‘As I Lay Dying’ an apt title

I started reading William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” more than a week ago. I would consider myself a pretty fast reader, so a novel with fewer than 300 pages should have been a two- or three-day endeavor for me. However, since I had to keep reading and rereading chapters in an attempt to make sense of them, it took me more than a week to get to the middle of the book.\nI know many people consider this book a classic work of American literature. So, if you are one of those people, please e-mail me, Facebook me or give me a call. Just let me know why this book somehow got onto so many recommended reading lists.\nThe book takes place, as far as I can tell, in the post-Great Depression United States. It follows the journey of one family to bury its recently deceased matriarch in her hometown. According to the book jacket, it is supposed to be a dark comedy, but I saw nothing funny in its morbidity.\nIts main problem, however, lies in its organization. Each chapter is told by a different character, and it is difficult to distinguish between characters who are family and those who are neighbors. The characters jump back and forth in time without warning, and the plotline is barely discernible.\nFaulkner uses a Southern, backwoods dialect to color the words of his characters, but their obvious lack of education hinders their ability to tell a coherent story. I had to read the book three times to understand what was going on, and I still have no idea how many people are actually in the family.\nThe good news is that the novel has beautiful prose, and this, along with its unique organization, might be responsible for its good reputation. Still, I did not find its redeeming qualities strong enough to overpower my disappointment at not being able to understand the plot. An introductory note or just some clarification from one of the characters would have made the novel a much better read for me.