William Faulkner

3 books

sort era

As I Lay Dying
Fifteen narrators take turns telling one grim, weirdly funny wagon trip to bury their mother, and you piece it together yourself, including a chapter that's just "My mother is a fish." Disorienting at first, but if you like doing some of the work, it pays off.
Soldiers’ Pay
Early Faulkner, before Yoknapatawpha, so it's rougher and more lyrical than you'd expect, but the story of Donald Mahon coming home scarred and half-alive while everyone around him decides what his return means still lands hard. Read it if you're curious how his voice started forming.
The Sound and the Fury
Fair warning, the first section drops you into Benjy's mind with no timeline and no hand-holding, and it feels like drowning until it suddenly doesn't. Push through and the Compsons' slow collapse, especially Quentin's day in Cambridge, will sit in your chest for years.

3 books

sort era

As I Lay Dying
Fifteen narrators take turns telling one grim, weirdly funny wagon trip to bury their mother, and you piece it together yourself, including a chapter that's just "My mother is a fish." Disorienting at first, but if you like doing some of the work, it pays off.
Soldiers’ Pay
Early Faulkner, before Yoknapatawpha, so it's rougher and more lyrical than you'd expect, but the story of Donald Mahon coming home scarred and half-alive while everyone around him decides what his return means still lands hard. Read it if you're curious how his voice started forming.
The Sound and the Fury
Fair warning, the first section drops you into Benjy's mind with no timeline and no hand-holding, and it feels like drowning until it suddenly doesn't. Push through and the Compsons' slow collapse, especially Quentin's day in Cambridge, will sit in your chest for years.