As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 🔖🔖🔖

First published January 1, 1930

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As I Lay Dying is Faulkner's harrowing account of the Bundren family's odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Told in turns by each of the family members—including Addie herself—the novel ranges in mood from dark comedy to the deepest pathos.  (source: goodreads)

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I did not like this one a ton. Parts were fascinating like the change in main narrator and the surprise monologue near the middle. This was an interesting commentary on toxic family dynamics, that's for sure. I very much disliked the dad, particularly his final antic.

Faulkner tends to write in a confusing manner and it feels like he does it to try and sound smart, almost contrived. I did not appreciate 15 different points of view. This added to some of the parts that left me puzzled throughout - saying "what?" "why are they saying that?" and "who is this?". In the end, the character who goes "off the deep end" felt too surprising. There were no hints, clues, or foreshadowing at all.

The youngest character was confusing as it was difficult to determine if he was a young teen who was quite off or a younger kid who was just a little bit off. "My mother is a fish." What? Is this how you're grieving? Are you just odd?

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Resources from TeachingBooks: 

Lesson Plan from Random House High School

Lesson Plan from EDSITEment