Cormac McCarthy (Book Strut)
hogginthefogg
6,098 Posts
In the past few months, I've read No Country for Old Men, The Road and all three books in his Border Trilogy. Anyone else here read the Border Trilogy? I'm a big fan (obviously), but I'm wondering how these books struck others, particularly the following:- The trilogy contains a lot of untranslated/unexplained Spanish. I speak Spanish, but there will still lots of words I didn't know (mainly archaic words or cowboy-related terms, which I also didn't know when he used them in English). Did that throw off anyone else? I now know what a hackamore is, but I'm still at a loss for "waisted cutglass."There were certain passages in almost every book--usually involving a new character telling a story--that seemed to go on for far too long and required a suspension of disbelief. I kept thinking (VAGUE SPOILER ALERT), "Wasn't your brother just shot? Do you really have time to listen to this stranger's long-winded tale?"The typographical style took a little getting used to; it's odd to read a book with almost no punctuation (quotations, apostrophes, commas, etc.).He's definitely the most original writer I've read in some time. To quote a Chicago Tribune review of "The Crossing": "There's enough going on in this brilliantly imagined book to lure a reader into racing eagerly through its pages. But...you won't want to miss a single sentence."I'd never been moved by a description of a dead cow until I read this: "The one eye that looked up was blue and cast and there was no reflection in it and no world."What say you, LitStrut?
Comments
Ok. First off, love the Spanish, and the difficulty it implies. I think it is fine for the author to ask something of the reader, especially given the setting (American borderlands/Mexico/etc.) of the books. Plus, I think translations would have messed up the tempo.
Next, I agree with the long passages/sections. I read a critics take on 'The Crossing,' where he said that the first third with the Wolf is the best novel McCarthy wrote. The last 2/3s over the border is like a different book altogether. Agree with that 100%. I thought, "Cities of the Plain," was great, and just sealed the fact that John Grady Cole is McCarthy's favorite character that he'll ever write.
I thought, "The Road," was the most satisfying novel of his I've ever read, particularly emotionally. I think his biggest flaw as a writer is his inability to embrace men's emotion. I think his last two books, 'No Country...' and 'The Road,' show a man who is aging, and revealing more emotion. This is obvious in the actions and reflections of the Sheriff in "No Country..." as he reflects on his life and career. And, it is at its most powerful in, "The Road," in the love between the Man and the Boy. That book is a masterpiece, and one of the greatest love stories ever written into a novel.
His writing on nature and the land is exceptional. But, as another critic put it, his writing on work and manual labor is extraordinary. That is one of his qualities that I think relates his work to Melville and "Moby Dick," a book he admits to reveering. "Blood Meridian," is in the same family as, "Moby Dick," in translating a complete vision of a period and occupation in American history, and the men who took off to find treasure, adventure, and violence. But, "Moby Dick," has an emotional depth that I just can't find in McCarthy and "Blood Meridian," in particular.
These criticisms should not sway anyone from reading his work, though. An endlessly fascinating and talented writer.
I should add here that I am very, very impressed by his Spanish writing, not only because (from what I gather) it's a language he took up late in life, but because his vocabulary is both accurate for the era in which the stories are set and regionally correct, besides being beautifully rendered.
But you and I may have to agree to disagree on his inability to embrace men's emotions. The men in the books I mentioned are, for the most part, cowboys. Not a group known for wearing their emotions on their sleeve. I thought he did a good job of expressing what John Grady Cole and Billy Parham were feeling. I also enjoyed Mac's tender reminisces about his late wife.
"Blood Meridian," which many hail as his masterpiece and Harold Bloom blows a load over, is the most glaring example of this, and is what I was mostly citing. And, it only gets more glaring, as the book is most often compared to, "Moby Dick," which I am a HUUUUUGE dick rider for, and overruns with one mans emotions.
Greatest book ever written.
I think Judge Holden is one of the greatest characters in American Literature.
Compared to Blood Meridian, I didn't care too much for The Road.