corner corner Absalom, Absalom!

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Absalom, Absalom!
by WILLIAM FAULKNER | Literature & Fiction
Registered by wingperryfranwing of North Ogden, Utah USA on Monday, March 28, 2011
Average 7 star rating by BookCrossing Members 

status (set by OneMorePage): to be read


8 journalers for this copy...

Journal Entry 1 by wingperryfranwing from North Ogden, Utah USA on Monday, March 28, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Received from a PaperbackSwap.com member.

Absalom Absalom
Author: William Faulkner
The story of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness. He was a man, Faulkner said, "who wanted sons and the sons destroyed him."

This is also No. 622 on the 1001 books you must read before you die list.


From 1001 Books:
Told five times between 1835 and 1910 (while Sutpen rests from hunting his absconded French architect with a pack of slaves), this is the peasant to planter story of Thomas Sutpen, his plantation, and of Bon, his possible son who may be black and who, if black and acknowledged, will bring the house down. The gaps and contradictions exposed by multiple narration beg epistemological questions concerning how we know what we know of historical matters. But given that, in Absalom, Absalom!, the questions arise from a regionally specific labor problem--that of the denied black body within the white, whose coerced work gives substance to the face, skin, sex, and land of the white owning class--those questions are recast. "Who knows what and how do they know it?" reforms as, "How, knowing that their face, skin, sex, and land are made by African-American labor, can they go on denying what they know?" Faulkner's answer would seem to be that to acknowledge their knowledge (or for Sutpen to face Bon as his son), would be to cease to be themselves. That William Faulkner should begin to think such unthinkable thoughts about his own ancestors in Absalom, Absalom!, even as his region continued to depend for its substance on bound black workers (bound by debt peonage rather than chattel slavery), may explain the structure of this, one of the greatest of modernist novels. 

Journal Entry 2 by wingperryfranwing at North Ogden, Utah USA on Saturday, April 02, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Bookray
Starting a bookray for this book. Please PM me if interested in joining. Bookray will remain open until last person has the book.

Participants so far:

. kizmiaz from Portugal (EU preferred)
. Danielle23 from UK (UK preferred - International if needed)
. mafarrimond from UK (EU/UK preferred - International if needed)
. brunton11 from UK (International)
. cat207 from Australia (International)
. Sfogs from New Zealand (International)

. OneMorePage from California, USA (US only)<----Book is here 1/20/12
. oppem from Oregon, USA (near end - not until mid-May 2011)
. ayntastic from California, USA (International)

Note: Order is subject to change based on shipping preferences and others joining the bookray.

How the bookray works:
* Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back and provide your address
* When you receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
* Put the book at the top of your TBR pile (under other rings/rays that arrived first)
* Read the book (take your time and enjoy the book, don't feel rushed to finish it but try to get it out to next reader within a couple of months)
* When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
* Finish the book, make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
* Send the book to the next person on the list (please use the cheapest shipping method available), make release notes (Controlled Release) or journal entry to let everyone know that it's in the mail
* Last person on the ray: Please either donate the book to the 1001-library, wild release, or pass it on to another bookcrosser as a RABCK, etc.

Please feel free to PM me at any time with questions


 

Journal Entry 3 by wingperryfranwing at North Ogden, Utah USA on Wednesday, April 06, 2011

8 out of 10

I have been meaning to read a Faulkner novel since I took a literature course in college that included Faulkner over 40 years ago. Well, I finally finished this one and I have to say it was a challenge to read with the page-long sentences and its stream of consciousness style. But I'm glad I stuck with it. I know Faulkner is considered one of the greatest American novelists and I can see why. I can't imagine how he was able to write in the style he did for over 300 pages. The story was told from different points of view and was sometimes very convoluted - I found myself having to reread several sentences to get the full meaning of what was being said. The novel tells the story of the rise of a plantation owner in Mississippi and his downfall. It includes themes of race, slavery, incest, the Civil War, and the downfall of the South. Overall, a rewarding experience but not sure when or if I will try to tackle another Faulkner - maybe I'll try Moby Dick instead. 

Journal Entry 4 by wingperryfranwing at Lisboa - City, Lisboa (cidade) Portugal on Saturday, April 23, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Released 10 mos ago (4/23/2011 UTC) at Lisboa - City, Lisboa (cidade) Portugal

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Heading to kizmiaz in Portugal to start this bookray. Good luck with this one! 

Journal Entry 5 by kizmiaz at Belém , Lisboa (cidade) Portugal on Monday, May 02, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Just it got it. I have two to finish first but I'll try and make it quick (although with Faulkner the quickeness might be a relative thing). 

Journal Entry 6 by kizmiaz at Belém , Lisboa (cidade) Portugal on Friday, June 17, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Just a quick JE to say that I'm really enjoying this book but still have 80 pages to go. I can't speed up a Faulkner book. 

Journal Entry 7 by kizmiaz at Belém , Lisboa (cidade) Portugal on Tuesday, July 05, 2011

8 out of 10

Ok, this one took quite a while but it's finnally done.
It's not a dificult Faulkner book, I found The Sound and The Fury a lot more dificult, but still it's Faulkner and it's never easy.
This majestic tragedy is very well written and in a way that the reader gets drawn in into the vortex of these strange characters and their even stranger drives, it's a multi layered story (but that's Faulkner, right?) and with such a description of the moods of those times and place that I couldn't help but feel entangled in all of it.
It's a familly saga but no quite what you'd expect a family saga to be and that's what made it more interesting to me.
Faulkner's penchant for describing the South and its mentality, especially during the Civil war is, in itself, reason enough to read this book. And the story itself will just take you to another level.
Don't expect it to be easy but it'll be worth it. 

Journal Entry 8 by Danielle23 at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Monday, July 11, 2011

This book has not been rated.

The book is now safe with me. I have a few rings/rays and other reading to catch up on but I do have a week off work so plan to do it all now. Good weather (fingers crossed) and a good book to keep me entertained xx 

Journal Entry 9 by Danielle23 at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Thursday, August 04, 2011

This book has not been rated.

I don't know what to say about this book other than that I'm glad it's over. I didn't really like it that much to be honest. Sentences that went on for pages at a time and filled with brackets (and brackets within brackets) that almost made me lose what the original sentence was about. I also hated the chapters written in italics as I found them really hard to read. On the plus side, most of the characters were well written and I enjoyed reading about them, only a little less detail and round-about storytelling would have been fine for me.

It took me ages to get through but at least now I can tick another off my list. I now have 'The Sound and the Fury' to read and am feeling a little daunted. This book was number 297 for me. 

Journal Entry 10 by Danielle23 at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Friday, August 05, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Released 6 mos ago (8/5/2011 UTC) at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Off to the next in line. I hope you have better luck with this than I did Maureen xx 

Journal Entry 11 by wingmafarrimondwing at Hawarden, Wales United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 16, 2011

This book has not been rated.

The book has arrived. Next to be read. Thanks for sending it on and for including me in this ray. 

Journal Entry 12 by wingmafarrimondwing at Hawarden, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 31, 2011

8 out of 10

It took quite a while to get into this book which needed quite a bit of perserverence to finish but I am glad I did. Indeed to the end, I was absorbed in the story. 

Journal Entry 13 by wingbrunton11wing at Salford, Lancashire United Kingdom on Monday, September 05, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Arrived today. Thanks all for sharing.  

Journal Entry 14 by wingbrunton11wing at Salford, Lancashire United Kingdom on Friday, October 28, 2011

7 out of 10

Like others I found this one difficult to get into. I think if this hadn't been a ring I would have put this one to one side until I could devote enough time to it rather than trying to untangle the tale 10 minuntes here and there on the bus and before bedtime!

Not much to add from what's already been said. I'd certainly try another book by Faulkner and it's always good to try a new author.

I have cat207's address so will get this in the post to her this weekend. 

Journal Entry 15 by wingcat207wing at Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Tuesday, November 15, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Arrived in today's mail. Thank you brunton11 for mailing, and perryfran for including me in the ray. 

Journal Entry 16 by wingcat207wing at Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Sunday, December 04, 2011

This book has not been rated.

...and I thought Virginia Woolf could write long sentences!

It's taken me three weeks to read this book, but once I was able to spend a few hours with it, I quite enjoyed it. You really need a good memory though.

I'm waiting for an address for Sfogs, to send the book on. 

Journal Entry 17 by wingcat207wing at Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Sunday, December 04, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Heading off to Sfogs in New Zealand. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 18 by Sfogs at Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Tuesday, December 13, 2011

This book has not been rated.

It has arrived safely in New Zealand! Thank you everyone~!! 

Journal Entry 19 by Sfogs at Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Monday, December 26, 2011

5 out of 10

While I liked this book, it annoyied me quite a bit too.
I still don't see the relationship between the title and the story.

This book is like a mist-filled marsh. You wade through it for a long time, occasionally getting a glimpse of understanding, in a very foggy and confusing story.
The reason you are so happy when you finish it, is because you not only survived it, but understood a bit more by the end. 

Journal Entry 20 by Sfogs at Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand on Friday, December 30, 2011

This book has not been rated.

Released 1 mo ago (12/30/2011 UTC) at Christchurch, Canterbury New Zealand

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

It's off to the USA 

Journal Entry 21 by OneMorePage at Mission Viejo, California USA on Friday, January 20, 2012

This book has not been rated.

Book is here. I'm finishing up another this weekend and will start this one next. 



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