Light In August
Ratings50
Average rating3.9
William Faulkner's Light in August is a sobering, yet beautiful, story surrounding the complexities of human nature and human identity. The novel captures glimpses within the lives of Lena Grove, Byron Bunch, Joe Christmas, and Rev. Gail Hightower as they navigate their unique, yet somehow universal, struggles. Faulkner masterfully highlights the complexity of human nature—the pull of the self-possessed and calm, pitted against the frantic, delirious, and uncontrolled. The constant battle of both, and the hopefulness that springs from the one overcoming the other, flows through every page.
Revered as one of the greatest authors in all literature, Faulkner's work alone in these 500-some-odd pages clearly sets him apart. The turn of the last page will have you wishing for the first, again and again.
Favorite passage:
[Chapter 20]
“In the lambent suspension of August into which night is about to fully come, it seems to engender and surround itself with a faint glow like a halo. The halo is full of faces. The faces are not shaped with suffering, not shaped with anything; not horror, pain, not even reproach. They are peaceful, as though they have escaped into an apotheosis; his own is among them. In fact, they all look a little alike, composite of all the faces which he has ever seen. But he can distinguish them one from another: his wife's; townspeople, members of that congregation which denied him, which had met him at the station that day with eagerness and hunger; Byron Bunch's; the woman with the child; and that of the man called Christmas.”
~ Rev. Gail Hightower
Ever since reading As I Lay Dying last year, I've been excited to read another of Faulkner's books. I love his style of writing so much. The characters were written so well, I loved the characters of Lena and Joe Christmas. The stream of consciousness style of writing helps you really get into the mindset of the characters and really connect with them and their problems. This book was so far ahead of its time, addressing themes such as race, class and gender; topics which were taboo in the 1930s. Faulkner has such a great talent for setting an atmosphere and mood for his stories, something I noticed reading both this and As I Lay Dying. My only problem was the slow pacing (I think that might be my fault for reading this immediately after reading a few fast paced horror novels) which made it sometimes boring to read. Other than that, I think it's worth a read for anyone who is a fan of Southern Gothic or character- driven stories and I will definitely be checking out more from William Faulkner in the future.
“Man knows so little about his fellows. In his eyes all men or women act upon what he believes would motivate him if he were mad enough to do what that other man or woman is doing.”