As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text

Faulkner's near perfect tragi-comedy of a poor family trying to get their dead mother's corpse to her preferred final resting place, with fire and flood intervening. Family members and friends tell their own version of the story, each in a combination of his/her own voice laced with Biblical Faulnerisms never uttered by man or beast. This is a tour de force, short enough to finish reading in a weekend, and guaranteed to stay with you for years.The Vintage edition is excellent.

I grew up about 60 miles from Oxford, MS, Faulkner's home. He was a "must read" in high school and college in Mississippi, and I recall liking the stories he told but having difficulty with his stream of consciousness writing style. I think another reviewer I read made a good comment-- just read and let things work out. Faulkner will let you know what you need to know. It is a lot more enjoyable reading his novels for fun rather than for testing! I plan to go back and read lots more. It is a great story with a surprise ending!

A Southern classic! The story of a poor family trying to keep the promise of taking their wife/mother to her hometown to be buried. A plethora of problems create poignant, and sometimes funny, situations along the way. The end will surprise you!

This is a book I read periodically. Faulkner is one of my favorite writers. The book is told from the points of view of several different family members as they transport the body of their family member to the family burial ground. The simplest explanation is that it explores the inner worlds of the characters as they experience the death of mother/wife.The writing is some of Faulkner's best.

This book is the first William Faulkner book I have ever read, and I am still not sure what I think of him. It got off to a slow start, and admittedly, it took me nearly half the book to get used to his writing style. Once I hit the mid-point, though, it seemed to go quicker, and the bits and pieces of the story coming together were wonderful. I certainly wouldn't recommend this book to someone who has never been to college...as silly as it sounds, some of the skills I picked up in my Lit classes are all that kept me ploughing through this book.

Written from many perspectives, sometimes hard to follow, written in dialect (although the background narrator uses the language of the well-educated which can be jarring when juxtaposed to people whose grammar is not that of ther educated), occassional brilliant turns-of-phrase (this review miomics the book's style to some degree)

This is a story of the consequences of stubborn love. What ever could go wrong, does. I had to laugh to keep from crying during parts. The different perspectives of the characters are very true to life, and make this book a wonderful read.

Breaking so many of the "rules" of form and style established by those who proceeded him, Faulkner transcended the genre of fiction to get inside the heads of a salt of the earth family whose humanly flawed thoughts and emotions carry you into their world of pain and tragedy. It is a masterpiece in its own right.

As an English-lit major, this was my first introduction to a Faulkner novel. The stream-of-consciousness narrative told by a large number of characters is fairly easy to get used to. Especially with a chapter that consists of four words: "my mother is a fish."
So for anyone wanting to dip their toes into some of the most challenging and greatest books in the English language, I'd suggest reading this one before tackling "The Sound and the Fury" and "Absalom Absalom" (in that order). "Dying" would be a great introduction to the style that is put on steroids in the latter books.
And the idea of a dysfunctional family that would make Joe Jackson and his progeny seem normal and the Honey Boo Boo brood seem sophisticated trying to haul their dead matriarch's corpse the 40 miles to her hometown -- in a mule-drawn wagon -- for burial with her family while dealing with a flood that takes out all the bridges and a growing contingent of buzzards is some great dark humor.

Sometimes hard to understand the language ...the time and place. And I believed at first that is so typical of that time and place but after finishing the book and giving it more thought I began to love the characters even the detestable sexist son-in-law.

You know Faulker. Half the fun is trying to figure out what the heck he is talking about. Actually I needed this copy to replace a library copy that I lost. It's cheaper to buy a used one and they accepted it. It was a library discard anyway. ha ha

Faulkner's stories, no matter how many times you read them, are beautiful, human, and haunting. Characters such as Anse are so self-centered you hate them deeply, as you might Addie--until you hear her side of the tragic story. Then you can't but forgiv her--even for loving the heartless Jewel.

Faulkner tells the Bundren pilgrimage as they carry their mother Addie to be buried. He uses the page well with many specific formatting requests. This book will confuse you, but, as you process it, you'll be taken through a wide range of emotions.

Purchased for a class in school for my teenage daughter who is complaining how boring it is, but as she tells me about it, I believe I will be reading it myself. Shipped very quickly from seller, also.

Faulkner isn't easy for the inexperienced reader of Southern classics. If you can get through it and even understand it, you'll feel proud of yourself, and y'all, there's something to be said for that.

This is not the first item I have received paying for a new product only to find the book was an irregular (damaged in production) book that no book store could ever sell!! I find it amazing that the store would accept a book whose pages were not cut properly, and then sell it as a book that is in first class condition!!!! I am sure that you hope that I need this book immediately (which I do) so that I will not return this "defective" book. Since I have to use it immediately, I have not returned it, but this review is to warn others about your deceitful tactics.

This is a one star for the "Vintage International" Kindle edition. I don't agree that it's a terrible story; I think it's a fun and interesting read. I don't think Faulkner is a bad writer. He's great. BUT the Kindle edition is terrible. I don't see "Vintage" anywhere. My e-copy says "Wolfeyes Books."

The copyright owner(s) must have made a deal with Wolfeyes and they need to cancel it for the misrepresentation that Wolfeyes is a publisher. The number of "typos" on every page is astonishing. Any word with aint in it becomes, for example "pain't," "fain't." "The" becomes "lie" "hide" several other things, right on the same line with "the." "God" is "Cod." Periods in the middle of sentences; random or no paragraphing; words you look at and just say, "huh?" Get the idea? They must have scanned a poor copy of the book and then put it up for sale with absolutely NO proofreading. For all his idiosyncracies, Faulkner did NOT write it this way. I went to Barnes & Noble and looked at a print edition.

This IS a worthwhile BOOK, as in PRINT. But don't take the E-book, even for free.