Now 2023 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA Portfolio Artwork WIP

Recent posts

Month in review

Book Reviews:
Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
The Art of Alchemy by Ted Kosmatka
Big Jeremy by Steven Kroll
Bleach Volume 11 by Tite Kubo
Bleach Volume 12 by Tite Kubo
Bleach Volume 13 by Tite Kubo
The Butterfly Alphabet Book by Brian Cassie
Catty-Cornered by Cheryl Ware
A Church of Her Own by Sarah Sentilles
Circle by George Tucker
City of Light by Laurent Belfer
The Crew by Bali Rai
Dark Summit by Nick Heil
A Day in Space by Suzanne Lord and Jolie Epstein
A Day with Traffic Controllers by Joanne Winne
Demons Are Forever by Julie Kenner
Deserts by Seymour Simon
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
Firooz and His Brother by Alex Jeffers
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Ghost Cat by Beverly Butler
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Hungry, Hungry Sharks by Joanna Cole
In the Hall of the Dragon King by Stephen R. Lawhead
Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch by Barbara Park
Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying by Barbara Park
Light in August by William Faulkner
The Little Baby Snoogle Fleejer by Jimmy Carter
The Lost and Found by Mark Teague
Magic School Bus: Going Batty by Joanna Cole
Magic School Bus: The Great Shark Escape by Joanna Cole
Mercury and Venus by Robin Kerrod
Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies
Nettie's Trip South by Ann Turner
Peace: 50 Years of Protest by Barry Miles
Postcards: True Stories that Never Happened by Jason Rodriguez
Puss in Boots by Rochelle Larkin
The Road from La Cueva by Sheila Ortego
Seduction by Design by Sandra Brown
The Seven-per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer
Space by Carole Stott
The Stone Gods by Jeannette Winterson
Thrilling Wonder Stories by Albert E. Cowdrey
Traitor by M. Rickert
Treasure by Clive Cussler
Under the Microscope: Insects by Grolier
WLT: A Radio Romance by Garrison Keillor

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Canadian Book Challenge: 2023-2024

Beat the Backlist 2023

Artwork
Chicken Art



Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Light in August: 05/31/08

Light in August

In William Faulkner's novels, the narration (method of story telling) is more the point than the narrative (the story). In Light in August, the story of Lena's search for her baby's father and Joe Christmas's tragic life is told through a series of oral histories.

Alysson Olivera in her review of Light in August focuses on the importance of memory in narration of the novel. As so much of the book is told as the sort of gossip you'd hear from friends and neighbors, most of the story is told in flashback. Each chapter builds as a separate but connected short story with the punchline in the last couple pages of the chapter being the thing that ties all the chapters together into a coherent narrative.

The book has strong Christian themes, much as the way that Steinbeck's East of Eden is based on the book of Genesis. Joe Christmas is an obvious Christ figure.

Of the William Faulkner books I've read, it was probably one of the most enjoyable ones. He's not a favorite author of mine. I find his experimentation with narration over focusing on building a strong narrative tiresome and often times counterproductive.

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:

Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2023 Sarah Sammis