.
Great review as always. Now complete the Faulkner Grand Slam with Light in August. You’ve done the 3 difficult ones, I’d be interested to hear what you think of it.
I've read the three difficult ones and now I need to get to Light in August. How do you think it compares?
@@klausmaccus4397 I loved it and think it belongs on his list of great books. It has all the punch and rawness of the other three just packaged in a more linear fashion. You may miss the long streams of consciousness and shifts of time but all the usual motifs are present.
@@Phil-hr6hi Awesome thanks I can't wait!
New sub here! This is a great review, and I love it. I've been following your Channel for months now and I'm intrigued by your contents. I'm an author, and I would love to send you a physical copy of my book for some review. how do I go about that? How do you review your book?
This is my favorite Faulkner. I never really got into Hemingway: though I admired his style, I could never really relate to his macho vibe. Whereas Faulkner's cracked rural mystics, like Darl Bundren in this book, always spoke to me, growing up working class in the rural/suburban Midwest...
Light in August. Every August I read it. Unsettlingly beautiful.
Your assessment of this American literary giant is so accurate and poignant. Sanctuary, Light in August, The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, in no particular order, are my favorites. Thank you for the review.
I being a power plant worker listened to this while on night shift after some time considering taking up writing.
How interesting!
Is it okay if you can do a book review on Alejandra Pizarnik's Book called Diana's Tree, she's a poet from Argentina. Thank you
You should read Quincas Borba by Machado de Assis. This book is interlinked with The Epitaph of a Small Winner
If you enjoyed the stream of consciousness style, check out "The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge" by Rainer Maria Rilke - he mastered it back in 1910. Would love to get your opinion on it!
This one seems very interesting. Have you read it?
Read this book as well, one of the best books out there.
Intruder In The Dust is a must, as is the powerful Light In August.
you’re probably the coolest guy i know
Would you ever consider reviewing a graphic novel? (Sorry if you have, I've watched a lot of your videos but not all)
SOLD!
Bought many used books in New Orleans. The bookstores were amazing, although this was pre-flood.
I’ve lived in WA most of my life and have only ever seen one buzzard! Definitely a sign.
I've always wanted to read Faulkner because he is Gabriel García Márquez's favorite writer
It would be a blessing if you read Kolyma Stories from Varlam Shalamov. It is as comparable, and as fantastic, as the Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn.
Agreed, amazing book
you should go Nietzsche-style stache-wise (im kidding) or not, or you could do Zarathustra review-wise...
Good book. My favorite from Nietzsche is “Antichrist”. Harsh humor, laughed my ass off. It was supposed to be first chapter of a large work, but death had his ticket before he came any further than antichrist.
It really is perfect
Wow.. you do book reviews AND write and perform songs for the arctic monkeys too?! How do you get the time?
Cliff tell me the brand of this leather jacket NOW!!!
My favorite book of all time.
"With my ethiopian that I roasted"
That got me for a sec
You should really try Light in August next
this novel really left me feeling like there was no justice in it at all... I had such a sense of outrage and confusion. my first reading of Falkner and loved it
Please read Moby Dick! Is it on your reading list?
Now I know why Cliff gives away free books. Less weight for him to carry when he moves to a new state each month.
You should review the Ernest Hemingway PBS Ken Burns documentary if you're interested!
Great documentary
Do Moby-Dick. It's Cormac Mccarthy's favorite book.
Coffee time. 😃☕
3:02 the review actually starts
I should have looked for this 3:02 minutes before.