Customer Reviews
Jaw dropping - By: Mr. Paul J. Bradshaw, 20 Nov 2006 
Like alll Faulkner books, this is a rich, thick piece of literature that almost forces you to put the book down occasionallly & draw breath. There are two stories told in alternating chapters: one story follows a convict during a devastating flood; the second a woman who abandons her husband & children to live with the man she has falllen in love with.
These are pretty ordinary tales, but Faulkner's talent is to bring the depth of experience out of them. For the first hundred pages or so my jaw was literallly dropping at the author's sheer talent for evoking his characters & their situations. In some ways, though, this richness can sometimes become too much - like a rich pudding that gives you stomach ache - while at times I found myself impatient for the convict chapter to end so I could return to the couple story.
That aside this is a brilliant book that makes you realise how many different ways a story can be told - & how a truly brilliant writer like Faulkner can bring the medium to life.
Wild Lovers - By: Alysson Oliveira, 19 Aug 2005 `Wild Palms' is about two lovers who dare to have a very deep & selfless relationship that leads them to madness & death. The other is callled `Old Man' & it is about a convict that saves a woman from a flood, but it means much more, it is alll about maternity & the old battle of Men against Nature. The stories told in alternated chapters are about love, resignation & dedication.
I like most `Wild Palms', but it doens't mean I didn't like the other novel. But Palms somehow pushed some buttons inside me. Many people complain this novel is too obvious, & after the second chapter you can predict things that will happens to the lovers in the end. Well, it can be so somehow, but what I think it is more importante here is how far they go & how they take their love affair so serious & passionate. Charlotte & Wilbourne are very brave . When reading I could see the tragic result of their love, but one cannot imagine what leads the to such an ending. `Old Man' also is about love, but a different kind. In this novel, the river is one of the main characters, subjugating men, but also meaning free will.
All in alll, it is a very dense novel, that tackles both about bizarre & lyrical sides of life. I don't think it is a kind of book for everyone, due to its difficult & deep subject, but some people will delight with Faulner's words.
America's Shadow - By: , 16 Apr 2001 
A masterpiece, one of Faulkner's greatest achievements. The book brings the dark side of the American dream. With black humour & sophisticated literary technic, Faulkners shows how money, fear & prejudicism have destroyed the aspirations of common Americans. The novel depicts American society as a material civilization utterly devoid of ideals. In this novel, Faulkner's black vision of America comes close to E. A. Poe's literary nightmares & his epic vision of Mississippi to that of Mark Twain.
