Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Sound and the Fury cover art

The Sound and the Fury

By: William Faulkner
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.89

Buy Now for £12.89

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

As I Lay Dying cover art
Absalom, Absalom! cover art
Intruder in the Dust cover art
Light in August cover art
Invisible Man cover art
For Whom the Bell Tolls cover art
Collected Stories of William Faulkner cover art
The Reivers cover art
Beloved cover art
A Farewell to Arms cover art
The Sun Also Rises cover art
Nathan Coulter cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Everything That Rises Must Converge cover art
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter cover art
A Tale of Two Cities cover art

Summary

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin.

The Sound and the Fury
is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and  one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

“I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire.... I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.” —from The Sound and the Fury

(P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“I am in awe of Faulkner’s Benjy, James’s Maisie, Flaubert’s Emma, Melville’s Pip, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—each of us can extend the list.... I am interested in what prompts and makes possible this process of entering what one is estranged from.” —Toni Morrison

What listeners say about The Sound and the Fury

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    58
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    57
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    50
  • 4 Stars
    23
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

William Faulkner Writes Well!

Willian Faulkner writes well, but this was a hard book to listen to. Brilliant reading!

It was to be published in coloured sections, to help the reader. So to take this book on! Excellent.

The story is quite difficult, might need some notes or internet to help you.

It's a very clever book, but it doesn't allow you to score that!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • EM
  • 12-10-19

a great masterpiece performed beautifully.

beautifully written and performed in the most convincing ways possible. It's a journey into the US south, all its complexity and contradictions. must read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

complex but powerful

this book was a difficult/unusual format to read, so I thought audio performance would help. I'm not that impressed with the performance element, but listening to it read aloud did help. it's a complex and powerful story, very unique style, essential Faulkner.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I couldn't get past the racism and woman hating

I read a lot of reviews before getting this audiobook, everyone said it was difficult to read and difficult to listen to because of the writing style the author used. I have never been one to shy away from a challenging book, so I wasn't deterred by those reviews.
No one mentioned the racist and sexist perspective. I am a black woman, this was not an easy book to finish, but I powered through.
I initially managed fine with all the racist texts when I thought these were just the perspectives of the characters and didn't necessarily reflect the author's view. That was until I read a bit more about the author and learnt he was such a huge racist, that he publicly supported segregation and lynching. This information was the last straw for me. I felt like I had paid money to hear the thoughts and dehumanising views of someone who hates people who look like me. This author is entitled to his views and this is his artwork, so he can express his racism through this work as much as he wants, I just wished I had been warned so that I didn't have to be a part of this world. Hence the reason I am leaving my review. If you are a black person and or a woman, be warned, this book could get you upset. There were occasional jabs at Jews too. But most of Jason's (one of the characters) hatred was aimed at black people and women, after learning about the author, it's very difficult to not believe Jason's character was a tool for the author to air out his views and I unwittingly paid him for it by buying his book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sound Fury (and Peace)

Wonderful, just wonderful.
So relevant today.
And yet we never learn to be peaceful.
Too much he said she said.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not one for audio

I would be interested to read this book. It is a stream of consciousness and I did not enjoy it on audible, felt I would have gained more by seeing the book laid out. Too much, he said, she said.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Complex

I had to check Wikipedia to see what the plot was and it bore no comparison with what I heard. I enjoyed the stream of consciousness but I get the impression that this is a very complex book that will require multiple listens to understand. 3 stars for story on first listen but it could very well go up to 5 if and when I get my head round it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well read

Very well acted and unabridged audio of this great Modernist text , audible also helped to understand this difficult novel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!