As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

This book, considered one of the greats of the twentieth century, is a challenge. Told in stream of conciousness each chapter is told by one of the characters in the book. We meet Anse, his children Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell, Vardaman and Jewel all telling parts of the story of the death of their mother and her their subsequent traveling with her body to bury her in a distant town ( by wagon) of Jefferson where she was born.

The dialect as with much Faulkner can be difficult and the use of pronouns left me, especially early in the book, grasping at which he, she and they were being spoken of. Still with dilligence the book does grow to be something of great value. The characters are well drawn and by the end you do have ownership in the plot.

It is not an easy book to describe and it is one many would be threatened to give up on. I was. Still I am very glad I did not. I was up until 2 last night reading the last 100 pages after midnight as I wanted to see how it ended.

Subject matter such as race, abortion, religion, adultery, and a nascent feminism are brought to the fore in this book from 1930 making it clearly controversial in it's time. As always Faulkner is a challenge but one well worth taking.