This is the first book I've read by Cormac McCarthy, not the last. One of my favorite novels of the past few years. Dense language, thick plot, all action, minimal dialogue. The novel is a multi-layered, nuanced study of both the savagery of the Wild West and human nature itself. The novel is very mythical, not since The Natural have I read anything so engrossed with sheer power. It centers around "the kid" - a never named, tough runaway who listens to no one but himself. The kid enters into a decades long struggle with life and death and everything in between, mediated and finally mitigated by Judge Holden, one of the most well wrought characters in modern literature. I liked this book so much I started it over as soon as I finished. Every single word in this book is necessary, the violence is so thick, the mood so perfect, the massacres so real, you can practically wring the blood out of it.And, the cover's cool.
2 comments:
I've heard it has quite the opening paragraph.
I'm with you on the Cormac admiration. A friend recommended this book to me last week and I went straight to the bookstore. However, while sitting in front of the Cormac selections, I remembered you mentioning you thought he and the Coen Bros. were the perfect marriage. So I couldn't pass up "No Country for Old Men."
NCFOM was fantastic Texas noir, moving along at breakneck speed with an intense plot, vivid characters, and eloquent prose. The action advances like a pulpy, crime novella, though the underlying themes transcend its potboiler roots. I highly recommend this read.
I'm adding Blood Meridian to my list.
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