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unboxedjack's review
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I've been thinking on why I liked this book, as perplexing as it is to read. McCarthy's narrative is not really a narrative, from how I see it. Rather, it feels like a selection of asides we're invited to eavesdrop in on, not fully understanding the undertones of dialogue or plot. They're more like a literary academician's version of "The Moth", where not much happens, but we're still dragged along. In a sense, McCarthy is making us the passenger, leaving us with no option but to stay with the story and his characters' navigation of the events unfolding. Well, no: there is the option to DNF, but I think McCarthy reflects on that with the death of the protagonist's sister.
McCarthy's obviously meditating on the mindless and possibly meaningless minutiae of existence here. He seems to propose that we're passengers in life in general, being torn from one life event to the next without much rhyme or reason. The protagonist is thrown around from situation to situation, seemingly without any actual will. If we have no control over our lives, then what is the point? This could be a nihilistic view, but I disagree. McCarthy is offering us an opportunity to be engaged in the passenger role. We can choose to focus on the things outside of our control and despair. We can focus only on the hedonism of living only in the moment. Both those perspectives make us passive passengers in life. To be active is to embrace the dialectic that the mindlessness & meaninglessness can be both a source of pain, but brilliance, too.
McCarthy's obviously meditating on the mindless and possibly meaningless minutiae of existence here. He seems to propose that we're passengers in life in general, being torn from one life event to the next without much rhyme or reason. The protagonist is thrown around from situation to situation, seemingly without any actual will. If we have no control over our lives, then what is the point? This could be a nihilistic view, but I disagree. McCarthy is offering us an opportunity to be engaged in the passenger role. We can choose to focus on the things outside of our control and despair. We can focus only on the hedonism of living only in the moment. Both those perspectives make us passive passengers in life. To be active is to embrace the dialectic that the mindlessness & meaninglessness can be both a source of pain, but brilliance, too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Incest, Dementia, Death of parent, and Self harm
emmonsannae's review
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Reading this book felt like watching a looped youtube video of an especially grisly car crash at half speed from different angles. I laughed when I realized the central setting is a place called Pass Christian. C.M. asks a lot of questions he doesn’t answer. How are the sins of the past handed down to be weighed? How should we bear up under the weight of our own sin? What does it mean for our protagonist to stumble across a great sin he doesn’t understand and does not choose, and to be consumed because of it? C.M.’s meditations on the legacies of history and self recall Flannery O’Connor’s observation that if the American South is not Christ-centered, it is certainly Christ-haunted. (And yes—there is not a quotation mark to be seen for miles and miles.)
“In their recollections dream and life acquire an oddly merging egality. And I've come to suspect that the ground we walk is less of our choosing than we imagine. And all the while a past we hardly even knew is rolled over into our lives like a dubious investment. The history of these times will be long in the sorting, Squire. But if there is a common keel to our understanding it is that we are flawed. At our core that is what we know.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death of parent, Cursing, Transphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, and Adult/minor relationship
marywahlmeierbracciano's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Animal death, Incest, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, and Self harm
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