. Spinning .

A delightful, fast-paced ending to this story and once again I find myself loving Faulkner's style. Though I struggled through (thought it terribly plodding) the first quarter of the book that set up the environment and the characters, the base he laid down for us clearly had a purpose in that we become comfortable with the characters, already know how they interact, and then can more easily see them more intimately as they face the conflicts of Faulkner's tale.

Just as with his characters, Faulkner lays down a simple base situation and then creates the complications that keep one on edge. A stolen automobile turns into a trade-off for a horse that makes a race necessary to win back the car. The horse is known to balk at running ahead and then we find the horse has been stolen prior to being traded so there is that extra need to sneak around as more folk get involved. Faulkner gives us side stories too; the whorehouse with Miss Reba, and Miss Corrie who is inspired by Lucius not to ply her trade but find a decent way to make a living–which of course messes up Boon Hoggenbeck's plans and causes even more trouble with the southern lawman Butch.

But the characters, and the close look at their personal interactions and particularly the way black and white keep close yet at a distance to each other is the heart of the story. Ned is not what he seems, he is a clever man who knows the ways of blacks and whites both and knows how to fit in either world to suit himself without compromise. And Faulkner shows us the differences between the cultures and yet ends the story with the Boss and Colonel Lincomb and Mr. van Tosch, the horse's owner, wheeling and dealing on the final outcome of a race with the same sense of finagling that Ned applied.

There are themes that run through the story that hold it together beyond the racial issues and the friendships; Minnie's gold tooth that means so much to her that the boy Otis steals. The evil natures of Otis and Butch against the honesty of Lucius or Ned. The ability to change, or strive to improve by watching others and learning; this comes to Lucius, of course, as an eleven year-old boy who learns he can lie and steal and yet shows others how he keeps his promises, is loyal, and willing to defend the dignity of others, as he does with Miss Corrie. Boon Hoggenbeck gets himself into more trouble than ever simply by the boy's influence and example.

Faulkner has each character wanting something and shows how they will go about getting it; this is a major element of fiction and he has endowed each of the main characters with a desire, a means, and an ultimate decision to make and they all come out finding what they need at a price they were willing to pay.

Loved the story, loved the intricacy of the plots that Faulkner neatly brought together through introductions of new characters and conflicts. All I need to remember is that starting a Faulkner novel is the toughest part; enjoying and finishing it is easy.

Forgive the language that's considered politically incorrect as a racial slur now –it had a different, less evil meaning in the era of the story, simply meaning what 'black' or African American means today (except coming from the mouth of Butch Lovemaiden, the stereotypical Southern lawman, whose "boy," is no less demeaning)–but this explanation of Ned's as answer to the Colonel's question of behavior is priceless:

There's pride in that, and each man treats the other with respect though a difference in social status and culture is certainly accepted as a natural state of being. These families have crossed racial barriers in their bloodlines, and without hesitation acknowledge it without shame or concern, and yet the wall stands more because of social status than color, though color certainly marks the division as clearly as football jerseys at a game.

Faulkner wrote this novel, his last, in 1961–it was published in 1962, the year that he died at age 65. The story takes place in the present, that is, around the 60s when one considers that the narrator is in the present, telling a story that happened to him back fifty years ago, or around 1905. Faulkner's own life span corresponds somewhat to the time frame, his being around the same age as the narrator as a child. What makes this interesting then, is adding in the time factor of the era in which it is being read, for example, my reading of it in the year 2009.

So much had changed in the American South between 1905 and 1960 and particularly in the areas of race and gender rights and struggles on which Faulkner focuses. I have been through Georgia on a road trip back in '61; though I was only a kid myself I do remember the separate public bathrooms for blacks and whites. Here, nearly a half century later things have changed so very much again, striving for a balance and equality of spirit that transcends the legal letter of the law that was itself so ponderously slow in coming.

How different do we read a book then, a story that encapsulates a time period of which we have little knowledge except from slanted history texts, if not through those who've been there, who write the feeling rather than the flatness of the time?

Then again, I guess some things take longer to change.

Faulkner has kept this story strictly linear, straight first person narrator, starting with a dramatic opening scene, then continuing with setting up of environment while introducing his characters and their relationships. Pretty straightforward writing style here, and except for the rather overbloated detail of setting up the story, the only literary element missing was a more intense pace.

Now we are starting, with the theft of the automobile, the new characters of the ladies, and the trading of the automobile for a horse that needs to learn how to run and win a race, to have some much-needed action. Now I'm not one who needs action, but we did need something by way of strong conflict at this point of the story, and we get this in the rush to meet a deadliine and the underlying threat to all if they cannot win back the car.

Faulkner is still Faulkner, however; we are gradually finding quite an interesting character developing in Lucius, the eleven year-old narrator. We have already seen him change the character of Boon, and of Miss Corrie. We have seen a change in him as he struggles to become worldy-wise while retaining his own sense of ethics.