Cormac McCarthy

[bibliophile190]

Okay people. I just got $75 worth of gift certificates to book stores. What are some must-haves I should get, in your opinion. Also, what is your opinion of the works of Cormac McCarthy, mainly No Country for Old Men and On The Road? I saw them recently and they looked interesting, but I wanted to see what you all think.

[Virgil]

I think he's great. I think he's the best living American writer. I've read All The Pretty Horses and think it's a masterpiece. I was also impressed with That Is No Country For Old Men, although I would label it a notch below a masterpiece. I have On The Road, but I haven't read it yet. I did see one review who didn't think it was up to the previous level of McCarthy's works. Eventually I intend to read all of his works.

[Nossa]

I'm planning on reading The Road in this mid-term vacation. I did read parts of it last month and I have to say, it was a bit of a difficult read for me. But a friend of mine said that she liked it a lot, so I'll give it a try to see for myself.

[Hira]

I bought 'the Road' a month or two ago, after someone recommending it to me. Is it a lot worse than his other books?

[bibliophile190]

Okay, thanks. I think I'll get some of his stuff. You have all been very helpful.

[livelaughlove]

I started All the Pretty Horses a long while back but I didn't like it, probably cause I wasn't used to his style of writing- so I'm thinking about picking it up again after seeing the movie again the other night.

I read The Road for school and it is dark and in some places gruesome but very poignant I thought as well. It's definitely worth reading. If you've seen the movie Children of Men, it is quite similar- in fact we watched the movie in class as well to complement The Road and it worked quite nicely.

[Leer_Dayne]

His style of writing is difficult to get into at first -- especially if it is your first time reading one of his novels. "The Road" is a fantastic book, though. It's very depressing and bleak, though, so keep that in mind before starting it.

Once you get into his style of writing, his real genius starts to become easier to see.

[JBI]

Harold Bloom said that Blood Meridian is the best American novel since Moby Dick.

[stlukesguild]

Harold Bloom said that Blood Meridian is the best American novel since Moby Dick.

It is an incredible novel. Deeply disturbing. Harrowing. Unforgettable. Like Moby Dick it is laden with passages of the most exquisite prose... almost visionary... certainly poetic... and these contrast with some of the most disturbing scenes of violence and perhaps the "greatest" villain in American literature.

[metal134]

The Road is pretty good (On the Road is Jack Kerouac :) ). While I liked No Country for Old Men, it is, in my opinion, not as good as any other McCarthy book I have read. If you really want to get into McCarthy's works, you should try Blood Meridian. It's not as easily accessible as some of his other works, but it is fantastic.

[lavendar1]

I've only read All the Pretty Horses and The Road. It's McCarthy's style that I love -- poetic... and especially in All the Pretty Horses, it's mystical. Although The Road is dark and seemingly without hope, there is hope--personified in a young boy. It's the father/son relationship that carries the story in this novel, I believe. My daughter tells me the Coen brothers have done a marvelous film adaptation of McCarthy's No Country For Old Men. I've yet to either read the book or see the film, though. I found The Road to be an easier read than All the Pretty Horses. Whatever you choose to read of McCarthy's, just let yourself accept the world he creates. He's a wonderful writer.

[Virgil]

I think he's great. I think he's the best living American writer. I've read All The Pretty Horses and think it's a masterpiece. I was also impressed with That Is No Country For Old Men, although I would label it a notch below a masterpiece. I have On The Road, but I haven't read it yet. I did see one review who didn't think it was up to the previous level of McCarthy's works. Eventually I intend to read all of his works.


The Road is pretty good (On the Road is Jack Kerouac :) ). While I liked No Country for Old Men, it is, in my opinion, not as good as any other McCarthy book I have read. If you really want to get into McCarthy's works, you should try Blood Meridian. It's not as easily accessible as some of his other works, but it is fantastic.

:lol: You are absolutely correct. On The Road is Jack Kerouac. The Road is Cormac McCarthy. My mistake. :blush:

[daisyday]

I've read just about everything McCarthy has published. I just bought one of his early novels The Orchard Keeper, which I am saving for a holiday read.
I started with The Crossing, which is the second in the Border Trilogy, then quickly on to the other two; All the Pretty Horses and Cities of the Plain
His use of language is stunning at times. You have to get used to the fact that he doesn't use inverted commas for dialogue, but you soon realise that it isn't necessary, and that his dialogue sounds very natural; you can almost hear the characters saying it.
I would heartily recommend all his works. Blood Meridian is probably my favourite.

[Rogers_68]

I gave The Road about a 6 on the Like-O-Meter (0 being "Awful," 10 being "One Of The Best Books EVER!"). I haven't read anything else of McCarthy's yet but I plan to.

[livelaughlove]

I've read just about everything McCarthy has published. I just bought one of his early novels The Orchard Keeper, which I am saving for a holiday read.
I started with The Crossing, which is the second in the Border Trilogy, then quickly on to the other two; All the Pretty Horses and Cities of the Plain
His use of language is stunning at times. You have to get used to the fact that he doesn't use inverted commas for dialogue, but you soon realise that it isn't necessary, and that his dialogue sounds very natural; you can almost hear the characters saying it.
I would heartily recommend all his works. Blood Meridian is probably my favourite.

I totally agree with you about the dialogue in his novels. It's difficult to get used to at first but once you do, then they seem to bloom. It is quite colloquial, yet unique.

I've been wanting to read the Blood Meridian but I didn't see it in the bookstore when I bought All the Pretty Horses. Is it somewhat hard to find?

[daisyday]

I totally agree with you about the dialogue in his novels. It's difficult to get used to at first but once you do, then they seem to bloom. It is quite colloquial, yet unique.

I've been wanting to read the Blood Meridian but I didn't see it in the bookstore when I bought All the Pretty Horses. Is it somewhat hard to find?

It shouldn't be. Have you tried Amazon?

[livelaughlove]

It shouldn't be. Have you tried Amazon?

No, I haven't. I will have to try that. Thanks!!! :)

[Homyrrh]

Over the course of my brief stay near Baltimore during the New Year's holiday, I picked-up a copy of McCarthy's fiction Pulitzer-winner, "The Road". I really haven't gotten to it yet, nor have I even looked at any of his other works beyond gazing upon their back covers.

As somewhat of a cinema buff, the obvious contender for the Academy's Best Picture this year, notably the Coen Brothers' masterpiece, "No Country for Old Men", really brought a personal light to McCarthy's host of works, centrally themed around a genre I've really never payed mind to, let alone absorbed myself in.

More intriguing to me, on both a personal and professional note, is the fact that he is a *very* active member of the Santa Fe Institute in NM, a mecca of a forum for some of the country's greatest thinkers in the world of science. He actually moved to the SFI's immediate area just to be within a commute of the facility.

And so I open the thread to posters interested in helping me, and all others interested, introduce myself to Cormac McCarthy's novels.

[Virgil]

Already a thread on this. Try here: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30832&highlight=Cormac+McCarthy

[Jason Renzi]

i read 'the road' a number of months ago and was seriously underwhelmed...
however, the story stayed with me for a bit of time afterward, because in the end i really didn't know what to do with it, or how precisely to metabolize it...
it felt very much like one of those books that just takes a slight nudge in perception to allow a key bit of understanding to occur and everything will suddenly fall into place, revealing a work of intense revelation...
i nudged but nothing fell...
as it stands now i couldn't say the book is successful...i have a great many more negative criticisms than positive...
although i don't discount the possibility that i'm missing something crucial...
by all means read it though...i didn't dislike it at all...it's very likely that i'll revisit it someday soon...

[Mark F.]

Suttree is a masterpiece but it's not an easy book to read. It's extremely faulknerian and also a tribute to Joyce's writing so it can be a little tricky.

[Aluno49]

No Country for Old Men was very poorly received by the literary critics, but I liked it a good deal for a particular experiment (as I see it) that McCarthy tried. It seems to me that McCarthy uses "Ed Tom Bell" not as a foil, but rather in the manner of the Chorus in classical Greek tragedy. Ed Tom provides a commentary on the entire story, its characters, and its progress. And it is a commentary that shows judgment, as well as offering as much possibility for catharsis as McCarthy's dark view of the modern world will allow.

Aluno

[Virgil]

No Country for Old Men was very poorly received by the literary critics, but I liked it a good deal for a particular experiment (as I see it) that McCarthy tried. It seems to me that McCarthy uses "Ed Tom Bell" not as a foil, but rather in the manner of the Chorus in classical Greek tragedy. Ed Tom provides a commentary on the entire story, its characters, and its progress. And it is a commentary that shows judgment, as well as offering as much possibility for catharsis as McCarthy's dark view of the modern world will allow.

Aluno

Hey that's an intersting persective on how McCarthy uses Bell. Very interesting, although I don't see much of a catharsis. I thought the novel got mixed reviews. I saw some articles that praised it. Apparently it doesn't stack up to Blood Meridan or All The Pretty Horses, but but you know a novelist only has one or two novels that good in him.

[Aluno49]

Hi Virgil,

I hope I'm not over-reading, but I thought the very late scene where Ed Tom contemplates the carving of the water trough might be read to suggest that doing the best one can in the real world - as hard and apparently empty of hope as it may be - can still produce work of substance that will survive. Is that cathartic? Well, maybe as close ar McCarthy will let us get.

Aluno

[Virgil]

Hi Virgil,

I hope I'm not over-reading, but I thought the very late scene where Ed Tom contemplates the carving of the water trough might be read to suggest that doing the best one can in the real world - as hard and apparently empty of hope as it may be - can still produce work of substance that will survive. Is that cathartic? Well, maybe as close ar McCarthy will let us get.

Aluno

But is doing the best that one can in the real world a catharsis? Who knows? Perhaps it's just semantics. We both enjoyed the novel. :) Did you see the movie? It was great too.

[Homyrrh]

Any thoughts on how to best digest the novel? I'm likely going to pick it back up tonight or tomorrow (Laundromat time!).

[Virgil]

Any thoughts on how to best digest the novel? I'm likely going to pick it back up tonight or tomorrow (Laundromat time!).

If you mean No Country For Old Men just take your time until you get used to the point of view shifts. Once you get used to that it's not hard.

[Homyrrh]

If you mean No Country For Old Men just take your time until you get used to the point of view shifts. Once you get used to that it's not hard.

Thanks, but I was actually referring more to "The Road". Sorry.

[Aluno49]

For The Road, too. In fact, Virgil's advice is probably essential for all McCarthy, whether there are frequent shifts or not. I find it necessary - and very rewarding - both to read slowly and to frequently re-read passages (and sometimes the entire story) in everything I have read of him. Maybe I'm just not a good enough reader to manage otherwise.

Anyone who requiores a quick read and obvious texts had better look eslewhere than Cormac McCarthy.

Aluno

[dfloyd]

after reading the many posts here about McCarthy's work and Harold Bloom's review of Blood Meridian, Idecided to try reading, or listening, to Mccarthy's No country for Old Men. I usually do not enjoy any author more modern than Scott Fitzgerald or Hemingway. I have tried three novels by Philp Roth, two by Ian McCewan (I hope I have his last name right), and one by Don DeLilo. I found all three disappointing and didn't finish one. However, Xmas day I listened on cd to No Country for Old Men and was pleasantly surprised. and I generally don't like novels about red necks. Maybe it's McCarthy's age which I compute to be about 77. While his language is simplistic in keeping with his characters, his narrative similes and metaphors are lyrical and make one pause to assimilate his meaning. I now have The Road and Blood Meridian on cd and will continue on with McCarthy. The violent nature of his books may make my admiration of him short lived, but at least he is not boring, as I found the three authors listed above.

[Virgil]

I'm wondering why you feel the need to insult people obvously different than you by calling them rednecks. Replace redneck with Jews or blacks or any other ethnic group and you would chastised as a bigot. I look at people who use the words redneck as a bigot.

Other than that, I agree McCarthy is a fine writer who gets to the heart of life by using diction and storytelling to a high level of artistry.

[Dinkleberry2010]

Just a sidenote about "rednecks": Redneck is a term that refers to certain whites living in the southern part of the U.S. It is related to the term "cracker." As such, rednecks are the last ethnic group that can be insulted, maligned and ridiculed with immunity. What is interesting is that "rednecks" as a whole possess a sense of humor and can even laugh at themselves, unlike most other groups.

[dfloyd]

when I use a term which describes that person or goup of people where the term used is just an adjective and is not derogatory, but descriptive. People who have to be politically correct in all instances are worse than those using descriptors to immediately give a mental image. What would yuou propose? Hillbilly? Poor southerner? Appallachian? (which just doesn't quite fit here). You must be blessed, or afflicted with, a very thin skin.

[Dinkleberry2010]

dfloyd, I don't think you insulted anyone, nor was it your intention to insult anyone.

[motherhubbard]

I'm not so sure that most rednecks laugh about the term, Jermac. I am a poor, southern, hillbilly and the term redneck is rather derogatory. I don't mind being poor, a southerner, or, what we call, hill folk, but I sure don't want to be a redneck. I haven't read the book being referred to, and the term may well apply. Are we taking about southerners who mistreat their wives and children, drink up the family's income, and hate to the point of violence anyone with a different skin color, religious belief, or education?

[Virgil]

when I use a term which describes that person or goup of people where the term used is just an adjective and is not derogatory, but descriptive. People who have to be politically correct in all instances are worse than those using descriptors to immediately give a mental image. What would yuou propose? Hillbilly? Poor southerner? Appallachian? (which just doesn't quite fit here). You must be blessed, or afflicted with, a very thin skin.

I am neither a hillbilly, poor southerner, or appallachian. I'm from New York City and it's fundemental deceny not to be derogatory. Do you go around calling blacks niggers too? And if not, why not? And why is that you wouldn't otherwise read a novel about southerners, because that's what you saying?

[Dinkleberry2010]

Would everyone just cool it please, and listen to a Jeff Foxworthy monologue

[Hank Stamper]

maybe it's a lost in translation/context thing, i always assumed 'redneck' could be used as a generic term for people who are ignorant, racist and/or wife beaters.. not necessarily somebody who comes from the southern parts of the states etc.. maybe that is a British thing.. but for me the term 'redneck' signifies a type of person rather than where that person is from

[Virgil]

maybe it's a lost in translation/context thing, i always assumed 'redneck' could be used as a generic term for people who are ignorant, racist and/or wife beaters.. not necessarily somebody who comes from the southern parts of the states etc.. maybe that is a British thing.. but for me the term 'redneck' signifies a type of person rather than where that person is from

It's usually associated with rural people, and more recently with those from the US south. And no it's not necessarily associated with racists or wife beaters. It's usually anyone who happens to have an accent.

[mortalterror]

I don't mind being called a redneck, though I hail mostly from the northwestern United States. This summer, when I was walking around in the heat with my crew cut hair, a wifebeater on, a gun in one hand, and a beer in the other; I did not take it amiss when some of my friends decided to poke fun at me. But I enjoy driving through the mud in a pickup truck, listening to country music, reciting the pledge of allegiance, and acting the fool. The word is a badge of pride in some circles, a reminder to enjoy the simpler things in life, and not take oneself too seriously.

[DisPater]

'The Road' is not boring? It is the same thing over and over again: father and boy looking for food. You don't need 200 pages to tell one fact n-times. '...his narrative similes and metaphors are lyrical and make one pause to assimilate his meaning[e.o.q.]' --- metaphors in 'The Road'?! Where?! The book is, at the best, mediocre. From Roth's works I have read, 'till now, only The Breast. But, making a comparison based on these two books, Roth is at thousand light years distance from McCarthy, in a good way.

[dfloyd]

just go ahead and post without reading the new thread. My comments on Cormac McC. were on 'No Country for Old Men", not 'The Road' which I haven't read yet, as clearly stated. Some people are in such a hurry to post that their post is irrelevant to the original new thread, or they can't wait to call out bigotry. Pay Attention!

[Hank Stamper]

It's usually associated with rural people, and more recently with those from the US south. And no it's not necessarily associated with racists or wife beaters. It's usually anyone who happens to have an accent.

Well it's been adopted as a slang term over here for those things that i mentioned - definitely nothing to do with accent, and in fact probably more indicative of the way somebody dresses (not just the way they act)

But what is deemed offensive in one place is not necessarily considered so elsewhere - for example in Australia, they quite happily refer to Pakistanis as 'Pakkis', yet in Britain it is a term of extreme racist abuse (it felt wrong just writing the word then - and is especially weird if you watch the cricket in Australia and Pakistan are playing...)

[Emil Miller]

The term 'Redneck' is surely derogatory. My understanding of it is someone who is insufficiently educated and therefore, by implication, adopts a right-wing attitude. It is often used by people who are educated and, by implication, adopt a left-wing attitude. Rednecks are to be found in what have become known as the 'flyover states' which implies the rural heartland of the US as opposed to the East and West coastal regions where those of a 'superior intellect' are supposed to live. However, as a very astute British columnist has pointed out: "They might read a lot of books in California and New York State but could they fix a broken tractor or combine harvester?"

[Hank Stamper]

yes no doubt that it is derogatory - my argument is that it is not an ethnic slur, but a slur on somebody's behaviour etc.. which is obviously not what 'redneck' meant originally, but it has been adopted as such by some people in the UK

[Virgil]

yes no doubt that it is derogatory - my argument is that it is not an ethnic slur, but a slur on somebody's behaviour etc.. which is obviously not what 'redneck' meant originally, but it has been adopted as such by some people in the UK

It is an ethnic slur in the US. It refers to southerners or just general rural people. Contrary to what Brian Bean says, it doesn't necessarily have a political connotation, though southerners and rural people tend to be more on the right side of issues, and I do find that it's people on the left that spout off that bigotry more easily, though I can see how someone might think it's politically charged.

[breathtest]

Has anybody read any of Cormac McCarthy's novels? I recently read The Road (which i should mention is miles better than the film - i made the mistake of watching the film first) and i thought it was extremely poetic and beautiful.

I think he's a wonderful writer and many people have compared him to Faulkner.

I was also wondering if anybody would recommend any of his other books.

[dfloyd]

The Road is not his usual quality. Very repetitive and predictable.

[Zeniyama]

I just finished reading Child of God recently; it was a great--albeit a bit short--read, in my opinion. If you enjoy philosophical black comedies, it should be right up your alley.

[Virgil]

Has anybody read any of Cormac McCarthy's novels? I recently read The Road (which i should mention is miles better than the film - i made the mistake of watching the film first) and i thought it was extremely poetic and beautiful.

I think he's a wonderful writer and many people have compared him to Faulkner.

I was also wondering if anybody would recommend any of his other books.

I really enjoyed All The Pretty Horses, and No Country for Old Men is a good, if not great, novel.

[grechzoo]

cormac mccarthy is probably my favourite writer. i know technically he has some off-putting practices in his writing for some people. so i totally get why some people aren;t too fodn of him.

but for me he just fills every box my reading tastes want. great quick prose, with lots of depth, and in my opinion some of the most readable, incisive and enjoyable dialogue i have ever read. (which the road features very little of)

i LOVED all the pretty horses, truly brilliant, and i also loved no country for old men. however i saw the coen bros film first (which is probably my favourite film ;)) so that probably harmed the boks chances of being even more loved, simply because i had the scenes of the film in my mind as i read.

got blood merisian and also the rest of the border trilogy on my shelf, but am having a break, reading tons of other authors right now, savings those as i know i will love them all :).

[Brad Coelho]

I'm also a fan, though my wife loathes & I mean LOATHES him to the tune of 'I have NO idea what you see in this writer.'

His writing is so stripped at points it is skeletal. I think his lack of punctuation is merely an extention of how gutted and spare his style is. That being said, there are moments where he explodes w/ an archaic, stark poetry that provokes as much of a visceral response as any writer I've come across.

The Judge is one of my favorite characters in recent fiction- and No Country was captured wonderfully on screen (the Road was a bit tougher a cinematic task). I'm onto Suttre next...I still don't see the Faulkner comparisons. It does get ping-ponged around the literary circles but it is hardly backed up w/ instances or rationale.

[rufustfirefly]

I enjoyed "No Country " and I really looked forward to reading " Blood Meridian. I couldn't get through it. I was very frustrated by this book and I am determined to try again. This won't be the first time I needed to start over with an author who can be very challenging.

[Rores28]

I have to disagree with some people. I just finished No Country for Old Men and I think it shows that he wrote this as a screenplay first and later turned it into a novel (After which of course people wanted to make a movie from it :))

While some people laud the prose as bare or stripped I would use the same description though in the pejorative. Don't get me wrong I really liked the book but I hardly think it can be called "Great" or a "Masterpiece." I actually thought "The Road" was much better. For me it was much more evocative, and brought tears to my eyes at several points.

I will concede that The Road was repetitive and in some ways predictable but that didn't really take away too much for me. The repetition was tolerable and even enjoyable because of the McCarthian poetry of it (which was completely absent in No Country) and I felt it helped to parallel / cause me to empathize with the monotony and hardship of their journey.

I've only gotten 20 pages into Blood Meridian, but it is immediately apparent that this is where his prosetry really shines. Though I can't yet comment on the plot.

[breathtest]

Thanks for the recommendations guys.

[breathtest]

I just bought No Country for Old Men and Suttree. They both look quality.

[rufustfirefly]

This thread prompted me to go back to " Blood Meridian". Really glad I did. I devoured the first 100 pages in a single day. I just couldn't get into the groove of this book a few years ago. Now I know I'll read the Border trilogy. Thanks to whoever started this thread.

[country doctor]

the doc's verdict?

no country for old men > the road

[breathtest]

I agree with the doc. It's a close call, but No Country for Old Men snatches it. I was amazed at how sinister Chigurh was. I also loved the sheriff Bell paragraphs in italics. What a book, just finished it. wow

[rufustfirefly]

I just finished Blood Meridian. I would like to read any older threads pertaining to the book. I tried using this boards' search box,to no avail. Any help is appreciated.

[Brad Coelho]

Here's the most recent:
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49449&highlight=cormac+blood+meridian

[rufustfirefly]

Thanks for the thread. I really enjoy reading other peoples interpretations of this novel. I think I'll need to tackle Suttree next.

[Patrick_Bateman]

I think he's great. I think he's the best living American writer. I've read All The Pretty Horses and think it's a masterpiece. I was also impressed with That Is No Country For Old Men, although I would label it a notch below a masterpiece. I have On The Road, but I haven't read it yet. I did see one review who didn't think it was up to the previous level of McCarthy's works. Eventually I intend to read all of his works.

Ray bradbury *cough*

[JZD]

I'm a pretty big Cormac fan. NCFOM and The Road are my two favs. NCFOM happens to be my favorite movie of all-time as well. His prose is incredibly lyrical and powerful. He's the only living writer whose new releases genuinely excite me. I hear his next book is called The Passenger and is about a suicide?

I did not care for Pretty Horses. Part of the reason is I'm a city boy and I just can't relate to or picture most of the book. I liked the Blevins character and the air was kinda taken out of me when he got shot, but this is Cormac McCarthy so one cannot expect happy outcomes.

Blood Meridian was also a fairly tough read for me. The Judge was obviously awesome but again, a lot of the vocabulary just went way over my head.

Has anyone read The Sunset Limited? Not very well known but a really cool little story about a poor black guy who saves a middle to upper class white guy from killing himself.

[laymonite]

Blood Meridian. Have a dictionary ready if you're not familiar with western American landscape vocabulary! ;-)

[Rores28]

More so than The Road?? It is funny because most if not all of Cormac's difficult vocabulary comes in the form of concrete nouns. Completely useless for SAT/GRE :(

[laymonite]

Rores28 - Ha! You're right! I never noticed before, but, yes, I just looked at my notes from reading The Road and Blood Meridian, and they're all nouns.

It is also worth posting here a Yale University lecture on Blood Meridian/McCarthy available online: http://oyc.yale.edu/english/american-novel-since-1945/content/sessions/session-17-cormac-mccarthy-blood-meridian