The Town by William Faulkner

For the first time I have perceived a Faulkner novel to be a shade less than perfect. This middle volume of The Snopes Trilogy continues the story of the rise of the shrewd and ruthless Flem Snopes into a position of importance in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi, in the early part of the 20th Century, though it is more concerned with the stories of his wife Eula and his supposed daughter Linda. In contrast to the first book of the Trilogy, The Hamlet, which was grotesquely humorous, often bordering on farce and parody, most of The Town is a doom-laden tragedy of near-mythical proportions. The inclusion of a couple of farcical incidents, particularly the mules in the yard episode, just don't seem to fit the overall tone, to my way of thinking. I wish Faulkner had ended the book with this impressive quote: "She loved, had a capacity for love, to give and accept love. Only she tried twice and failed twice to find somebody not just strong enough to deserve, earn it, match it, but even brave enough to accept it."

However, for me to criticize Faulkner is about equivalent to a grain of sand critiquing the ocean waves.