Reading Faulkner is like doing a training. It's hard work, sometimes confusing, and there are times when you ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" It's funny and sad, painful and boring, and sometimes enough to make you want to throw up. But through it all, it's real: life stripped bare of its polite facade, revealing the passions that drive us all, rich or poor, black or white, old or young. And when you're done, if you've been willing to participate, your experience of life will be transformed.

Everything Faulkner writes is worth reading. My personal favorites are The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Light in August. But if you've never read Faulkner before, start with the collection of short stories entitled Go Down, Moses. You can get a taste of the power of Faulkner's language and the acuteness of his insight into the human condition with the story "Pantaloon in Black." While the story is short-about thirty pages-don't read it unless you're ready to be moved, even shaken. Faulkner elevates the rage over the death of a poor, uneducated sawmill-worker's wife into a cry of anguish at the unfairness of life. And you'll never forget. In some ways, it's a painful story to read, but, at the end, you'll be proud to be a human being.

Another reason to read Faulkner is his incredible mastery of the American language. He is the equal of Shakespeare or Homer in his pure ability to write. But be forewarned: Faulkner's style is unique and challenging. He pushes the English language past reality, generating sentences which do not seem possible. His words seem mixed and jumbled, yet somehow make perfect sense. For example, here's a sentence from "Pantaloon in Black" where the sawmill worker tries unsuccessfully to drink himself into oblivion: "He drank again, swallowing the chill liquid tamed of taste or heat while the swallowing lasted, feeling it flow solid and cold with fire, past then enveloping the strong steady panting of his lungs until they too ran suddenly free as his moving body ran in the silver solid wall of air he breasted."

If you're up for a challenge, read some Faulkner. You'll be richly rewarded. But keep in mind: you'll get out of it as much as you put in.

Review by Keith Bentz