First, another reread by L.M. Montgomery, the fifth in the Anne of Green Gables series, "Anne's House of Dreams". Anne and Gilbert are married and move to Four Winds so Gilbert can establish his medical practice. Anne meets the sad neighbor who is beautiful but troubled by her marriage to an amnesiac, Leslie Moore. Anne and Gilbert's first child, a girl, dies shortly after birth. With the help of Captain Jim, Miss Cornelia, and Owen Ford, this is an interesting if not sad book, like all the rest. I don't think I want to reread any of the others just now.
Moving on. The latest by Linda Fairstein, "Killer Heat". Set in the dog days of August in New York City, it looks like Cooper, Mercer, and Chapman have a serial killer on their hands when three girls turn up dead, all at deserted military related locations, all women who looked like they were in some sort of uniform. Hmmm...it was interesting, and made some good points about rehabilitating sex offenders.
And another reread, one I've probably read more than any other book, one of my all time favorites...William Faulkner's absolutely brilliant "The Sound and the Fury". Every year at Easter I think about rereading it, and this year I made it. What a haunting, beautiful, misunderstood story! Every time I read it I feel more sympathy for Jason, sorrier for Benjy, more disgusted with Quentin (both of them) and Caroline Compson. Some articles and books I've read about Faulkner try to make Jason out to be a villain, but I couldn't disagree more. Caroline Compson is the real villain, with her long suffering woe is me attitude that could drive a saint to drink. I understand completely why her husband was so eager to part from the world, why her daughter behaved the way she did, and why her eldest son committed suicide. What a great book! Now, for awhile at least, everything else I read will seem dull and flat. Mr. Faulkner is an extremely tough act to follow.
2 comments:
I'll have to re-read The Sound and the Fury, too. I last read it many years ago as part of a Faulkner seminar when I was an undergrad. As I remember, we also read As I Lay Dying and Light in August. I remember reading Hemingway shortly thereafter and finding his books thin and unsatisfying. I suppose Hemingway was also "brilliant" but I much prefer the richness of Faulkner to the spareness of Hemingway. Also, there is nothing like a good Southern novel for understanding that "the past is always with us."
I know exactly what you mean! I never cared for Hemingway, and always wondered why he and Faulkner were compared so much. They are completely different writers as far as I'm concerned. And I do love Southern fiction!
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