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guppyur's review against another edition
2.0
Very mixed feelings about this one.
It took me four months to the day to get through this. It was never bad, per se; I got to 70% complete fairly quickly, and then stalled out for a good long time. I have a rule for myself that I'm allowed to quit a book partway through if I find I'm not going back to read it and I'm just not feeling any drive to, but I *did* want to finish this. Just not enough to, you know, do it.
This is something of a Southern Gothic classic, the debut novel by the author of Sophie's Choice, and concerns itself with the gradual, tragic implosion of a southern Virginia family. It starts out readable enough, but as the family becomes increasingly in disarray, so did the prose. Dialogue especially often felt unnatural to me.
There are precious few sympathetic characters, which probably accounts for the difficulty I had getting through. I found myself increasingly misanthropic as I progressed through, but mostly just felt bad for the whole family.
The highlight of the book, so to speak, is the section at nearly the very end, told from Peyton's perspective. That is, it's the best written passage in the book, not that it's a pleasant experience. It's so crushingly depressing it was hard to get through -- heartbreaking, brilliantly awful stuff.
I don't know that I can say I recommend this one. It's at its best when it's at its worst.
It took me four months to the day to get through this. It was never bad, per se; I got to 70% complete fairly quickly, and then stalled out for a good long time. I have a rule for myself that I'm allowed to quit a book partway through if I find I'm not going back to read it and I'm just not feeling any drive to, but I *did* want to finish this. Just not enough to, you know, do it.
This is something of a Southern Gothic classic, the debut novel by the author of Sophie's Choice, and concerns itself with the gradual, tragic implosion of a southern Virginia family. It starts out readable enough, but as the family becomes increasingly in disarray, so did the prose. Dialogue especially often felt unnatural to me.
There are precious few sympathetic characters, which probably accounts for the difficulty I had getting through. I found myself increasingly misanthropic as I progressed through, but mostly just felt bad for the whole family.
The highlight of the book, so to speak, is the section at nearly the very end, told from Peyton's perspective. That is, it's the best written passage in the book, not that it's a pleasant experience. It's so crushingly depressing it was hard to get through -- heartbreaking, brilliantly awful stuff.
I don't know that I can say I recommend this one. It's at its best when it's at its worst.
abbeyhar103's review against another edition
3.0
This could have been a novella, Styron kinda beats everybody over the head with the story, and the repetitiveness of some of the themes. Some parts were very moving and most of it was well written, but you could tell twere his first book.
komoderr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s dated, for sure. It also moves at the slowest snail’s pace. It’s incredible how slow-moving this book is. I really had to drag myself through it. There were so many wasted pages of descriptions of places, sounds, random things happening with no real significance other than to signal, “Hey, look, things are real in this world, and random things randomly happen sometimes.” When Styron was saying something of substance, however, I thought it was really beautiful. I didn’t even really understand what the book was truly about until about 70% of the way through, and then it clicked, like a true a-ha moment. I would recommend this book to attentive readers who really want to be drawn into the smallest details of a world on the page. For me, not my cup of tea. I did enjoy this book though. The characters are incredibly flawed. Their actions are stark, irreversible, and damning, CONSTANTLY. One awful thing after the other. Any semblance of happiness is mired in ironic despair. It’s gut-wrenching. When this book is gut-wrenching, it’s at its apex. When this book is describing the tiniest thing, it’s tangential at best and snooze-worthy at worst. It’s a mixed bag that comes out just alright in the end.
deegee24's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very rare thing: an over-the-top melodrama that rises to the status of art. It's not really Southern Gothic in the manner of Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor--it's closer in style to Douglas Sirk's film Written on the Wind, another classic American melodrama from the 1950s. If it weren't for Styron's dated racial stereotypes, I think this would rank among my all-time favorite American novels.
growlcat's review against another edition
2.0
Tedious. Persevered through 300 plus pages but gave up when Peyton went mad. So many (too many) pages of abstract wanderings. Really doubt that I'll read any of his others after this.
lavenderbiscotti's review against another edition
3.0
Classic works are debated among many, everyone has varying opinions. I was truly looking forward to this book, so many had praised it. However, it wasn't a consistently enthralling journey. There were parts that had my intention in a strong grip and other parts, I struggled with finishing the paragraph. I enjoy books that are written poetically, paragraphs that linger down the length of the page with elaborate descriptions... But some of these were far too much for my tastes. It's a well-written story, each of their characters have a development and a heartache all their own.
mslaura's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Suicide and Alcohol
dandreamelissa's review against another edition
5.0
Lie Down In Darkness is a very dark book. Well written but it is very hard to find any redeeming qualities in its characters, especially Helen.
What I would like to know is if the author was intentionally being racist in his description of African American characters, or if he actually had racist feelings.
What I would like to know is if the author was intentionally being racist in his description of African American characters, or if he actually had racist feelings.