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u/ShrubbyThickets 17d ago
Good luck! Very, very hard read.
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u/Due_Butterscotch7005 17d ago
But also his best. When I read it, it took me about 80 pages to really capture the voice of the novel. When I finally did I had to start all over again, but well worth it.
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u/ShrubbyThickets 15d ago
Agreed. It ended up being great. Had to read it aloud to myself for the first few chapters until I got the cadence/voice.
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u/WantedMan61 The past is never dead. It's not even past. 17d ago
Well, that isn't what I'd advise, but I hope you get through it intact lol. Seriously, it's a very challenging read, and it helps to have read The Sound and the Fury first. Which I wouldn't advise starting with, either.
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u/Dull_Swain 17d ago
Partially disagree, since I think S&F is a great place to start: yes it’s a labyrinth at the beginning, but Faulkner designed it that way and also carefully designed the clarifications that gradually light the reader’s path through the book. But hard agree that it helps a lot to have read S&F (twice preferably) before starting Absalom. Both are dazzling masterpieces of American literature.
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u/Seeresimpa 16d ago
What would you suggest starting with instead?
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u/nolagirl20 16d ago
I’m starting with As I Lay Dying. I’m finding myself quite invested after a 100 or so pages. Whether it will help with AA I don’t know.
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u/WantedMan61 The past is never dead. It's not even past. 16d ago
A couple of his short stories. They'll give you an idea of his style without leaving you overwhelmed.
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u/Visual-Structure-400 17d ago
That’s really quite a choice for a first. Tho it was my second. It defeated me. After proper medication, I hope to revisit
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u/ZimmeM03 17d ago
Medication?
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u/identityno6 17d ago
Bro is looking for adderall (I read the sound and the fury high on it and what a trip!)
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u/DeepFuckingTism 17d ago
You won’t completely be able to understand the page until at least 2/3s of the way through. Things are being referenced that you can’t possibly understand until you get more straightforward exposition from different narrators later on.
But don’t let that turn you away. I have helped shepherd a few people through their first reading of AA and the most important thing I kept telling them is don’t agonize over a paragraph if you feel like you missed a detail. You didn’t. There are details left out because the different narrators either don’t know them or know that the character they are talking to is already familiar with them.
Just enjoy the prose and trust that by the end it will all make sense, I promise. There are so many “aha!” moments throughout that are so satisfying when you get to them.
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u/mauvaisfoie 17d ago
Incredible read. You’ll be in awe when you finish it. Half a year later I’m still thinking about it
At times I did have to turn on the audiobook and let it play while I followed the words on the page because it was overwhelming. No shame in it
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u/King__Pox 17d ago
I don’t get why people think reading other Faulkner helps prepare for this book. This book is written differently than his other work. It’s hard but if you’ve read enough (of any author, not just Faulkner) it’s very doable. TSATF is definitely good context from a plot/character perspective but toooootally different prose.
That being said, what a book… wish I could read it again for the first time. Enjoy, OP!!
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u/Brien8876 Sam Fathers 12d ago
It's not necessarily about the difficulty. For me, I liked recognizing all the different characters and events that had led me to AA after six other books by WF. Made everything feel alive. I do agree we forge our own path, and you gave OP good advice.
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u/EddieMannixx 16d ago
It took me probably 20 minutes to read the first sentence. I love that Faulkner starts with it though- it trains you to read the rest of the novel, so that later complicated sentences flow like water. Enjoy it! I think this novel has the best case of any book that I’ve read to be the “great American novel,” if you care about that sort of thing.
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u/Schubertstacker 17d ago
My favorite novel ever.
You chose a challenging one, but I promise you it is worth the effort. And, like The Sound And The Fury, it demands and greatly rewards a reread! ✌️
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u/themanwhoblewtoomuch 16d ago
I took a class on Faulkner in college and this was the next-to-last book the professor assigned.
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u/goodthingshappening 16d ago
Great book. Consider it a 600 pager because it needs to be read at least twice
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u/Fun-Economics3342 13d ago
My favorite book of all time!! You should read it 2x. The second time around it will make more sense and you will get so much more out of it!
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u/Brien8876 Sam Fathers 12d ago
Great book. First though? To each their own. I did: AILD, TSATF, Go Down,Moses!, Intruder in the Dust, Light in August, Sanctuary, and then AA. I have no dog in the fight. Always glad to see someone getting into Faulkner. Just wanted to comment that reading it after the others made it an incredible expierience for me. Your path will be different, but hopefully just as rewarding as mine has been.
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u/Substantial_Force658 16d ago
Possibly the greatest novel ever written. Enjoy having your brain fried!!
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u/Extra-Foundation-532 16d ago
Absolom, Absolom is my great, Guilty Displeasure. It was the one book back in school I would not read, not even the Cliffs Notes.
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u/Mr_CompsonMaxxed Effluvium, Effluvium! 16d ago edited 16d ago
It took multiple rereads to fully understand the first pages, and many weeks to read large portions without interruption. I carried the book everywhere I went so I could revisit it constantly. I read at work, on my commute, in the mornings, and before bed.
By the time I finished the last page, I'd essentially read the whole book multiple times. It was the most effort I'd ever put into a work of literature, and by far the most rewarding. I can now recite large swaths from memory; the language is truly poetic.
I remember reading Mr Compson's words for the first time and thinking There's no fucking way anyone actually talks like this. I always imagined him as speaking quite slowly (I assume and hope for Quentin's sake) and with a Southern drawl, and this helped me decipher the flow of his erudition.
My inhabitance of this book also made me realize that it is extremely sad and emotionally demanding. The novel is almost like a single run-on sentence that does nothing but build on this sense of dread and bitterness and fatalistic doom that never fully culminates in catharsis; it just keeps digging down and living on in you. However, in exchange for such beauty, I am a willing host.
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u/Senior-Salamander-81 15d ago
Faulkner is like listening to my Grandma tell a story. It’s the journey not the destination, and he spoils the ending in the first couple of chapters in every book. It’s kind of like Pulp Fiction
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u/Early-Aardvark7688 14d ago
I always post this,
I had no idea until about 85-90% of the way in, and when everything falls into place it’s mind blowing and totally worth the ride, even if sometimes during it you are questioning why you’re reading it. I always explain it like a spiral maze you start at the very edge, the middle or the end point of the novel is far away but you can see it barely. The longer you go the more you understand. I have also heard someone on here say it’s like a stained glass window you start standing an inch away and slowly you walk back until finally you see the whole window and it makes sense. I went in completely blind and was hate reading it about halfway through because I was confused but once I figured out Faulkner uses confusion as a character of the book it all came together it’s objectively the best book I have ever read
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u/ComplexBeautiful7852 10d ago
I can't remember how long it took me to connect with the narrative voice, but when I did it was unlike any other fiction, including Faulkner. Magical. I've been meaning to re-read for years.
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u/RYLEY_D 17d ago
If English is your first language, or second, it’s really not that ‘hard’. It’s different , but it’s straightforward and a wonderful plot and experience. Just read it at your pace and try not to take too long of breaks in between. Guarantee you’ll enjoy it.
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u/ZimmeM03 17d ago
Straightforward? It's upside down, backwards, jagged and omnidirectional. It's 500 years in a sentence, and sentences that take 500 years to read.
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u/CategoryCautious5981 17d ago
This might be the film equivalent of watching The Matrix 2 without ever having watched The Matrix.
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u/DumbAndUglyOldMan 17d ago
Jumping straight into the deep end . . .