Light in August

By: William Faulkner

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Audible is pleased to present Light in August, by Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner.

An Oprah's Book Club Selection regarded as one of Faulkner's greatest and most accessible novels, Light in August is a timeless and riveting story of determination, tragedy, and hope. In Faulkner's iconic Yoknapatawpha County, race, sex, and religion collide around three memorable characters searching desperately for human connection and their own identities.

Audie Award-winning narrator Will Patton lends his voice to Light in August. Patton has narrated works by Ernest Hemingway, Don DeLillo, Pat Conroy, Denis Johson, Larry McMurtry, and James Lee Burke, and brings to this performance a keen understanding of Faulkner, an authentic feel for the South, and a virtuoso narrator's touch.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of William Faulkner's book, you'll also receive an exclusive Jim Atlas interview. This interview – where James Atlas interviews James Lee Burke about the life and work of William Faulkner – begins as soon as the audiobook ends.

Be sure to check out Faulkner's The Wild Palms as well.

This production is part of our Audible Modern Vanguard line, a collection of important works from groundbreaking authors.

©1954, 1976 William Faulkner (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Nominee - Best Classic Audiobook, 2011

"For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must turn to him for that continuity of moral purpose which made for the greatness of our classics." (Ralph Ellison)

"It's impossible to overstate the difficulties facing Will Patton as he undertakes a reading of this Faulkner classic. It's not simply the matter of conveying early-twentieth-century Southern backwoods dialects. That, a skilled mimic with an exceptional ear like Patton masters easily. But this novel's demands are so much more arduous, requiring a narrator to plumb the depths of despair, hopelessness, faith, rage, and yearning that go on for page after page without letup." ( AudioFile)

The power of his words to make the reader know the character thoroughly.

Everything is eloquently stated. Makes the reader see what is most important to the author

I tried, I finished it, but cannot recommend.

I wanted to read a work of Faulkner's. I bought the Kindle edition so that I could follow the sparkling prose and fabulous literary presentation both aurally and visually.

The story was good. The idea of the passages each character endured in his/her life was excellent. It was not especially unique, which was kind of good too, because there was a truth, reality about it.

I just don't understand Faulkner's use of the flashback-flashforward structure in the telling. It was not difficult to keep track of -- well maybe a little with the names of Bunch, Burch, and other near-sound alikes. The individual stories were great stories. The saga of Joe Christmas was Dickensian if nothing else and the story of Rev. Hightower, while not as riveting as Joe's, was very good, very logical, very well told. I don't think the women characters were so well fleshed out. Lena was a single-faceted character. She had one goal in mind and she was tenacious about it, but.. shrug... so what?

I am not a Faulkner scholar, so my opinion should hold little weight with those wishing to pursue this literature, but I am well read in many genres and many eras. I came away feeling Faulkner was a troubled man... turns out, after reading more about him, he really was a kind of lost soul. I felt the passion in the prose, but I had to work so hard to read the story/stories and to follow all the links between them, that it was tedious rather the pleasurable.

I don't think I will read another Faulkner -- not by Audible or in print. Life's too short.

Too abstract and wandering for most readers...

Would you ever listen to anything by William Faulkner again?

This book has definitely turned me OFF of Faulkner.

Any additional comments?

The plot is too thin and the chronology is so complex that is doesn't translate well as an audiobook.

Enter the Deep South, enter history.

I had not read Faulkner for many decades and I recall how repetitive and thick the prose . But on Audible, especially with the expertise of this reader, the stream of consciousness was natural. The uncertainty of what the characters saw or felt or decided was a real enhancement to the storyline. Savored this .

Still Not a Faulkner Fan

No other author disturbs me like Faulkner. I try to like his work. I appreciate it for the dark side it shows of the South, but everything disturbs me. I love the vivid descriptions, but the rhythm of his language disturbs me along with the syntax of many of the sentences that I desperately want to edit. Sorry, but I feel disturbed when he saves a run-on sentence with a semicolon, when it still feels like the two sentences should be separated. I am agitated with a sentence that begins with "but" and then has 13 "ands" in it. The journalist in me rebels against Faulkner's language. I am not denying he is a great and important writer, but I just cannot find my way into his world. Maybe my friend is right. You have to be born in the South to truly appreciate Faulkner. I made it through the Light in August for the second time because of the narrator. Will Patton's narration offers a brilliant interpretation of Faulkner's words.

Captivating and well-narrated

This was my first work by Faulkner. His style is gripping and has a genuine feel for the time and place of the story. It does, however, go to an extreme at times.

The narrator brings the work alive, with distinct voices for each of the characters, faithful accents, and a good pace.

I will listen to another Faulkner, especially one read by the same narrator. Together, they really know how to tell a story.

If you've never been there, Go Now!

Faulkner uses words like tea leaves to brew deep mysterious worlds that we forget existed here not so very long ago. How ardently one longs for the trust and simplicity that resonates in the background of the melody he creates with living breathing humans. Read this with your grandchildren and make sure they know that we rose to greatness before TV and smart phones. Teach them that people believe and decieve each other and that family is what family does... Tender as all Faulkners work the characters here play out our fears and hopes. It is a story that makes you think... do that ... think... this book will help.

Great Book with Really Great Reader

Faulkner is not for the faint of heart, and neither is this book, in more ways than one. Although is this is likely Faulkner's most approachable novel, that is not saying a lot. This is still a complex book with intertwining storylines and deep complex characters revealed slowly and from differing perspectives. This is also quite dark where there is no hero and everyone is broken. If that does not dissuade, you may really like this book. I did. This is likely the best of Faulkner's books to read first and the narration is excellent.

Because of the complexity and dark nature of this book, I would not recommend it to most people, but if you like a good long Russian novel, you might like this as well.

The narration is almost unbelievably good. The material is dark and complex, yet the narrator adds a huge amount to the experience.

What an exceptional work of art

Would you consider the audio edition of Light in August to be better than the print version?

I have always loved Faulkner's writing and have read most of his works. This reading of Light in August was masterful. Will Patton reads this very complicated text in such a way that it becomes amazingly easy to follow. For anyone familiar with the effort required to follow Faulkner's intricate and challenging prose, this will be recognized as quite an accomplishment.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Light in August?

The storyline detailing the experiences of Joe Christmas, from boarding school to adoption to adulthood, and his struggle to understand and cope with his heritage, vividly illustrates the difficulty and confusion of those times.

Which scene was your favorite?

There are many beautiful passages in this one. Faulkner is a masterful writer, but there are times when he is really in his stride. No one is better then.

Faulkner and Patton - - one was made for the other.

Will Patton is genius. His performance of this book is incomparable . Faulkner is alive and well and lives as long as Mr Patton reads with the true voices of the south.