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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Merged review:
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Merged review:
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Merged review:
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Merged review:
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Merged review:
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Merged review:
Seems like I’ve waited a long time for a new McCarthy book, and an even longer time for a really good McCarthy book, something on par with All the Pretty Horses. The Passenger sounded like an epic mystery and possibly with an even more engaging narrative; unfortunately, that turned out to be merely my interpretation of the blurb. The mystery, about the submerged aircraft, was touched upon, forgotten, revisited, and then seemed to vanish in importance. I found the dialogue absurd. Nobody I know or that I’ve ever heard speak, talks like the characters in this novel. And it really boiled down to a narrative that revolved around one-on-one conversations between characters about random topics that were never mentioned again once I reached the next chapter. Just average and disappointing, considering the wait. As an aside, it has always driven me crazy that McCarthy uses the phrase “in the floor”. I’ve always been under the impression you put something “on the floor” not “in the floor”. Well, whatever.
Enjoyed it a lot. The 4 stars is because it is really just half a book. [b:Stella Maris|60526802|Stella Maris (The Passenger, #2)|Cormac McCarthy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1658241766l/60526802._SX50_.jpg|95478000] is the other half. The end is not the end. Lots of stuff unresolved. He just lifted his foot off the gas, pushed in the clutch, and is changing gears (books).
McCarthy's writing style poses a few problems until you get used to it: lack of quotes (occasionally confusing, but no worse than Austen or Joyce), idiosyncratic apostrophization (contractions, foreign words), shifting stream of consciousness (a little confusing during when encountering first hallucinations, but you figure out the pattern), shifting timeline, large history of science and math info dumps (I rather enjoyed these actually since I was already familiar the subjects and there were no cringe worthy errors that I find all too common with other authors).
Characters were weird but engaging. Language and view verging on poetic. There is a mystery involved, which is left hanging at the end of this volume. (Hence the "half a book" comment.) But I wonder if the mystery is not really the point, similar to the "mystery" in [b:The Brothers Karamazov|4934|The Brothers Karamazov|Fyodor Dostoevsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1427728126l/4934._SX50_.jpg|3393910].
McCarthy's writing style poses a few problems until you get used to it: lack of quotes (occasionally confusing, but no worse than Austen or Joyce), idiosyncratic apostrophization (contractions, foreign words), shifting stream of consciousness (a little confusing during when encountering first hallucinations, but you figure out the pattern), shifting timeline, large history of science and math info dumps (I rather enjoyed these actually since I was already familiar the subjects and there were no cringe worthy errors that I find all too common with other authors).
Characters were weird but engaging. Language and view verging on poetic. There is a mystery involved, which is left hanging at the end of this volume. (Hence the "half a book" comment.) But I wonder if the mystery is not really the point, similar to the "mystery" in [b:The Brothers Karamazov|4934|The Brothers Karamazov|Fyodor Dostoevsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1427728126l/4934._SX50_.jpg|3393910].
I tried so hard to enjoy this book and it is painful to give it such a low rating. I started out intrigued and looking forward to how it would unfold... and I'd start to get disillusioned, then he'd pull me back in briefly... but ultimately, it was not an enjoyable read. I get the myriad themes he laces throughout and Bobby/Alice are both characters that you want to know more about. But there's so much overdone dialogue and superfluous detail about things that don't end up mattering. This took too much intense concentration with very little payoff in the end.
Merged review:
I tried so hard to enjoy this book and it is painful to give it such a low rating. I started out intrigued and looking forward to how it would unfold... and I'd start to get disillusioned, then he'd pull me back in briefly... but ultimately, it was not an enjoyable read. I get the myriad themes he laces throughout and Bobby/Alice are both characters that you want to know more about. But there's so much overdone dialogue and superfluous detail about things that don't end up mattering. This took too much intense concentration with very little payoff in the end.
Merged review:
I tried so hard to enjoy this book and it is painful to give it such a low rating. I started out intrigued and looking forward to how it would unfold... and I'd start to get disillusioned, then he'd pull me back in briefly... but ultimately, it was not an enjoyable read. I get the myriad themes he laces throughout and Bobby/Alice are both characters that you want to know more about. But there's so much overdone dialogue and superfluous detail about things that don't end up mattering. This took too much intense concentration with very little payoff in the end.