The Hamlet
William Faulkner
1940
Around 410 pages
No, not that Hamlet. This is THE Hamlet. As in, another Faulkner, another 400+ pages of tedious prose. Let's get this over with.
This novel felt vaguely familiar when I read it, but I realized it's because William Faulkner took from his previous stories to write this, and I had already had the displeasure of reading "Barn Burning." I guess he went to the Raymond Chandler school of writing fiction, where you just slap a novel together with your previous short stories. It helps if you can only write one type of story.
This is the story of the Snopes family, who live near the powerful Varner family. It's a pretty twisted bunch, including a mentally handicapped son who tries to fuck a cow. I hate this. Eula Varner also exists solely to be an object of male desire, which is truly a curse with this group. I don't like his style, his comedy falls flat, and he can't write women.
Some authors you just don't vibe with, and it is gets redundant to repeatedly knock them down. Of course, every once in awhile, they surprise you. But Faulkner hasn't surprised me yet.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
The movie The Long, Hot Summer, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, is very loosely based on stories by Faulkner, primarily The Hamlet.
Part of the Snopes Trilogy.
UP NEXT: Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf. Our last Woolf!
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