Has anybody read "The Sound and the Fury"

[Scooter24]

and do you think it will be ok for a 15 year old who loves to read?

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. I read it at 17 for a high school class...

and found it deadly dull. And that was ages ago. But if you have a 15-year-old who wants to read it, I say go for it.

[Scooter24]

2. I was reading the amazon reviews...

and it seems like an intense piece of work. I might buy it for myself as well.

Thanks for your opinion :)

[Shakespeare]

3. Unless the 15-year-old is exceptionally bright....

...he (or she) probably won't be able to get much out of it. It's one of Faulkner's more obtuse novels, and most college-level English students still struggle with it.

[Scooter24]

4. Yeah...I kinda got that

by reading the reviews. It seems as if the first two chapters are what most readers find the most difficult to understand.

I think I'm going to pick up two copies, one for myself and one for her (a birthday gift for the daugther of a friend).

I'm not a very accomplished reader, but maybe we can try to tackle this together.

[Shakespeare]

5. Working through it together is great for a number of reasons.

You might "warm up" to the novel by reading a couple of his short stories first.

[rug]

6. I'd give it to him only if he can spell lugubrious.

[Goblinmonger]

7. Have you (or child) read serious stream of consciousness stuff?

If not, I would probably start with a different Faulkner novel. I teach high school English, and I would hesitate to recommend that novel to just a few very talented students. The first 70 pages are a killer. You have to be pretty dedicated to get through it.

If you are not used to stream of consciousness, I would first read the short story The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (Katherine Porter). Then try and tackle Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce) which isn't easy but I think easier than Sound. Then tackle Sound and the Fury.

Just my $.02.

[Reverend_Smitty]

8. Didn't Faulkner originally want to print it in different colors for each character?

so that the reader could more easily decipher what the hell was actually going on in that book but the publisher thought it would be too expensive.

I read it for the first time when I was 17, a recommendation from my English teacher because I loved post WWI literature. It took me the longest time to realize that there were two characters named Quentin. At that point I knew I needed to read it again because I was clearly missing things :)