...in one sitting. Bloody hell what a book. I've downloaded the film but haven't watched yet, I'm worried it'll ruin the book for me.
Anyway, if you've not read it, I thoroughly recommend it.
The film does the book justice quite well. They are both probably the most moving pieces of either art form I have ever encountered: If you don't tear-up or cry at the end you have a heart of stone.
The ending in the film holds a lot less uncertainty......
A bit like in 'No country......', where HE wipes blood from his boot after visiting the wife - reading it I believed he couldn't kill her, as she wouldn't call the coin.
Have you read Suttree o Blood Meridian?
Among the best living authors without any doubt.
I haven't but now off to download - good call
Also managed to download the screenplay for the counsellor which makes for bloody hard reading..
From what I remember, the ending to the novel is fairly certain, but I may be mistaken. Blood Meridian is, IMO, one of the greatest novels ever.
I have never read Suttree though. Hmmmmm, what have I read by him:
No Country for Old Men
Blood Meridian
Child of God
The Outer Darkness
The Road.
I started the Border Trilogy but didn't really get that far to be honest.
my favourite book. thankfully I read it before I became a father - I think I'd still be blubbing now if I had read it later.
a story of hope where there is no hope.
film is great too and does well to portray the pace and mood of the book, but it can't match the way the book leaves you emotionally wrecked and makes you question the futility of your own existence, but somehow in a good way...
It helps that Viggo Mortensen is dreamy.
It is certainly one of those books that leaves an indelible mark.
It helps that Viggo Mortensen is dreamy.
I'd say it's because he's a great actor 😀
my favourite book. thankfully I read it before I became a father
I can't read it now for exactly that reason. Beautiful but very bleak.
Loved both the book and the film . Am currently reading blood meridian but to be honest am finding it quite hard work .
Very similar experience here - finished it at 3am, exhausted and blubbing. Have got a copy of the film in the house but have put off watching it for exactly the same reason. I don't think any other piece of art has affected me that deeply, so it would be a big ask for the film to come up to that level too. I might have to re-read the book before crossing that rubicon.
Blood Meridian IS hard work, but very worth it.
I am not eloquent enough to express my feelings about, The Road. For me it was a physical as well as just a reading experience. I was with them, fighting for them all the way through the book ( I am a Father to a boy the same age at the time of reading).
Of course I recommended it to friends, the men who read it all thought the same as me, however the women who read it did not have the same feeling for it at all.
The Film was a great representation of the book and a great film, however nowhere near the experience of reading the book.
a story of hope where there is no hope
McCarthy doesn't do hope. His books are unrelentingly bleak. We are all dying and evil prevails, is his message.
[b]Torso in a Lake[/b]....When I read it, I was supplying the Hope, very clever of Macarthy I thought 😀
I've only watched the film, didn't leave me ever wanting to watch the book.
I'm sure it's great, but I'd rather not enter depression voluntarily.
- I didn't like the book, said the boy
- why? Said the man
- cos it was a load of shit, said the boy.
- I didn't like the book, said the boy
- why? Said the man
- cos it was a load of shit, said the boy.
- You will understand it better, when you grow to be a man, said the man.
There is always hope.
Torso in a Lake....When I read it, I was supplying the Hope, very clever of Macarthy I though
Never thought of it like that. Brings a new depth to the book.
McCarthy doesn't do hope. His books are unrelentingly bleak. We are all dying and evil prevails, is his message.
Look deeper.
His Border Trilogy and Blood Meridian are my favorites. The Road was a little too disturbing.
Double post - phone acting up!
[i]Suttree[/i] and [i]The Crossing[/i] are my personal favourites. An amazing writer.
LOVE the apocalyptic genre...books, movies, games you name it.
Just could not get away with the prose in the road, keep meaning to go back and try it but never get around. If you want a truly awesome apocalyptic book checj out the stand by Stephen King or Swan song by Robert R. McCammon.
I think there is much hope in McCarthy
The worlds he's writing about, whether its the old west, present day, or apocalyptic near future is always populated with terrifying brutality and evil. But the good always survives too.
The film of the road is good - just don't watch the film of "All the pretty horses"
Cheers lordmerchant - will have a look at those two
An amazing writer.
+lots
Sadly l saw the film first... Which genuinely terrified me.... So the book lost it's impact, saying that the pair of them took their toil on me so to speak.... That was about a year ago I might have "recovered" now to give it another read.
Loved the Border Trilogy, one of my favourites, but could not get on with The Road. I'm probably a sucker for more of a back to nature feel rather than post apocalyptic nihilism.
Good thread, makes a change from the usual "Which is your favourite James Bond villain" moronic trash!
What a book.
It was as grim as a grim thing ,with extra bleak.
Glad that I read it in the Summer months 😯
Preferred the Border Trilogy - this one was just bleak, with added bleak, with side order extra hot bleak, wrapped in a sandwich of pared down dialogue masquerading as profundity 😉 nice and short though, which is a plus!
Looks like The Border Trilogy is coming out on top here. Thanks for the timely reminder, I must read the books again.
I've only read the road and blood meridian (both after recommendations on here quite a while ago)
in order of reading:
IMO The Road was fantastic - bleakly, unremittingly grim and a hard but great one-shot read (my kids were about the "right" age at the time, too)
By contrast, I thought Blood Meridian was a big letdown - same rich language but something wasn't right; felt ostentatious or something
(I'm reluctant to read any more in case they are too, so I'm giving it a few years off)
Is this the book of which The Last of Us is a computer game version? I have the game, not opened it yet. Not seen or read any other form tho.
What a book.It was as grim as a grim thing ,with extra bleak.
Glad that I read it in the Summer months
Very true, stood outside afterwards last night and everything just felt that little bit colder..makes me think twice about winter bike packing. Or maybe I should in preparation
- I didn't like the book, said the bleak boy
- why? Said the man, bleakly
- cos it was a bleaking load of shit, said the boy.
It was as grim as a grim thing ,with extra bleak.
Kind of, but I will remember it as a love story ( between a Father and a son ) more than anything else.
If you liked the Border Trilogy..........don't watch the film of All the pretty horses.
Read Edgar Allan Poes 'Fall of the house of Usher' instead.
For me Cormack McCarthy's writing is utterly compelling. At first very hard to get into with unusual dialogue, but once you catch the rhythm his work is totally absorbing & I've never been so moved by any other author. You usually need to read something light after, though...
I thought it was awful tbh. Some good points- I love the sheer bleakness of it and the fact that he didn't feel like he had to explain it all, too many post-apocalyptic stories are obsessed with the pre-... but once you realise that they're basically in a tunnel shooter it gets dull. They're starving but every time they run out of food they find some, every time the plot requires a crisis it immediately happens, and there are actual end of level bosses. Oh and then it just stops.
I'm liking Justin Cronin's The Passage trilogy at the moment
They're starving but every time they run out of food they find some, every time the plot requires a crisis it immediately happens
it wouldn't be much of a story if, when they ran out of food, they just died would it? it wouldn't be very tense and captivating if there were no crises and they just kept on pushing that trolley through the ash for 250 pages unhindered.
No... But he strips it of any logic, they're characters (well, almost) in a plot (well, kind of), not people in a world. Suspension of disbelief is fine but a story should follow its own rules, you can't have food be impossible to find and then suddenly have it fall from the sky for the sake of plot. Unless you're the Hunger Games anyway.
[i]McCarthy doesn't do hope. His books are unrelentingly bleak. We are all dying and evil prevails, is his message. [/i]
Did you read all the way to the end?
Northwind, it's not about "what happens" though really, it's about a dying man's struggle to ensure the survival of his son.
If you liked the Border Trilogy..........don't watch the film of All the pretty horses.Read Edgar Allan Poes 'Fall of the house of Usher' instead.
Cheers for that, will look it up. Just bought Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson which looks promising. I read Reamde last summer by the same author, following a recommendation on here, and quite enjoyed it.
