Brain Spill Book Review #11

As I Lay Dying

By William Faulkner

Setting

This book takes place near Jefferson, Missouri before or during 1930.

Summary

Addie Bundren, the mother of the Bundren family, dies, but her final wish was to be buried over the river in the city of Jefferson. Her family builds her a coffin and starts to transport her to Jefferson, but along the way, they run into many difficulties, including broken bridges, broken legs, burning barns, and dead mules.

Characters

Darl

Darl is the second child of Addie and Anse Bundren. He is also, in my opinion, the main narrator of the book, though there are fifteen. People talk about him because he is a bit different, but he seems to be more level headed than most. He does do some strange things, though. For example, he set a barn on fire.

Anse Bundren

Anse is the father of the Bundren family. He is known for trying to find the way to finish a job with the least amount of work, but he promised Addie that he would bury her in Jefferson, so he won't accept any alternative plan. He tends to mumble to himself a lot and doesn't accept help from anybody when he is in need of some.

Jewel

Jewel is the third son of Anse and Addie. He has a horse that he worked to get and is so obsessed with the horse that Darl says that Jewel's mother was a horse. He likes to yell and cuss at people and is one of the more annoying characters.

Cash

Cash is the oldest son of the Bundrens. He is a good carpenter, but like his father, Cash tries to do things the easy way. He does, however, work hard on his mother's coffin. His role is as the narrator when other people  are doing things more important.

Dewey Dell

Dewey Dell is the daughter of Anse and Addie. She is a caring sister. A bit too caring, though. By the end of the book, it becomes obvious that she is pregnant, but then the book ends, and nobody important knows she is pregnant and nothing happens about that.

Vernon Tull

Tull is the neighbor of the Bundrens, and tries to help them all the time, but every time he does, Anse turns him away.

Vardaman

Vardaman is the youngest Bundren brother. His is a bit crazy and thinks that his mother is not the dead lady in the coffin, but the fish he caught and cut up earlier that day. He doesn't really do anything else in the book than say that his mother is a fish.

Addie Bundren

She is a dead person, but for some reason, she is still able to narrate part of the book.

Conlusion

Very little happens in the book and what does happen is not interesting. All the characters are annoying and make stupid decisions. 3 out of 11 waffles.