Friday, July 16, 2010

Summer Reading: Light in August



Ok, so I'll admit that I chose this book at the library because it had the word August in the title. Still, I was a huge fan of The Sound and the Fury and I was curious about reading another work by Faulkner. I really enjoyed the use of multiple perspectives and chronology in S&F and Light in August did not disappoint. Faulkner's take on the individual's search for meaning and identity while also trying to negotiate their own personal histories is particularly striking. In a way, I found many similarities to Ralph Ellison's fantastic book, Invisible Man. Not only because racism was used as a major theme, but how each author used racism in a way to help describe man's constant pursuit for discovering their own identity and how society can blind and constrain this search. Everything about this book was done incredibly well. I look forward to reading this again a few years down the road.

While many other men's lifestyle bloggers tend to be inspired by the works of Hemingway, I find Faulkner much more interesting in both them and style.

2 comments:

  1. Great book--great cover. Is that the edition the library had?

    BTW, dig the blog :)

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  2. Thanks Pete.

    Haha. No, the library had a brand new paperback. Good thing for them too, because theres no way I would have returned it with that cover. $25 fee, be damned.

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