Sanctuary
- Jun 2, 2017
- 2 min read
★★★★☆
I haven’t read enough William Faulkner to say whether Sanctuary is the best of all possible entry points. Back in school, I read some of his short stories, and it’s probably been almost twenty years since I read As I Lay Dying, which I loved. Looking back, I know I hadn’t read enough of any of them to have come to this conclusion, but of the “Great American Writers,” I had determined Faulkner was my favorite. Well, that’s youth for you. But that I hadn’t read him in nearly two decades says something about how we treat the ones we love: we take them for granted, knowing they’ll always be there whenever we’re ready for them, whenever we need them. Until they’re not. I guess I’m not really talking about Faulkner anymore, am I? Shit. I miss you, mom.
Call it a potboiler, call it noir, call it sensationalist—Call it “Southernsploitation” if you like—but Sanctuary is both emotionally charged page-turner and psychologically perceptive examination into the darker corners of humanity. And dark it is: even amongst the best-intentioned (no doubt a spurious notion here) in the book there is hardly a shred of redemptive quality. I am reminded both of James Dickey’s Deliverance, and of Darren Aronofsky’s film adaption of Hubert Selby Jr.’s 1978 novel Requiem for a Dream (Selby also wrote the screenplay).
Sanctuary left me with two impressions. The first is that it is as dense and overgrown as a southern jungle, with description piled upon description until it seems impossible to picture just what it is I’m supposed to see. The second is that, though bursting with metaphor, what happens is more suggested than told outright, leaving me with the idea that much of the story must exist between the lines—that is, until Faulkner would casually finish the image he’d only sketched for the reader chapters earlier. Depending on your point of view, this is either exhilarating or maddening, but if you’re the type that doesn’t need instant gratification and knows all good things come to those who wait, you’ll find Sanctuary well worth the read.
Comments