Sanctuary

De: William Faulkner

Narrado por: Stephen Hoye

Rediscover this Faulkner classic--or explore it for the first time.


A powerful novel examining the nature of evil, informed by the works of T. S. Eliot and Freud, mythology, local lore, and hard-boiled detective fiction, Sanctuary is the dark, at times brutal, story of the kidnapping of Mississippi debutante Temple Drake, who introduces her own form of venality into Memphis underworld where she is being held.

Irony of the Old South

Faulkner is the bard of the post Civil War South. No one can weave a tale like him. Possibly Americas greatest.

Sanctuary

Took me 3 weeks--read alone leisurely w novel shall reread again. Love Faulkner. Xo Xo

Deceptively brilliant.

I feel like its narrative structure inspired Pulp Fiction. I found the first third of the book a little slow. and annoying. During the second third I started to think "This is pretty good and there is a lot more going on under the surface than first meets the eye. In the midst of the last third it hits you in the face that this book is not only brilliantly constructed, but very innovative narratively considering when it was first published. Its a dark, mean, deep and amazing novel. I loved it and recommended it highly.

Loved the reader!

Where does Sanctuary rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A memorable listening experience. I found myself rewinding and listening repeatedly to passages. The prose is so rich that with each re-listen, more details emerge.

What other book might you compare Sanctuary to and why?

I have also listened to and loved Absalom, Absalom!, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in August. I preferred Sanctuary to Light in August, but do not consider Sanctuary as brilliant as Absalom or Sound.

What does Stephen Hoye bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I must disagree with fellow readers who did not like Hoye's interpretations of the book's many Southern dialects. Hoye's voice sounds very similar to Faulkner's own inflections as heard in his Nobel speech. I also thought Hoye brought realism and authenticity to the range of voices in the novel which span the social classes--from the Memphis Madam, Miss Reba, to Horace Benbow's gentrified drawl, to the hillbilly twang of the bootleggers

Terrific.

This a relatively overlooked masterpiece. Supposedly more "commercial" than many of his later works, Faulkner tells a chilling story.