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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Ultimately I did enjoy this. But I can’t tell if it’s because I’m such a McCarthy acolyte and I don’t know whether you will enjoy it to the extent I did.
The book starts off as a straightforward narrative about a diver, Bobby Western, who discovers a downed flight with a passenger missing from the flight roster. He starts to investigate but is hounded by the FBI who think he knows more than he’s letting on.
It feels like a continuation of late-McCarthy form. The Road and No Country for Old Men are straightforward narratives compared to the Border Trilogy but then The Passenger meanders and is ultimately more reflective in form than a straightforward narrative. I don’t mind this. It is a lot of Western talking philosophically with friends in bars. About Oppenheimer, about physics, about philosophy, about the Kennedy assassination. There are still some great McCarthy descriptions and florid prose.
It makes sense when you understand he started writing this book in the ‘80s and it was written piecemeal. I read Stella Maris first. Which is the “wrong way around”. But I’d recommend this approach. Don’t ask me why. I just enjoyed both books. But you might not.
“We should have talked more.” “We talked a lot.”
The book starts off as a straightforward narrative about a diver, Bobby Western, who discovers a downed flight with a passenger missing from the flight roster. He starts to investigate but is hounded by the FBI who think he knows more than he’s letting on.
It feels like a continuation of late-McCarthy form. The Road and No Country for Old Men are straightforward narratives compared to the Border Trilogy but then The Passenger meanders and is ultimately more reflective in form than a straightforward narrative. I don’t mind this. It is a lot of Western talking philosophically with friends in bars. About Oppenheimer, about physics, about philosophy, about the Kennedy assassination. There are still some great McCarthy descriptions and florid prose.
It makes sense when you understand he started writing this book in the ‘80s and it was written piecemeal. I read Stella Maris first. Which is the “wrong way around”. But I’d recommend this approach. Don’t ask me why. I just enjoyed both books. But you might not.
“We should have talked more.” “We talked a lot.”
Confusing and bad writing. I don't want an aneurysm
Giving this a dnf after 137 pages. This is classic McCarthy, and I knew what I was getting into. But after reading his masterpiece Blood Meridian (NOT for the faint of heart) and The Road, I wish he just did a mic drop moment and left those as his last. Besides the creepy incestuous feelings that the bro and sis have for each other - and the sister's commitment to an insane asylum follows in the sequel - I simply could not follow the point on this one, as it seemed to ramble about quantum physics and race car driving, deep-sea diving...and well, that's as far as I got. I only have a third of my life left to read, and this one was simply not satisfying, which again is McCarthy, but not for my season of life at the moment.
Merged review:
Giving this a dnf after 137 pages. This is classic McCarthy, and I knew what I was getting into. But after reading his masterpiece Blood Meridian (NOT for the faint of heart) and The Road, I wish he just did a mic drop moment and left those as his last. Besides the creepy incestuous feelings that the bro and sis have for each other - and the sister's commitment to an insane asylum follows in the sequel - I simply could not follow the point on this one, as it seemed to ramble about quantum physics and race car driving, deep-sea diving...and well, that's as far as I got. I only have a third of my life left to read, and this one was simply not satisfying, which again is McCarthy, but not for my season of life at the moment.
Merged review:
Giving this a dnf after 137 pages. This is classic McCarthy, and I knew what I was getting into. But after reading his masterpiece Blood Meridian (NOT for the faint of heart) and The Road, I wish he just did a mic drop moment and left those as his last. Besides the creepy incestuous feelings that the bro and sis have for each other - and the sister's commitment to an insane asylum follows in the sequel - I simply could not follow the point on this one, as it seemed to ramble about quantum physics and race car driving, deep-sea diving...and well, that's as far as I got. I only have a third of my life left to read, and this one was simply not satisfying, which again is McCarthy, but not for my season of life at the moment.
The premise is there. The prose is there. But the quantum physics jargon and philosophical ideas made this a dull read at times.
With Cormac McCarthy spending plenty of time in the company of scientists and working alongside the Santa Fe Institute, it's understandable why the book takes this route. But after re-reading The Road just a few weeks ago and flicking endlessly through passages from his past books, The Passenger just isn't on the same level storytelling-wise.
This book won't be for everyone, but I'll still cherish that feeling of being able to turn to the first page of a brand new Cormac McCarthy novel.
And now I wait for Stella Maris...
With Cormac McCarthy spending plenty of time in the company of scientists and working alongside the Santa Fe Institute, it's understandable why the book takes this route. But after re-reading The Road just a few weeks ago and flicking endlessly through passages from his past books, The Passenger just isn't on the same level storytelling-wise.
This book won't be for everyone, but I'll still cherish that feeling of being able to turn to the first page of a brand new Cormac McCarthy novel.
And now I wait for Stella Maris...
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
Merged review:
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
Merged review:
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
Merged review:
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
Merged review:
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
Merged review:
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
Merged review:
Took a while to get into. Not for me, sorry Cormac
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes