nº 11

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A collection of stories featuring the lawyer, Gavin Stevens, including [b:Tomorrow|1510005|Tomorrow|William Faulkner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453450751l/1510005._SX50_.jpg|1501599], my hands-down favorite from Faulkner, thus far.

Smoke - A riveting tale of two brothers, a cruel father, and a puzzling murder. Puzzling, that is, to everyone except Gavin Stevens, Faulkner’s very intelligent and clever Yoknapatawpha County lawyer. Even in this day of twisted plot lines and surprise endings, I doubt many will see this one coming. I did not.

Monk - Faulkner is really his best with injustice and tragedy, and this tale has both in spades. The manipulation of the feeble minded by the powerful and cruel, with no one seeking to make a difference except Gavin Stevens, a voice of morality in a decadent system.

Hand Upon the Waters - Liked this story of an almost perfect crime. Faulkner is so good at his portrayal of the mentally and physically handicapped and how they are treated by the society in which they live. They have a kind of freedom to be in nature that would not be afforded them today, but also a lack of anyone feeling responsible to care for them as they might need. It was interesting to me that it was the mentally challenged Lonnie who took in the deaf and dumb boy when he came to town.

Tomorrow Well, I cried at the end of this one. I cried for how cruel life can be and how the best instincts of a man can be used against him. And, I wondered if it was better to have loved and seen what Fentry had seen or never to have known love at all, for any other human being on earth. [Just discovered this story was made into a movie in 1972 starring one of my favorite actors, Robert Duvall, and available on Amazon. Absolutely got to watch this one.]

We followed him to the gallery, where a plump, white-haired old lady in a clean gingham sunbonnet and dress and a clean white apron sat in a low rocking chair, shelling field peas into a wooden bowl.

But Uncle Gavin says it don’t take many words to tell the sum of any human experience; that somebody has already done it in eight: He was born, he suffered, and he died.

An Error in Chemistry - A good story with twists and turns and a mystery to be solved by Gavin Stevens, but so far the least of the stories here.

Knight’s Gambit - The title story is more of a novella actually. By the time you get to this one, you feel you know Gavin Stevens pretty well, and yet the story reveals some things about him that are unexpected. Stevens is sophisticated and well-educated and yet he retains his down-to-earth small town persona, which makes him very accessible to both the other characters in the books and the reader, as well.
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Yoknapatawpha County attorney Gavin Stevens solves mysteries. ( )

Faulkner writes great motivation for crime... ( )