#1 - As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

I started my 2013 goal a little early.  I'm blogging my first book review of my 100 books goal :)  I don't care that it's a few days early...I'm reading 100 books, give me some slack.  So, here it goes...

I've read a lot of reviews on this book.  They basically state that Faulkner is not an easy read and this book is difficult to understand.  I went into the book with this in mind.   Faulkner is not the easiest to read and parts of this book were difficult to understand.

One of my reading pet peeves is an author writing as someone would speak.  Example: ere = even, outen = out and, hisn = his and.  I understand it's for effect, but it bothers me and my interpretations may not even be right.  This book has A LOT of that.  They are simple country folk, and Faulkner makes them sound like the simplest of the simplest.

The book is broken out into chapters narrated by the main characters.  The premise is the mother of a country family has passed on.  The father has promised that she would be buried with her kin in a city a few miles away.  The mother was placed in a homemade casket of pine and put onto the back of a mule-pulled wagon.  For over 9 days the family struggled to get the deceased to the city.

NINE DAYS.

A fun-filled adventure did not ensue.  It was a trying time for all involved.  There was flooding, injury, madness, arson, selfishness and female troubles.  The best chapter of the entire book came from the deceased's point of view.  It made, at least to me, the rest of the book ironic. And perhaps that was what Faulkner was trying to do.  Or maybe not.  I'm still trying to interpret the most famous line from this book "My mother is a fish."

In full disclosure, I read this book because it's always on the "must-read-before-you-die" list.  I feel like people who say this is their favorite book is either pretentious or a PhD in Literature.  No one can love this book.  I did find myself shaking my head at the last line.  Apparently Faulkner had the last line in mind when he wrote the book.  It was effective.

So, should you read it?  Sure, it's Faulkner!  Are you going to love it?  I doubt it.  But hey, you can say with pride "I read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner."  Now please tell me what "My mother is a fish" means...