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kwonset's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jlefevers's review against another edition
4.0
“Yes, he thought, between grief and nothing I will take grief.”
This book told two stories, and though they never intertwined, they ran parallel to each other and reflected off each other beautifully.
The first story was the haunting and heartbreaking tale of a man and a woman who learn first hand the consequences of giving in to the world, but also the consequences of rebelling against it. This isn’t a love story, but it is a story about love, its depths and crevices that most of us choose to ignore.
The second story was about a prisoner sent down the Mississippi river to save a pregnant woman during a flood. This story confused me and a lot of the themes were lost in his storytelling. Though the descriptions of his battles against nature were outstanding.
The first story overwhelmed me with so many feelings, it was beautifully told and I think it saved this book for me.
Minus one star for Faulkner’s typical sentence structure that made this novel so slow to read.
This book told two stories, and though they never intertwined, they ran parallel to each other and reflected off each other beautifully.
The first story was the haunting and heartbreaking tale of a man and a woman who learn first hand the consequences of giving in to the world, but also the consequences of rebelling against it. This isn’t a love story, but it is a story about love, its depths and crevices that most of us choose to ignore.
The second story was about a prisoner sent down the Mississippi river to save a pregnant woman during a flood. This story confused me and a lot of the themes were lost in his storytelling. Though the descriptions of his battles against nature were outstanding.
The first story overwhelmed me with so many feelings, it was beautifully told and I think it saved this book for me.
Minus one star for Faulkner’s typical sentence structure that made this novel so slow to read.
jamesdanielhorn's review against another edition
4.0
If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem, or as it was alternately titled The Wild Palms, serves as my introduction to Faulkner’s rich, but divisively verbose prose.
Two alternating stories interwoven by theme(?) alone this novel, while arresting in imagery and opulent wordplay, may not be his most masterful, as it sporadically lost its thread. Although I found the writing occasionally meandering and a tad melodramatic at times, the book’s overall tragic beauty will haunt me for some time. Surely a master at work but is it his best? I digress.
Two alternating stories interwoven by theme(?) alone this novel, while arresting in imagery and opulent wordplay, may not be his most masterful, as it sporadically lost its thread. Although I found the writing occasionally meandering and a tad melodramatic at times, the book’s overall tragic beauty will haunt me for some time. Surely a master at work but is it his best? I digress.
joyful24's review against another edition
3.0
the counterpoint and balance of the concurrent storylines left me wandering. it successfully distracted me from the star crossed lovers resolution that was sort of contrived. never the less the prose was so eloquently written that i did not mind.
willowsfair's review against another edition
5.0
Probably one of the books that has influenced my own writing the most. Amazing literary piece that haunts you long after you've closed the cover and walked away.
ichirofakename's review against another edition
4.0
Reread this pair of stories because of the weather. One story takes place during the 1927 Mississippi flood, when the river was 60 miles wide. Exciting. The other is a young couple on the run trying to figure out life, unsuccessfully. Depressing. Recommended; excellent gateway to Faulkner. Get ready for som LONG sentences, and don't expect many commas.
saralynnburnett's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed Faulkner’s The Wild Palms more than I thought I would! Between the two narratives in this bifurcated novel I was so there for ‘Old Man’ in which the Great Flood of 1927 is portrayed through an escaped convict in a small boat with a pregnant woman. If you want a shocking/not shocking (because America) rabbit hole of historical information. google a timeline of the flood and then consider the injustices of Hurricane Katrina a near mirror of it. Also: the prison industrial complex / forced free labor by inmates that is still occurring today (who do you think is packing all that hand sanitizer right now and washing hospital gowns?)
Jesmyn Ward once said on reading Faulkner: “I was so awed I wanted to give up. I thought, ‘He’s done it, perfectly. Why the hell am I trying?’ But the failures of some of his black characters—the lack of imaginative vision regarding them, the way they don’t display the full range of human emotion, how they fail to live fully on the page—work against that awe and goad me to write.”
I love that, that literature speaks to each through the ages whether in correction or admiration. Reminds of how Land of Love and Drowning was in part Tiphanie Yanique’s answer to the portray of the Virgin Islands seen in Don’t Stop the Carnival.
Jesmyn Ward once said on reading Faulkner: “I was so awed I wanted to give up. I thought, ‘He’s done it, perfectly. Why the hell am I trying?’ But the failures of some of his black characters—the lack of imaginative vision regarding them, the way they don’t display the full range of human emotion, how they fail to live fully on the page—work against that awe and goad me to write.”
I love that, that literature speaks to each through the ages whether in correction or admiration. Reminds of how Land of Love and Drowning was in part Tiphanie Yanique’s answer to the portray of the Virgin Islands seen in Don’t Stop the Carnival.
tamyans's review
challenging
emotional
funny
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
nikiforova's review against another edition
3.0
I am conflicted about this one, hence 3 stars.
I picked it up because it was mentioned in Godard's film A bout de souffle, where a female character quotes the famous lines: “Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.”
These words are from "Wild Palms", which makes a half of the novel. It tells a story of two lovers who gave up everything to be together. Although the premise given in the first chapter was quite intriguing, I really didn't care much for this story.
What I did love was how Faulkner describes the character vs. nature conflict. The freezing Utah mountains, wild palms shaken by the tail of the hurricane, smell of the sea. And of course the great Mississipi river flood of 1927 described in the second novel of the book "Old Man". It is beautifully-written (I did have to use dictionary a lot though!). Definitely going to re-read.
I picked it up because it was mentioned in Godard's film A bout de souffle, where a female character quotes the famous lines: “Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.”
These words are from "Wild Palms", which makes a half of the novel. It tells a story of two lovers who gave up everything to be together. Although the premise given in the first chapter was quite intriguing, I really didn't care much for this story.
What I did love was how Faulkner describes the character vs. nature conflict. The freezing Utah mountains, wild palms shaken by the tail of the hurricane, smell of the sea. And of course the great Mississipi river flood of 1927 described in the second novel of the book "Old Man". It is beautifully-written (I did have to use dictionary a lot though!). Definitely going to re-read.