The Sound and the Fury

By: William Faulkner

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin.

The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

“I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire.... I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.” —from The Sound and the Fury

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(P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“I am in awe of Faulkner’s Benjy, James’s Maisie, Flaubert’s Emma, Melville’s Pip, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—each of us can extend the list.... I am interested in what prompts and makes possible this process of entering what one is estranged from.” —Toni Morrison

Made a difficult book so much more understandable.

Any additional comments?

This is not an easy book to understand given its stream of consciousness format, but listening to it made it much more understandable and enjoyable. It really is a masterpiece.

A rewarding listen...just stick with it.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Sound and the Fury to be better than the print version?

No...but if you have a hard time with Faulkner then this is definitely worth the listen. Just make sure you do some extra research to keep the story straight.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dilsey...somebody has to keep these Compson people from themselves.

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This one while good is inferior to his performance in Absalom, Absalom.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Elitist white people with way too many neuroses.

incomparable

Such an amazing experiment in prose handled consummately by the brilliant narration. Not an easy read, but worth the experience!

Wonderful narrator

Great narrator. No words to describe how good this book is.
So I won’t try.

Beautifully written, but confusing story

Faulkner did an excellent job showcasing his evocative descriptions and use of multiple narrators, but it was hard to differentiate the present from the past, leading me confused.

A warning against sentimentality

Any additional comments?

My God, this is a depressing novel. Every word Faulkner writes, every memory that is explored, every action in the novel is distilled into a lingering, oppressive, sadness that is as omnipresent as the honeysuckle Quentin so hated.

I started off enjoying the novel; I liked the experimental way Faulkner tries to convey the confused mind of Benjy. As someone who grew up with and spent years working with severely mentally disabled adults, I felt Faulkner honestly captured the state of mind of someone who is almost totally unable to experience rational and unselfish thought.

The second chapter, too, was quite beautiful but at times was nearly impenetrable. Pretty much only the scene with the little girl, when his mind stops wandering and he focuses only on finding her home, really seemed to have much of an impact for me. Everything else - the broken watch, his drunken father's philosophical ramblings, his time with Caddy - seemed ... distant. Distant is the best way I can describe it from a reader's point of view. I never felt like I was part of Quentin's experiences even though we spend so much time in his mind. He was no Bloom.

The final two chapters were straightforward enough. We learn many of the previously mysterious details that Benjy's and Quentin's minds could not clearly articulate (or were unwilling to articulate). And Jason was a wonderful character - the best in the book. Faulkner certainly has created one of the great characters in literature with Jason.

But what does this all add up to? Yes, the novel is about the south and the south's decline, but what South? Was there a time when people did not behave badly, were devious, cheats, liars, manipulators, and every other sin you can imagine? Maybe there were times in the Compson family when they were more outwardly respectable, but how do we really know those "better" people were actually any better? Is Faulkner so nostalgic for a long forgotten time that he actually believes we've all degenerated in our time?

I doubt Faulkner was so naive or sentimental. He write a book in which the main characters are all flawed and fallen ne'er–do–wells, who all long for a time when things were better and resent the present because it didn't turn out the way they wanted it too. Adults who haven't really ever grown up. In a way he wrote a warning against sentimentality, against seeing the past with thick rose colored glasses because if you keep trying to compare yourself against an impossible standard you will only disappoint yourself or, if you're smart, just run away from your entire family.

From that point of view, then, this isn't a "southern" novel bemoaning the end of one specific time and culture of Faulkner's love that will unfortunately never return, he's trying to warn us from falling into the cycle of always going back to the past. If your mind is always full of how things were and how things used to be then you will miss every opportunity to better yourself tomorrow. The Compson's totally fell apart because they could not come to terms with reality.

Yet even with such an analysis, I just could not get into this novel. I really wanted to, but you have to approach every work of art from the perspective of how it effects you personally and this novel just made me feel sad after having witnessed so much misery on every page.

Twilight-colored smell of honeysuckle

If you were raised in the green South, you know that smell Exactly.

I never thought I could read this book; I tried 20, 10 years past. I could not understand what the heck was going on, the characters, the setting in time or even why I should be reading it, besides wanting to read an icon, author and title, in my Mississippi.

I finally got the gumption to go for it.

For me, it took listening, reading sometimes twice, and a companion guide.

I must say there are definitely rewards, not the least of which is gaining the satisfaction of reading this classic about a dysfunctional Mississippi family at the turn of the 20th century.

Go for it! Super exercise for the brain!!

Speechless..

Without a doubt, I will read this INTENSELY complex book again one day. Ben is at the center of a family in Mississippi not unlike our own: dealing with the demons each family has while loving each other completely if not perfectly. As a special needs child/adult, Ben hears the "sound" of love/turmoil and feels the "fury" of all his loved ones' lives even though he may not understand everything. Caddy is lonely, Quinton is unconfident, Miss Quinton is oblivious, and Jason the Son loves too hard. Thank goodness for the moral compass of African American maid servant Dilsey. My favorite character is definitely Jason (the son) because he is a flawed individual hiding personal frustrations, yet trying VERY hard to live up to being the head of his crumbling family...and it tears at him furiously that He cannot "make things" work out right in overcoming mistakes made by his family members (including his mom, dad, and sister). Grover Gardner has a difficult job as narrator. The genius and difficulty in reading Faulkner is his intricate use of stream of consciousness and Southern diction making this a "not swift" read...but Gardner is AMAZING. He doesn't stumble one bit over any of the characterizations and gives just enough personality for you to tell one character from the next. Like all GREAT books (and this is without a doubt one of them), you will be compelled to read this again. I know I will.

Tread carefully. Minefields aplenty.

Read this when I was 19. Then again at 50. This time, however, I listened on podcast. The stream of consciousness technique can be frustrating, but only if you look at time as horizontal. Faulkner, like the South, sees time as vertical. Listening to the the story was like walking through failing artillery shells, an overwelming barrage on the senses. Who can do imagery like Faulkner? It's disorienting, like life, and give up if you're trying to find easy answers and a tangible plot. This is strictly interior, except the end, with characters with not much there, in my opinion.... and when a shell hits, man, it can shatter you. 'Blood and soil' and race are still major themes for the South. Not sure when they will stop fighting that war within themselves.

A fantastic performance of a fantastic novel

If you could sum up The Sound and the Fury in three words, what would they be?

Challenging, rewarding, haunting.

What other book might you compare The Sound and the Fury to and why?

The stream-of-consciousness style of narration might remind listeners of James Joyce's works, but the different narrators make this work incomparable.

Which scene was your favorite?

The encounter between Jason and Dalton Ames.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Any additional comments?

I don't think that I could have made it through this novel without the excellent narration by Grover Gardner.