Opinions on The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

[Sarah_Khan]

The Sound and The Fury is one of the few books I couldn't manage to finish. It was just so confusing and didn't seem worth all the effort. I mean I love classic novels and I've read a few other books that require some work to understand the story, but this novel just took the cake.
I managed to get through the first part thinking that the rest of the book would be easier to understand but when I realized that I still couldn't understand the second part and that Benjy's ramblings were even easier to comprehend than the second part, I gave up.
Maybe one day when I have more patience I'll be able to reread this book and actually finish it.
What did you guys think of this book?
Has anyone else ever read any of Faulkner's other works? Are they written in the same way?
I'm debating whether I should give one of his other books a try or if I should just steer clear of his work. Any suggestions?

[pyb]

I found it extremely difficult and frustrating. I, too, had to abandon ship midway through the second part. It was simply beyond my comprehension. Even after consulting cliff notes to try to get a handle on what was happening, I still found it out of reach.

[LadySunshine]

There was a movie made about this book, back in the late 1950's, and it starred Yul Brynner, who is one of my all-time favorite actors. I watched the movie, and it was even kind of confusing, and didn't really seem to have much of a plot to it. Disappointed, but hopeful, I decided to read the book and see if it all made better sense to me after that. I am pretty sure that I did manage to struggle all the way through the book; but it was far worse than the movie.
Even though I know that William Faulkner was supposed to be one of the great authors, after reading (or attempting to read) The Sound and the Fury, I never even considered reading anything else by that author ever again, his style is just NOT for me ! !
RT

[Wreade1872]

If something doesn't make sense i just keeping reading until it does or i hit the end of the book. This one did make sense by the end its just a soap opera really, the writing style wasn't helped by the fact several characters have the same name or change their names. I ended up giving it 4 stars on goodreads though
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1176758553

Now that i think about it though, are there any american classics that are pleasant reads?
I mean i have NOooo plans to reread this or Catch-22, On the Road, Bostonians, Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse Five, Connecticut Yankee etc. etc. Many of these i've given high marks but while i can see their qualities none of them are fun... not one do i ever plan to touch again.
All american classics just seem to leave a nasty aftertaste.

[pyb]

Oh...I disagree! There are many classics I would love to reread and some I already have, including On theRoad and Great Gatsby. And I would like to revisit two others you've mentioned - Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five, although I just read the latter last summer so I would wait another 10 years!
I read Zorba the Greek 3 times!

[DATo]

Yup. I have to agree. Faulkner is a bit too confusing for me to enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind having to work a bit to understand where the author is going with something, but in his case I just don't have the patience to put up with the confusion.

Some authors actually do this on purpose. James Joyce's Finnigan's Wake was deliberately written to be as confusing as possible. Joyce even said with glee to an associate, "Scholars will be trying to unravel the meaning of that sentence for the next hundred years." (or words to that effect)

[DennisK]

I think some readers love the "dance" of words more than they do story structure - it isn't so much as to what you say as how you say it. People like that would probably love Faulkner. For me, story is very important. I tried The Sound and the Fury, but only got to about page 40 before giving it up. After reading some of these opinions, I think I will give this book a pass. But don't dismiss Faulkner based on just this book. I am currently reading Light in August and am enjoying the story very much.

[tot2487]

The Sound and the Fury is very confusing. I gave up after the picture of the eye. It was the last straw. That said, I enjoyed As I Lay Dying very much.

[lwahls2]

I have only read The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. I haven't gotten around to reading any of his other works. I did find it confusing but in the end it was worth it to figure out. I urge anyone to stick with it!

[Lady-of-Literature]

I would probably finish it if I started it, but it might be more of an impulse.

[VSuraj]

I understand the confusion. I had to study this book for a literature course and the lecturer had to explain things to us many times.
Basically, the first section from Benjy is meant to be incoherent, because he's not in his right mind, and this narrative is how he sees the world. Adding to this is the two Quentins, one is the brother and one is Caddy's daughter.
There's a lot of emotion later on as the story starts to make more sense in the second half, but I understand the struggle to get there!

[Onyinyechi Obi]

It was really challenging and irritating for me. I had to give up halfway through the second section as well. It just was too much for me to understand.