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Sanctuary
 
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Sanctuary (Paperback)

by William Faulkner (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Price: £9.50 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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  • This item: Sanctuary by William Faulkner

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Product details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage International Ed edition (1 Dec 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0679748148
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679748144
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13.4 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 104,637 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #3 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Faulkner, William

Product Description

Synopsis

An assortment of perverse characters act out this dramatic story of the kidnapping of a Mississippi debutante.

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Sanctuary
62% buy the item featured on this page:
Sanctuary 3.5 out of 5 stars (2)
£9.50
As I Lay Dying
17% buy
As I Lay Dying 4.1 out of 5 stars (12)
£5.38
The Sound and the Fury (Vintage Classics)
10% buy
The Sound and the Fury (Vintage Classics) 4.7 out of 5 stars (9)
£4.99
Light in August (Vintage Classics)
7% buy
Light in August (Vintage Classics) 3.8 out of 5 stars (4)
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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, 20 Jul 2008
By Mark Wallace (West of Ireland) - See all my reviews
Sanctuary was written by William Faulkner in 1931, purely for money, according to Faulkner himself. It came in the wake of the commercial failure of The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, and was markedly more popular, though much criticised for violence and immorality.
Sanctuary, unlike its predecessors, has a linear narrative which is easy to follow, for the most part. The plot is set in motion when rich kids Gowan Stevens and Temple Drake crash their car and seek help in a bootlegger's house, where they are given accomodation for the night.
This house is inhabited not only by the bootlegger Goodwin and his wife but also by various acquaintances of his including the shadowy and threatening Popeye. The scenario at this point is somewhat reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or other such movies. There is an atmosphere of simmering violence but the actual violence is never openly described.
Following the commission of a crime at the bootlegger's house, the focus widens to include local lawyer Horace Benbow, a mild and decent everyman who becomes involved in the case because he believes that the wrong man has been arrested( and the reader knows that he is correct in this) and possibly also because he has feelings for the defendant's wife. The action later moves to a brothel(the "sanctuary" of the title?) where members of the Snopes family, recurring characters in Faulkner, appear, and serve primarily as comic relief.
Overall this is a somewhat lurid and sensationalist tale, by 1930's standards, at least. The violence is not accompanied by any moral judgement by the author. As with most of Faulkner's books, he gives no clue as to where his sympathies lie; this is one of his great strengths, imo. This is a very readable book, suspenseful, sometimes funny, set in a dark, cruel and unsentimental world( most similar to Light in August). Though no masterpiece, this book is sure to appeal to all devotees of Faulkner and his particular worldview, and is also an accessible starting-point for those unfamiliar with this great writer.
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3.0 out of 5 stars A grim tale in the Deep South, 9 Oct 2009
The Penguin Classic cover states, 'no perceptive reader..will mistake it for a lurid narrative of violence'. Well, this review is being written by a non-perceptive reader.

A small gang of moonshiners live in the backwoods of Tennessee led by world weary Goodwin and his unnamed moll. A drunken young couple foolishly stray out of town to get more alcohol and despite warnings stay the night. For Temple, the teenage girl who is a wild-child way out of her depth, it becomes a nightmare culminating in rape and abduction by the emotionally disturbed gangster Popeye.

Temple is transferred to a brothel in Memphis run by the outrageous Miss Reba while Popeye acts as pimp and indulges in some disturbing sexual deviance. Quite how this got past the censors in 1931 is baffling. Goodwin discovers that another one of his gang has been killed when Popeye left and having reported the crime is wrongly arrested.

The core story then interlinks the search by small town lawyer Horace Benbow for Temple, as the only witness who can save Goodwin from the Chair, with Benbow's own covetous feelings for the gangster's wife. Benbow is central to the novel as he does what is 'right' in the face of prejudice but there are countless more convincing candidates for this role in American literature.

Faulkner's style can sometimes be difficult and he has an obsession with the words 'whirling' and 'whirled'. There are a couple of amusing scenes both revolving around the brothel but this is a dark unremitting tale.

This is not Nobel Prize-winning stuff. There is a 'rumour' that Faulkner deliberately courted publicity with this racy, violent pot-boiler for his later better-known works. Whether the 'rumour' is true or not, on this evidence I could well believe it.
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