Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron

This book tells the story of the Loftis family. Although most of the story is set on the day of their daughter Peyton's funeral, the story goes much farther back to explain the family's dysfunction. In many ways, this book is a classic story of the decadence and failure of the South: it already starts in a place of dissolution (the funeral of the family's last living child) and offers little hope for a family future (all the characters are emotionally stunted). Some of the plot and style elements echo Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (like the stream of consciousness narration, suicide, nihilistic father, alcoholism). I was interested in the isolation in this story--both geographic and emotional.