Cormac McCarthy

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Bmsb6f
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Post by Bmsb6f »

The Road as a film was disappointing.

Be that as it may, No Country was a complete wonder. The Coen Brothers

really captured the essence of McCarthy. I can only hope that future

book-to-film adaptations (I'm looking at you, Blood Meridian) are as true

to the author's meaning and intent as possible.
KB92
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Post by KB92 »

I'm really happy this is up here! I just finished The Road a little over a week ago. It was the first book by McCarthy that I had ever read. I read it because (this is probably a strange reason to want to read a specific book) my dad said it was one of the most depressing books he's ever read, so it sparked my interest. I was in awe the entire book. The relationship between the boy and his father was amazing. I felt heartbroken when the story of the boy's mother was told. The end was beautiful and devastating at the same time.
As for his writing style, I have to say I wasn't a huge fan. I have never read an author who writes like that, so I commend him for having an extremely unique style. I enjoy very descriptive writing and a lot of times I felt that his writing lacked description of things that I wanted to read about. Having said that, however, I would not be opposed to reading more of his books.
Bmsb6f
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Post by Bmsb6f »

KB92 wrote:I'm really happy this is up here! I just finished The Road a little over a week ago. It was the first book by McCarthy that I had ever read. I read it because (this is probably a strange reason to want to read a specific book) my dad said it was one of the most depressing books he's ever read, so it sparked my interest. I was in awe the entire book. The relationship between the boy and his father was amazing. I felt heartbroken when the story of the boy's mother was told. The end was beautiful and devastating at the same time.
As for his writing style, I have to say I wasn't a huge fan. I have never read an author who writes like that, so I commend him for having an extremely unique style. I enjoy very descriptive writing and a lot of times I felt that his writing lacked description of things that I wanted to read about. Having said that, however, I would not be opposed to reading more of his books.

If you wade through his old stuff you'll be met with tons of description.


Oh, and I think The Road has description. It's very subtle. I love how he

introduces the wife through the minutest of details (which are memories).

Cormac's been a huge influence on me ever since I started reading him.

He just needs to finish his next book already!
thsavage2
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Post by thsavage2 »

Unfortunately I think I'm much closer to the 'hate' than the 'love' side here... I read All the Pretty Horses and I just couldn't get past the writing, mostly the run on sentences and the interspersed Spanish. I think the story was fine but it was really made a much less pleasant experience because of the fractured prose. I might try him again one day, I've heard a lot of people rave over The Road.
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David Dawson
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Post by David Dawson »

I'd probably place myself with those who prefer The Road to his other works (I've also read Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men); I think the sparsity and bleakness make it one of the most powerful books I've ever read. My problems with the others I've read is not so much stylistic - although I do prefer the writing in The Road - but that I find the graphic violence and amorality wearing and, eventually, alienating.
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salberson 10
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Post by salberson 10 »

I loved the The Road but haven't read anything else. - quite honestly didn't realize he wrote other things.
I will have to look into it - what suggestions?
Reignsublime
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Post by Reignsublime »

I absolutely love Child of God. It was the first McCarthy book I read and it stuck with me. I love it 1: for its length which is much shorter than most his other work which I find can get tedious to read... And 2: the underlying themes which all play into the blurred line between man and beast. Plus, it's just a good creepy look at humanity at times.
After reading that, I started in on his other works. I am a big fan of his writing, but try as I might, I simply can't finish Blood Meridian. Have started it four times... I hear it's fantastic while Sutree doesn't get as much praise and yet, I finished Sutree at least. Meridian just got so tedious and drawn out and vague for me. But, that is a risk you take with McCarthy sometimes.
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LEissler
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Post by LEissler »

To be honest I had a hard time connecting with the characters from The Road, which actually made it difficult to completely enjoy the book. The story telling is amazing and I agree that his book was absolutely worthy of the National bestseller title, I just wish there could have been more information about the man and his son.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

I knew Cormac McCarthy slightly when we both lived in El Paso in the late 80s. He's a remarkable man but not at all a public figure, rarely gives interviews. And don't try to beat him in a pool game either, ha ha.

His masterpiece is "Blood Meridian" and I think it's one of the greatest novels of the modern era. I agree with Harvard prof Harold Bloom, who thinks that Blood Meridian may be among the true "great American novels." Bloom remarked that due to the horrific violence of the novel, it took him 3 or 4 tries to finish it.

Some here didn't like the movie "The Road" but it closely follows the novel, and it's just a bleak and somber. People whom I know who think that after the "big one" (apocalypse) they'll be happy to live without civilization need to read that novel. It's a true account on what it would be like. The "big one" in the book is clearly a massive Torino Level 8 or 9 meteor strike.

Regarding Blood Meridian, however... I am a lifelong fan of horror and strong and sometimes violent fiction. And my own mystery novels and short horror stories are quite graphic. So I've read it all (and have written some of it, too). But nothing prepared me for "The Judge" and that novel. It literally gave me, a grown adult, a writer of strong violent fiction, nightmares.

I've got a question for fans of Blood Meridian that I always ask of them, after they've finished the novel: "At the end of the book, what did The Judge do to The Kid?"
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Bigtwoheartedriver
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Post by Bigtwoheartedriver »

StephenKingman wrote:
Fran wrote:
StephenKingman wrote:Didnt he also write No Country For Old Men? I could never understand the adulation around that movie, yeah it was good but not worthy of all the gushing, back-slapping praise it received at the time. It was almost a sin to admit you didnt like it but i personally found it very middle of the road and far too serious for its own good..
Absolutely agree with you Mike ... apart from Tommy Lee Jones who I consider a much underrated actor ..... I couldn't see what it was really about
and certainly don't think it deserved all the praise it got
I wasnt aware of his other works until very recently actually, seems his earlier work has been overshadowed by The Road. I am curious though to try one or two more of his books, he seems to specialise in setting his stories in isolated and barren environments..

I think maybe the movie of No Country for Old Men came out at a time when Oscar potentials were a bit thin on the ground so it got more praise than it deserved.
I actually saw the movie before I read the book, something I hate to do, but didn't realize it was a book until a while after. I always take issue when books are turned into movies. They don't always go well. But I didn't think the Cohen brothers did a bad job with NCFOM.
As far as The Road is concerned it is one of my favorite books. But it is also a bit different from his other stuff. I think its one of his very few deviations from his comfort zone of western settings. And his style shifts a bit for The Road. But he is definitely worth reading more of. He always reminds me of a fusion of Faulkner and Hemingway, and I like that considering their styles were so disparate.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Faulkner and Hemingway? A very good concept and one that I agree with.

The Road was gripping but of course dark and grim, with the eventual outcome total destruction. The film was excellent, I thought, an accurate depiction of the novel.

You may know that the film rights and projects for Blood Meridian has passed from hand to hand. First off was Ridley Scott, one of my fave directors, and I kept yearning for this to get underway. Sadly, Scott eventually took a pass. He said that he could not do accurate justice to the novel unless he also accurately depicted the horrorific scenes, and he just could not envision filming that total bloodbath. The rights have now passed among several directors but the project is apparently stalled. There are only a few films that I would be ready to see on opening day but Blood Meridian would be one of them.
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Bigtwoheartedriver
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Post by Bigtwoheartedriver »

I had an undergrad professor who wrote a paper on tracing the 'literary heritage' of McCarthy through major motifs, themes, and styles of Hemingway and Faulkner. His basic argument was that McCarthy "carries the flame" of southern fiction that Faulkner sort of flourishes in and fuses it with Hemingway's terse style. That combined with both Hem and Faulkner's taste for the gritty reality of things and you get McCarthy. I liked his ideas.

I agree. I liked the film version of The Road. I think the reason it didn't get the 'popular' vote was because it moved slow and steady like the novel, and the 'popular' vote goes to movies that sort of pick up speed. But as far as the shift from book to film goes, it was accurate. And Viggo did a good job I think playing the father.

I'd like to see Blood Meridian go to film and Scott would be great for it. I like him quite a bit too. Definitely top 5 favorite directors.

Also, I noticed your favorite booth is Ulysses. I just finished a grad class on it. Never read it before the class and was so glad to have the prof. there to help me through it. But it was definitely well worth the effort.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Sorry that Ridley Scott had to bow out of directing Blood Meridian. He would have been superb but he said he was too conflicted with showing the horror, which he would "have" to do as a faithful version and the constant fight with ratings. Too bad.

I got hooked on Ulysses years ago and I've read it at least a dozen times, and my Gabler edition sits nearby so I can dip into it and read a section as the spirit wills. You may now know this, but the great ethnologist Joseph Campbell (Hero with a Thousand Faces) was a huge Joycean and he wrote a terrific book on Joyce, "Mythic Worlds, Modern Words" that's available in a new reprint. If you want some guides and reference books to Ulysses, just PM me.
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clairesamuels
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Post by clairesamuels »

Suttree is one of my favorite books of all time. It is long (one of his longest) and it does take a while to get through...someone earlier mentioned that some of his novels are almost laborious, but honestly I think that's part of the reason I love the experience of reading them. Fighting through the dialect and the lack of quotation marks may be difficult, but it is also conducive to a beautiful reading experience. Like many southern authors, he has a certain ability to get you mired in his stories, stuck almost in the worlds he creates. Outer Dark is another of my favorites (much shorter) and it is absolutely haunting. He makes everyday events into horrifying tableaus that will leave you with nightmares for months if you aren't careful...I know a lot of people experienced the same feeling with The Road, but this one leads you down an even darker path. Both of these books are part of the informally titled Knoxville collection (set deep in Tennessee) and feature some of his most depraved characters. If you like McCarthy, check them out!
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akv1994
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Post by akv1994 »

I've only read three of his books. "No Country for Old Men", "The Road", and "Child of God".

Loved the first two titles. "Child of God" was an interesting read although I did not like the ending very much at all. But, McCarthy does have a knack for creating very interesting characters whose lives you just get suckered into instantly.
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