Shingles for the Lord

by William Faulkner

Short story.

Genres: Short Stories, American

Unknown Binding

About the author

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer. He is best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County where he spent most of his life. A Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and often is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.
Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, and raised in Oxford, Mississippi. During World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel Soldiers' Pay (1925). He went back to Oxford and wrote Sartoris (1927), his first work set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. In 1929, he published The Sound and the Fury. The following year, he wrote As I Lay Dying. Later that decade, he wrote Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! and The Wild Palms. He also worked as a screenwriter, contributing to Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel. The former film, adapted from Ernest Hemingway's novel, is the only film with contributions by two Nobel laureates.
Faulkner's reputation grew following publication of Malcolm Cowley's The Portable Faulkner, and he was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his powerful and unique contribution to the modern American novel." He is the only Mississippi-born Nobel laureate. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and The Reivers (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Faulkner died from a heart attack on July 6, 1962, following a fall from his horse the month before. Ralph Ellison called him "the greatest artist the South has produced".

Reviews

[Tamoghna Biswas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Faulkner chilling in his backyard. Pretty hilarious and reads like a spoof of Shakespearean comedies.

[Sohail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a kind of comedy in which stupid people destroy everything when they try to fix something; the kind that tends to get on the nerves of some people—including me.

But the elaborate plot that the 'stupid' person devises in the spur of the moment is so psychologically calculated that makes up for the frustration that comes after reading about the destruction.

[Brother Gregory Rice, SOLT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short story. It is my favorite kind of Faulkner, not in stream-of-conscious prose, and teeming with depth and realism. The climax is swift and tragic and the light thrown on man is sober and convincing.

[Sawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty funny

[Severin Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hammer, Pride, and a Big Mess: Shingles for the Lord Is Faulkner with a Wink

I didn’t know William Faulkner could be funny. Then I read Shingles for the Lord—and I laughed out loud. Not because it’s silly, but because it’s real, and sharp, and full of that small-town chaos that sneaks up on you when pride gets in the way.

The story is told through the eyes of a boy watching his father—Pap—volunteer to help reshingle the church roof. Sounds noble, right? Except it’s Pap, and things get complicated fast. He’s loud, proud, and can’t stand not being in charge.

Soon enough, it’s less about the roof and more about ego, competition, and saving face in front of the neighbors. And Faulkner captures it all with a wink and a warm heart.

The best part? The voice. That southern rhythm, the way the boy tells it all with a kind of quiet amazement and dry humor—it pulled me in right away. I felt like I was sitting on the porch, listening to a great storyteller spinning a tale from down the road.

It’s short. It’s light. But it’s smart. And under the laughter, Faulkner’s still Faulkner—talking about pride, community, and how humans are beautifully, stubbornly flawed.

Shingles for the Lord didn’t just entertain me. It reminded me that sometimes, the simplest stories say the most. And that even Faulkner knew how to have fun.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing style, but did not understand why pap went back to the church at night. He was going to pull a fast one on the other men, but I did not understand how he was going to accomplish this revenge. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comedy of errors occurs when a group of men come together to replace the shingles on the roof of their community's church.