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 Great Book Mar 15, 2010
This book is a fantastic and fast read. Cormac McCarthy is a great writer and i would recommend this and his other books.
No Country for Old Men: Haunting Mar 15, 2010
Title: No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Pages: 309
Time spent on the "to read" shelf: 6 months.
Days spent reading it: 3 days.
Why I read it: Since I enjoyed The Road so much, I thought I would try some more McCarthy. I also watched the movie (which was phenomenal), so I knew I had a good chance of enjoying the book.
Brief review: Cormac McCarthy has become one of my favorite writers after reading just a few of his books. His ability to tell a story is epic. No Country for Old Men traces the story of Llewellyn Moss after he finds two million dollars in a desert drug deal gone wrong. He is chased through the book by the unstoppable Chigurh. Chigurh intends to retrieve the money for his employers and he stops at nothing to make that happen. Chigurh has no real moral compass. He uses a coin to determine the fate of the unlucky souls who he encounters in the chase. In contrast to Chigurh is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. He's an old school sheriff who has no idea how to deal with the evil that he gets a glimpse of in this story.
I loved a few things about this book. First, I love the voice of Sheriff Bell. At the beginning of every chapter the sheriff has some rumination or explanation of something from his life. I felt like he was sitting right there next to me explaining the mysteries of the universe. These passages are simply profound and beautiful, especially in contrast to the insanity of cat and mouse that permeates the rest of the book. Second, I love McCarthy's prose. It is sparse at times, but so deep. The conversations between characters often made my heart want to jump out of my chest. The terse dialogue is deceptive, because the words seem to come from the depths of the heart. And since the words are so few, everyone seems to count for a hundred. Third, I love how this tale is more about good versus evil than anything else. It's incredible how the lives of ordinary people are thrown into chaos by seemingly innocuous decisions.
I loved this book. I would definitely recommend it, but I realize not everyone will appreciate McCarthy's sparse narrative. I think if you read The Road and were looking for another McCarthy book, this one will probably be pleasing to you. I would also recommend the movie, which was beautifully captured by the Coen Brothers. I watched the movie first, but in hindsight could see where they lifted conversations and situations directly from the novel. It was very true to the source material. My only caution is that it is violent and it will haunt you well after it is finished. I love books that leave you thinking well after they are finished, this was one of those books. It is sure to be a classic.
Favorite quote: "I had no say in the matter. Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person's path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning."
Stars: 5 out of 5.
Final Word: Haunting.
 no plot, no finish Mar 14, 2010
This author writes scenes very well, and creates expectations that he cannot or will not fulfill. He has no plot, and no ending. The intrusive narrator who interrupts the action from time to time never has any contact with the other main characters. It's not explained what happens to the two main characters, and the villain of the piece just floats away. Very disappointing and makes you wonder what the author might do if he learned to plot.
No Country for Any Women. Feb 12, 2010
In this novel Cormac McCarthy lays before us, one by one, the stepping stones to a tremendous amount of violence. McCarthy builds up three separate stories that seem unrelated until about seventy pages into the story. After I actually figured out what was going on and who each character was the book moved quickly through suspenseful scenes of violence. There are no female characters, which I'm pretty sure is the usual for McCarthy, but the novel feels like its missing something. The Sheriff was the only part of the book that really drew any emotion from me. Aside from that it just seemed like a lot of blood and shooting. This book does not read as easily as McCarthy's most recent novel, "The Road", which I would recommend to anyone. I respect McCarthy as an author though, and I would recommend this book to any man age 16 to 100.
 Not as good as The Road Feb 06, 2010
This is the second book I have read of the author's after his brilliant The Road.
Unfortunately, this is a step down in material. I just didn't get into the book at all.
A man stumbles across a drug deal gone bad, he seizes the chance to take the drug money but this will involve being on the run for life. Tough choice but he took the money.
From there, we get to see the life of the man, Moss, and the people chasing him. The book is reminiscent of James Lee Burke but not nearly at his level.
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