A Tale of three Kings: A Study in Brokenness

Book Description

Those facing the pain and brokenness that result from unfair treatment by other believers will be encouraged by this powerful story of David, Saul, and Absalom.

Customer Reviews:

A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness.......2007-09-05

After living life for many years this book even makes more sense about the necessity of self being broken in order to be the obedient instrument God uses to accomplish His will. We pray "in Jesus name". If we believe this is proper, then the pecking order about all things belonging to the Father show we are only renters here which can easily be recognized from the attitudes of God's anointed that Edwards describes. A valuable plus by growing this insight can impact your own life with a deeper understanding of the acceptable approach to God. After reading this study it can make you more cognizant how to be a better follower of Christ, releasing us of perceived obligations that actually belongs to God alone. Our only job is to love God and do His will, anything else is vanity.

Been thorugh at lot a church.......2007-08-05

This book is an excellent book for any one that has ever been hurt through a church experience. If you have been involved in a church break up, youth pastor or asst pastor leaving, or have set under a "spear throwing " Pastor ( if you read the book you will understand). Get this book. If you work closely, to the Pastor get the book. if you will ever become a Pastor get the book. I read the entire book in one day. It is a real easy read.

Must-read for anyone who wants to understand leadership and authority better.......2007-07-26

This book is a revelation: very insightful and challenging, but incredibly easy to read. You'll be amazed at how easily Edwards can rock your world. I particularly recommend it to anyone who aspires to Christian leadership and, even more so, to anyone who has been burned by Christian leaders before. I first read this book coming out of a difficult situation on the mission field and this book really helped me to understand God's perspective on spiritual authority, service, humility and his own will. Actually, I wish every Christian would read it. It'll take you a few hours at most I'd guess.

very healing and touching book.......2007-07-05

I read this book when a friend gave it to me as a gift. The insight through the three kings' lives was very new for me. And every page takes you step by step to the healing process, helps you see the healing throughout the scars of Biblical characters... If you know someone hurt, offer this book to that person...

Elucidating truths about King David's life.......2007-04-08

A Tale of Three Kings contains helpful information about how we can thrive in spite of being under the leadership of someone who abuses authority. Succinct and easy to read. Powerful.

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A Fourteen Way Of Looking At A Blackbird
Absalom, Absalom
Unreliable Narrators, Dated Anxieties, An Empire Collapses
It is a masterpiece, though not easy to understand.
Like 10,000 cheese cakes

Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679732187
Release Date: 1991-01-30

Book Description

The story of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness. He was a man, Faulkner said, "who wanted sons and the sons destroyed him."

Customer Reviews:

A Fourteen Way Of Looking At A Blackbird.......2007-04-17

This is a dark, convoluted, complex novel written in a stream of consciousness text that can easily confuse and scare the casual reader away. For the serious reader who is willing to put the time and effort into this work of art you will not be let down. First, however, you must read The Sound and the Fury (SAF). If you work your way through that novel and you "get it" and love it, then Absalom is a absolute must. But be prepared. T.S. Eliot once said of the book that it communicates before it is understood. Typical Faulkner. It takes some fortitude and a little background. Let me help with a little background. For starters, The title comes from an the Old Testament (2 Samuel 13). Absalom, one of David's sons kills his brother Amnon for raping their sister Tamar. Hence the title and a clue. The book is full of clues and in a sense can be taken by the reader as detective story full of mystery and revenge, suspense and gothic drama. This is the story of Southern tradgedy and the fall of the House of Sutpen. The central character is Thomas Sutpen who is the fountainhead of the southern, self-reliant man seeking to reach the American dream through creating a grand design of dynasty. To pass his dynasty on to his eldest legitimate son is part of the design and part its downfall. The story takes place before, during, and after the Civil War and issues such as race, miscegenation, class, economy, worker's rights, women's rights are all spun into the story that is a portrait of Southern realism. The story is told by four narrators: Quentin Compson (from SAF), Quentin's father, Quentin's roomate Shreve, and Miss Rosa Coldfield. Quentin however is the central narrator and by reading SAF one can better understand the issues facing Quentin and the reason he struggles so much with this story. Absalom is very much the story of Quentin's hatred for the bad qualities in the southern country that he loves. Much of the story as told by Quentin and Shreve is purely imaginative construction of what could have been as they speculate on the enigmatic drama that unfolds. In the back of the book is a genealogy and chronology which is extremely helpful as the story often jumps from one time period to another and from one character to another. Work on keeping it straight and reread if necessary. The book doesn't get any easier as it moves toward the conclusion. Do trust Faulkner. If you pay attention, he pulls it together and you will discover why this novel is, in my opinion, the greatest American novel of the 20th century.

Absalom, Absalom.......2007-04-10

Absalom, Abasalom is high Faulkner. It looks into the themes that he usually covers: the South and racism and other types of evil and abnormality. The method of exposition is one Faulkner used before in The Sound and the Fury, but here Faulkner's use of multiple points of view and the stream of consciousness technique attains a more highly developed, indeed baroque, level. Faulkner drops the relevant details of the plot into the stream, usually with no great fanfare, so this book must be read closely even to understand the basic information of who did what. Discerning these details involves reading a lot of sentences like the following one and, occasionally, encountering a valuable clue:

"Or perhaps it is no lack of courage either: not cowardice that will not face that sickness somewhere at the prime foundation of this factual scheme from which the prisoner soul, miasmal-distillant, wroils ever upward sunward, tugs its tenuous prisoner arteries and veins and prisoning in its turn that spark, that dream which, as the globy and complete instant of its freedom mirrors and repeats (repeats? creates, reduces to a fragile evanescent iridescent sphere) all of space and time and massy earth, relicts the seething and miasmal mass which in all years of time has taught itself no boon of death but only how to recreate, renew; and dies, is gone, vanished: nothing- but is that true wisdom which can comprehend that there is a might-have-been which is more than truth, from which the dreamer, waking, says not `Did I dream?' but rather says, indicts high heaven's very self with `Why did I wake since waking I shall never sleep again?'"

This novel is art, even great art, but is it a good read? In my opinion, no. This is a book that really must be studied rather than read, preferably with pencil and paper at hand to keep track of the relationships between the characters. (Faulkner helpfully ends the book with a chronology and a list of characters. I discovered this too late and at any rate the chronology is not complete.) For me, the effort required to get through this book somewhat outweighed the rewards. Doubtless other readers would disagree.

Unreliable Narrators, Dated Anxieties, An Empire Collapses.......2007-03-05

ABSALOM, ABSOLOM! tells two intertwined stories. The first is the story of Thomas Sutpen, born a poor white in West Virginia, who creates a great estate through sheer determination and eventually becomes an elite in the Antebellum South. Through Sutpen, Faulkner once again explores the quest for money and respectability in the rich imaginary world of Yoknapatawpha County.

The second braid of this story is slavery and its historical repercussions. In this case, Sutpen, a slave owner and plantation master, fathers two mixed race children. Ultimately, it is Sutpen's unwillingness to treat a son with "black blood" as a man and equal that destroys what he has achieved. This son is the Absalom of the title.

To tell this story and explore these themes, Faulkner creates a series of unreliable narrators who have exaggerated views of Sutpen. One is Miss Rosa, who is outraged by his sexual unscrupulousness, as well as his ability to pull an empire from the wilderness. (Her own devout Methodist father was a failed businessman.)

Then, there are the highly rhetorical Mr. Compson and Shreve. Both of these narrators approach Sutpen with amazed and fascinated speculation. A modern parallel to their voices might be celebrity interviewers who wait outside the theater at the Oscars, savoring every detail about the stars. But if you don't share their obsession? Then, their hyper focus and passionate conjecture simply seem weird, and not a little pathetic.

For me, the amazed and obsessive speculation of these voices seemed out of proportion to the faults and actions of Thomas Sutpen. I think, in part, this shows that Faulkner's theme--race, miscegenation, and its historical consequences--are no longer viewed as cataclysmic threats to American society. This is a great and positive change from the Jim Crow climate in Oxford Mississippi in the 1930s, when Faulkner wrote and where defeated Confederate soldiers and freed slaves still lived.

This is not to say that we've become a race-blind society. But the concerns that animate Mr. Compson and Shreve--Interracial sex! We'll all have black ancestors in a thousand years!--no longer brew that muddled hysteria that energizes their narrative voices, especially that of Shreve.

In my opinion, this challenging book is Faulkner-for-professors. I still prefer THE HAMLET.

It is a masterpiece, though not easy to understand........2006-12-23

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. I "read" this book the first time in college in 1972. I recently reread the book after several attempts. The length of the sentences at first overwhelmed me. The first sentence in the book was 70 plus words long. It is a masterpiece. It is both troubling and satisfying. The level of literary intensity and imagination is extraordinary. Faulkner's gives a great look into the depths of the human heart. This is not an easy book to read and understand. The book teaches much on love. It also teaches much on hate. You see much about the racial struggle of that period. You also get an interesting view into the old southern United States. This book is not for everyone. It requires a great love of reading and concentration. If you read the Nobel and Pulitzer winners, this is a must read.

Reviewed and read by Jimmie A. Kepler.

Like 10,000 cheese cakes.......2006-12-07

Every sentence in this book is like a baroquely and exhaustively decorated slice of magically fortified cheesecake-Cheesecake so excruciatingly rich as to be nigh inedible (so rich in fact that it is inevitable that a slice must be regurgitated and re-eaten(often regurgitated and re-eaten, gagging, multiple times)-accounting for the bitter and bilous taste in the occasional one or two star bestowing readers mouth and review) but if you can stomach it- to stomach often necessitating that the reader push themself away from the table-also powerfully nourishing so that by the time you finish the book it is as though you have somehow eaten the titular ten thousand cheese cakes and are therefore full beyond comprehension but satisfied beyond comparison.

William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

Average customer rating:

Very good if you like this sort of thing...

William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195154789

Book Description

Absalom, Absalom! has long been seen as one of William Faulkner's supreme creations, as well as one of the leading American novels of the twentieth century. In this collection Fred Hobson has brought together eight of the most stimulating essays on Absalom, essays written over a thirty-year span which approach the novel both formally and historically. Here are critical responses by Cleanth Brooks, John Irwin, Thadious Davis, and Eric Sundquist, as well as four essays published in the last decade. The casebook concludes with Faulkner's own remarks on the novel, delivered in a discussion with students at the University of Virginia. What emerges from all the selections is a rich and suggestive treatment of a work which Faulkner himself called "the best novel yet written by an American" and a less biased critic has called "the greatest American novel of the century... joining Moby-Dick and Huckleberry Finn at the pinnacle of American fiction."

Customer Reviews:

Very good if you like this sort of thing..........2007-05-07

I told my duaghter that I finished a great book, "Absalom, Absalom", and that now I was going to read a book ABOUT that book. She gave me a look, as if she never heard of anything so strange.

For literary scholars and the academic community, I'm sure this line of thinking is naive, but for many readers, a book of critcal analysis is just wierd, nerdy, or painfully boring. Well, I like reading about great books once I've read them, and I find that I get much more out of the experience. I've done this for War and Peace, Brothers Karamzov, and many others and I'm very glad I did.

It can be slow going at times, for sure, but some of the information is very brisk and enlightening, and the historical background context provided is very interesting. Another amusement for me is how "academic" and "preposterous" some of the anaysis can be; I think some of the critics are really reaching! This book is on par with the best of the ones that I have read. If you enjoy this sort of thing and have read Absalom, Absalom, I think you'd do well to check this one out.

William Faulkner : Novels 1936-1940 : Absalom, Absalom! / The Unvanquished / If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem / The Hamlet (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

Great Value on Faulkner
great deal

William Faulkner : Novels 1936-1940 : Absalom, Absalom! / The Unvanquished / If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem / The Hamlet (Library of America)
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450550

Book Description

These four novels show one of America's greatest writers at the height of his powers. Presented in authoritative new texts, they explore the struggles of characters in a South caught between a romantic and a tragic past and the corrupting enticements of the present. Quentin Compson and his Harvard roomate re-create the story of the insanely ambitious patriarch Thomas Sutpen--and discover that his grief, pride, and doom are the inescapable legacy of a past that is not dead. "The Unvanquished" recounts the ordeals and triumphs of the Sartoris family during and after the Civil War. In "If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem" (first published as "The Wild Palms"), paired stories tell of desperate lovers and a fleeing convict. In "The Hamlet," the outrageous scheming energy of Flem Snopes and his clan is vividly and hilariously juxtaposed with the fragile community and customs of Frenchman's bend, Mississippi.

Customer Reviews:

Great Value on Faulkner.......2005-08-17

I agree with the previous review: Faulkner is an acquired taste. However, if you like his work and want to own some of his greatest novels without breaking the bank, this book fills the bill. It's a high-quality book. It's bound well, the paper stock is not flimsy and it holds up to reading after reading. I received mine as a graduation gift in 1997. Since then it's been read by me, some friends, family members and coworkers and it shows little wear.

These are some of Faulkner's greatest works. To own them under one cover for this price? You won't find a better deal.

great deal.......2003-08-21

You probably either love Faulkner's work or you hate it. If you hate it I won't argue with you. There are good reasons why you might not like his work (talk about acquired tastes). If you love him then you can't really find a much better deal than this book. "Absalom, Absalom," "If I Forget Thee Oh Jerusalem," and "The Hamlet" are some of his best work and you can get this book, which is a nice little volume in about every way, for about 2/3 of what you'd pay to get them seperately as paperbacks. I'm not overly impressed by what I've read of "The Unvanquished," and scholars seem to share my opinion, but with works as good as the other three I think a little filler is okay.

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Master of the 'short story'
This book is a Keeper

Absalom's Mother and Other Stories
Louise Marley
Manufacturer: Fairwood Press, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0978907833

Book Description

Louise Marley's first collection includes ten science fiction and fantasy stories, most with a feminist take. Due to Marley's background as a concert opera singer, many stories have music at their heart.

Customer Reviews:

Master of the 'short story'.......2007-07-03

I have been reading Louise Marley's books from the beginning of her career as a writer and have enjoyed all of them, however, I was really blown away by this compilation of 'short stories'. They say that the 'short story' is difficult to master but Ms Marley does a fanstastic job. It's all there...the intrigue, the character building, the sensitivity, the interesting story line. I could not put this book down!! And every story is different. If you read it, you won't be disappointed!

Judy Campbell
Newport, Wa

This book is a Keeper.......2007-05-31

Each story in this collection is a gem. The stories inspire or amuse as the characters capture the imagination. It is a wonderful collection and will invite reading again and again. This is one of Louise Marleys best.

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Faulkner Does it Again.

Absalom. Absalom! by William Faulkner
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Modern Library college Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: B000BI3NZA

Customer Reviews:

Faulkner Does it Again........2007-08-23

Though Faulkner has an impeccable writing style and can tell a story like no other, I have found this story to be in the shadows of other more well known novels by him. Perhaps for a simple reason; I am not a Faulkner Fanatic. However, enjoyers of Faulkner and of great American literature alike will find this book to be a good (but hard!) read.

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Absalom, Absalom! (Cliffs Notes)
James L. Roberts
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822001101

Book Description

Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner wrote about the conflicts of the human heart. In this book, the reader follows protagonist Henry Sutpen through the vast array of moral and psychological choices that humans encounter in the problematic modern world. This epic story elevated Faulkner to literary giant status.

Download Description

Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner wrote about the conflicts of the human heart.

In this book, the reader follows protagonist Henry Sutpen through the vast array of moral and psychological choices that humans encounter in the problematic modern world.

This epic story elevated Faulkner to literary giant status.

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Absalom Grimes, Confederate mail runner
Absalom Carlisle Grimes
Manufacturer: Two Trails Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0008CGW3E

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Where is Anne Armstrong Thompson Now?

Message From Absalom
Anne Armstrong Thompson
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671803018

Customer Reviews:

Where is Anne Armstrong Thompson Now?.......2000-01-05

If anyone knows what has happened to this author, please post a notice. I read all three of her books years ago and they are definite keepers, they are fabulous, kept me on the edge of my seat and I've always hoped for more.

William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Average customer rating:

helpful

William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Manufacturer: Chelsea House Pub (L)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 1555460399

Customer Reviews:

helpful.......2004-04-08

Enlarged and reinforced my appreciation of "Absalom, Absalom!". However, it also raised some unanswered questions. Why is Sutpen so abhorred at the taint of black blood in his line? Presumably all he wants is the big plantation, money, power, wealth. And Faulkner indicates he was raised in West Virginia with no prejudice against blacks, in a slaveless world. He of all people should stand outside this. Yet we first see him with blacks as his property.

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