Absalom, Absalom!

By: William Faulkner

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Absalom, Absalom! tells the story of Thomas Sutpen, the enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson township in the early 1830s. With a French architect and a band of wild Haitians, he wrung a fabulous plantation out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness.

Sutpen was a man, Faulker said, "who wanted sons and the sons destroyed him". His tragedy left its impress not only on his contemporaries but also on men who came after, men like Quentin Compson, haunted even into the 20th century by Sutpen's legacy of ruthlessness and singleminded disregard for the human community.

©1986 Jill Faulkner Summers; 1993 Books on Tape, Inc.

The listening of this story is an exercise in frustration

The listening of this story is an exercise in frustration. But if you enjoy listening to a book that you will have to re-listen to, just to partially understand, then it’s right up your alley.

Satisfying writing and intriguing story

I love this kind of literature, where every sentence is satisfying. Took me a while to get used to the language but once I was in I enjoyed the ride. Intriguing story that very slowly unravels through different characters memories and interpretations. Cool story telling

Awesome Book

This book was a difficult but great read. Faulkner makes use of an interesting technique by jumping back and forth between the past and the present with many of the characters. By doing this he creates a patchwork of small bits of information that eventually come together as a whole piece. Although this creates a very unique read it also becomes hard to keep all the facts straight, but if you stick through to the end you will not be let down.

PS: The second time through is better

Outstanding All Around

I love Faulkner, and had tried to get through reading this book three times, all without success. The writing, while beautiful, is just so dense, and takes so much concentration to understand, that I plain ran out of steam each time. But I decided to give the audio book a try. My thinking was that maybe a narrator would interpret the writing, and give me a boost in understanding it all.
Unlike most of my plans and schemes, this one worked to perfection! Grover Gardner did a flat-out incredible job narrating. His tones, his inflections, his interpretations, were uniformly superb. With his help, the novel became comprehensible. I wasn't even aware when he hit the infamous 1300-plus-word sentence, it was all so smooth.
And what a novel! I hadn't known beforehand that this book is held in such esteem by Faulknerians, but it is, and justly so. It is breathtaking in scope and execution, nearly on a par with The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. And praise doesn't come higher than that.
Thank you, Grover Gardner, thank you Audible!

Really difficult to follow in audible version

This novel is heavy, nearly indigestible.

I find it rather challenging to absorb, while driving (where I listen most), all the import of sentences filled with words that stretch the lexicon of even a Hahvahd literature professor. So, I purchased both the text and audible versions to listen to some and go back through. This proved too time-consuming.

If I were learned enough, perhaps I'd have enjoyed it enough to give it 5 stars. On the other hand, were I a true redneck I wouldn't have picked it up and certainly would have chunked it after Chapter 1.

If you purchase this, be sure to carry a pocket-sized dictionary for quick, easy and frequent reference.

Not for the faint of heart

I love classics. I've said that before. This is my third Faulkner. I listened to "The Sound and the Fury" and "Light in August" and now, "Absalom, Absalom!".

Faulkner is difficult, but I was able to follow each of the first two stories without a lot of difficulty.

But Absalom, Absalom! was a disappointment.

I didn't like the narrator at all. He didn't create a different voice for each character and it was hard to keep track of who was speaking. I read on the web that he has a beautiful reading voice -- but I was just irritated. I was frustrated through the entire first half of the story. When I got to the second half of the story, which was being told by the younger generation, I started to figure out what was going on.

There was enough of a story to make me want to listen to the entire recording -- I didn't give up on it. But I actually listened at 1.5 just to get it over with. Maybe some day I'll see if there is another narrator available and listen again -- or maybe I'll try actually reading it!

Classic book, okay Narrator

The book is a classic for a reason.
This audiobook though is unlikely to become one. The narrator is only subpar. He is an okay reader, but he doesn't differentiate between the characters particularly well, which makes it difficult to tell who is currently telling the story.
I also wouldn't recommend listening if you aren't already familiar with the book.

This Faulkner novel is best heard as audio storytelling

The plot is a complex interweaving of narratives and of several people telling or retelling a dark family history. Stream of consciousness and side notes or explanatory references within a single sentence reminded me of the way southern relatives would spin a story of some event. And easier for this “ reader” to hear rather than parse the written word. Brilliant storytelling. And complex.

Audio Needed

For me having this book read to me as I read along w/ an actual book in hand made this book much easier to comprehend. I tried first to read the book, and then just listening to the audio book~I needed to do both. The more you listened, the easier this story was to follow. You get pulled in by the author and the narrator.

A Classic Soap Opera of The Old South

Nothing I’ve ever read captures the language, style, and culture of the Antebellum South as well as Faulkner, particularly when listened to in the accented tones of Grover Gardner’s narration.

That is Faulkner’s power but Absolom, Absolom also demonstrates that nothing succeeds like excess. No point of description, thought or dialogue can be repeated over and over enough to please the Author. We poor readers can’t hear the young girls’ dresses, the old men’s doddering utterances or the Sutpen Family’s internecine motives described often enough and in sentences that seem to never end. So, while I was captivated by the storytelling, I could not help but feel that this introductory novel’s Soap Opera of a tale could have been summarized on a three-by-five index card in four or five succinct, well-crafted sentences, thereby saving twelve trees and eight quarts of ink.

I’ll give Absolom four stars for its Cultural significance and the incredible length of its poetic sentences, though I think that the Cliff Notes version will be adequate for any future trips into Faulkner’s South.