Today I finished reading The Snopes Trilogy: The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion. It seems like a fair number of people don’t think this trilogy is all that good. I can understand that—the quality of the storytelling can be inconsistent in parts (especially in the third book). However, I still enjoyed it and would recommend reading it if you’re the kind of person who likes Faulker’s writing style.
One of the things I liked most about this trilogy is the three-narrator format. It makes the story just a little bit disjointed and you have to do some work to piece it together.
Also, over the course of three books, you feel like you REALLY get to know the narrators and the other people in their lives. I don’t know about you all, but I came to pity Gavin. He got so trapped in Eula’s gravitational pull that he couldn’t even escape her daughter, let alone his memory of Eula. Meanwhile, V.K. was always there. Thinking, deducing, and talking (and talking and talking). What a fun character who I adore and am really going to miss having in my life. Finally, Flem. I rather enjoyed that we never got to peak inside his brain and see how he actually thought. He was this malevolent force out there in the world that happened to people. Flem was like a fire—he just consumed, there didn’t seem to be any humanity there. But I have to say, as someone who didn’t grow up with money, I kind of understood Flem. He was poor growing up, and he didn’t want to be poor anymore. He could do a few things well, and he used those things to his full advantage, regardless of who he hurt or whether or not he would ever be accepted at the top rung of society where his wealth should have placed him. If I pity Gavin for being too human, I pity Flem for being not human enough.
Finally, I loved how I learned just a little bit more about this world that Faulkner has created in his many books. I know more about Jefferson than I do about most of the towns where I have lived!
Does anyone know of any stories like this that I can run to now that my time with this one is finally done?
by NettDogg