Light in August

by Michael Gallantz

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812035216
• ISBN13: 9780812035216
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 131 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.2" x 7.0"
• Grade Range: Grades 10 to 12

Customer Reviews

Amazing audio performance of a great book

None of the reviews of this edition have mentioned Dick Hill's performance. I've listened to many audio versions of fiction, and this is in a class by itself (approached only by Donal Donnely's version of "Portrait of the Artist"). For once the performer has character (and is a character) in himself, and also brings each character alive brilliantly. For some reason, other readers are one or the other: surprisingly many readers are good at character voices but their own "narrator" voices are as dull as your high school principal reading the new lunchroom policy. The well-known Frank Muller does the whole thing quite well but at a kind of TV level of acting. Some readers are just bad all around. Dick Hill's version drew me in right away and made me believe it. It's a work of art in its own right like a great theater performance.

The South rises

Nothing is ever simple in a Faulkner book. However plainly the people talk, however straightforward that the situations seem, there are layers and layers of things to dig through to find the ultimate truth, if indeed there is any. I've already read Sound and the Fury and as glorious as that book was, this novel absolutely captivated me. It's Faulkner's way with words, he's not flashy like some contemporary authors, preferring to slowly wind his way into your consciousness with his gift of writing. It's only as you read, maybe as you peruse a passage for the second time do you see the little details that you missed the first time out, the choice of a word here, the flow of a paragraph. And his characters, all beautifully drawn, with flaws and cracks and everything, but even the farthest gone of his lowlives has some pearl of wisdom to impart, his pillars all have dark secrets. In short they're just like his, if we lived in the South at the turn of the century. Faulkner captures it all, weaving his characters together with the skill of a master, no seams showing, everything seeming to happen naturally. Even when the story detours to tell someone's backstory, it seems to come at the perfect moment. If I sound a bit fawning, that's because this book deserves it, nothing puts together the picture of a time better than this, and as an aspiring writer I am in sincere awe of Faulkner's ability to reflect even the more complex of emotions with a word or a sentence. He has to be read to be believed and it definitely must be experienced. Just immerse yourself in a time and place thought long gone, that still lurks in the corners of people's thoughts and the traditions that never die.

Faulkner's Second-Most Decipherable Puzzle

Just when I thought the only Faulkner book I would ever remotely understand was his Sanctuary---along comes the serendipitous discovery of Light in August. It is a relatively straightforward journey into the lives of yet another cast of tragic Southern characters; a dark, mythic voyage into the subterannean caverns of their souls...or something like that. Faulkner truly does an impressive job of mining the psychological depths of his characters, often through the technique for which he's famous---Stream of Consciousness. If you've stumbled over Faulkner's difficult style in novels like As I Lay Dying and Intruders in the dust then this book, along with Sanctuary, is an excellent starting point. Grab a strong cup of coffee, make sure your reading light is bright, and good luck.

A great starting pont

Having read "As I Lay Dying" and "The Sound and the Fury," this is my favorite Faulkner novel. The writing is exceptional, but the "craft" that Faulkner practices is not as much an onstacle to be overcome as in the other two I have read. For that reason I found this a more accessible novel, and once inside, I was touched by the beauty and scope of this story. For those intimidated by Faulkner's reputation, then, I would recommend beginning with this challenging, yet ultimately rewarding, read.

A highbrow tear-jerker

Faulkner again proved himself a master of American literature with his tragic story of Joe Christmas, a truly unlucky and unloved fellow whose life of rejection has led him to make some truly unwise choices. Crafted in Faulkner's signature intellectual, sometimes verbose, style, this novel is an important examination of some major flaws in the typical American character. We all identify with the characters in this book.