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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
"he[chigurah] put his hands on him like a faith healer"
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Good lord what an awesome book. Having seen the movie first, I’m going to say the movie severely undersells the book. And that’s no quibble on the movie, just a testament to how good I feel the book is. On the surface, it’s a perfect modern western, but there’s so much more depth underneath all that. My second Cormac book and quickly becoming my favorite author. So careful and detailed but all built within awesome plot and steady pacing. This and The Road maaaay be top 5 all timers??
This put me in a reading slump and life is too short for that.
I love this movie so I was so excited to finally read the book. It’s so good. If you’re reading this review I’m begging you to get and read this book. The writing is brilliant, the themes throughout the book are so consistent and tied together so well, the characters are fascinating, it’s just altogether incredible.
I will be reading more of McCarthy’s stuff, I fear I must now. I took note of some snippets I really liked from the book and here’s my favorites:
“There is no description of a fool that you fail to satisfy. Now you’re going to die.“ (27)
“It takes very little to govern good people. Very little. And bad people can’t be governed at all. Or if they could I never heard of it.“ (64)
“I don’t recall that I ever give the good Lord all that much cause to smile on me. But he did.“ (91)
“I wake up sometimes way in the night and I know as certain as death that there ain’t nothing short of the second coming of Christ that can slow this train. I don’t know what is the use of me laying awake over it. But I do.“ (159)
“There ain’t nothing you could of done about it. No, but you always like to think there is.“ (240)
“Bell tried to think about his life. Then he tried not to.“ (269)
“If I’m wiser in the ways of the world it come at a price. Pretty good price too.“ (296)
“There’s two kinds of people that don’t ask a lot of questions. One is too dumb to and the other don’t need to.“ (298)
“In the dream I knew that he was going on ahead and that he was fixing to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there.“ (309)
I will be reading more of McCarthy’s stuff, I fear I must now. I took note of some snippets I really liked from the book and here’s my favorites:
“There is no description of a fool that you fail to satisfy. Now you’re going to die.“ (27)
“It takes very little to govern good people. Very little. And bad people can’t be governed at all. Or if they could I never heard of it.“ (64)
“I don’t recall that I ever give the good Lord all that much cause to smile on me. But he did.“ (91)
“I wake up sometimes way in the night and I know as certain as death that there ain’t nothing short of the second coming of Christ that can slow this train. I don’t know what is the use of me laying awake over it. But I do.“ (159)
“There ain’t nothing you could of done about it. No, but you always like to think there is.“ (240)
“Bell tried to think about his life. Then he tried not to.“ (269)
“If I’m wiser in the ways of the world it come at a price. Pretty good price too.“ (296)
“There’s two kinds of people that don’t ask a lot of questions. One is too dumb to and the other don’t need to.“ (298)
“In the dream I knew that he was going on ahead and that he was fixing to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there.“ (309)
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just like the movie!
Never have I read a book that feels so much like a screenplay. I know this began as a screenplay and became a movie, but it's interesting to read how close the structure already was in the novel itself.
If you've seen the movie--and you probably have--the book is almost identical to it. The biggest difference is in the final sequences. I think the way the movie shortens the sort of epilogue here is actually quite productive. This long, drawn out closure is what keeps this from being an all timer for me.
If you've seen the movie--and you probably have--the book is almost identical to it. The biggest difference is in the final sequences. I think the way the movie shortens the sort of epilogue here is actually quite productive. This long, drawn out closure is what keeps this from being an all timer for me.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes