Another difficult to understand but rewarding Faulkner novel. More obtuse than "As I Lay Dying" but not nearly as difficult as "Absalom, Absalom!", this novel is full of complex characters.
There are four viewpoints, told in Faulkner's characteristic stream of consciousness style, followed by a final short chapter in the omniscient point of view. Everyone that reads this novel remembers Benjy, the mentally retarded man-child. The first chapter is in his viewpoint, and is a confusing sequence of out-of order and out-of-time memories of Benjy's. If you can make it through the first chapter you will probably make it through the book!
Once again, we have to piece together the plot, which is secondary to the characters. It doesn't help that there are two Maurys and two Quentins (one male and one female!) The setting is not quite so important in this novel as in other Faulkner works. At least the characters are not doing battle with the land, but with their own selves and each other.
There are plenty of family secrets. Castration, incest, theft, adultery, suicide - a whole list of sins. The last chapter, in the omniscient viewpoint, seems racist in it's treatment of the black characters of the novel.
Not my favorite Faulkner novel, and not the one I hate, but still well worth the time and effort to read and understand it.
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