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dennyb1's review against another edition
5.0
Avrei voluto scrivere due inutili parole su Il passeggero di Cormac McCarthy. Mi ero ripromesso di farlo, anche solo per ribadire l’ovvio, ovvero che fosse un libro sorprendente, dopo sedici anni di silenzio, del più grande scrittore vivente. Già, vivente. E poi ieri viene annunciata la sua morte. Si dice che un artista non muore mai e che grazie alle sue opere potrà vivere in eterno. Sì, Cormac McCarthy vivrà in eterno perché con il suo genio poderoso ha influenzato non solo la stessa letteratura, ma anche e soprattutto il cinema, per non parlare dei videogiochi. Giustamente tutti si ricorderanno e citeranno La Strada, ma il libro che più di tutti mi ha inquietato e fatto comprendere la forza inarrestabile delle parole è Meridiano di sangue. Quando si nomina Holden alla maggior parte della gente viene il mente il giovane, di Salinger, ma a me iniziano a tremare le vene e i polsi pensando al Giudice, quella figura albina e troneggiante, un incrocio tra Falstaff e Moby Dick che tiene in tasca le leggi dell’Universo.
Se non si fosse capito, questa non è una recensione, e neanche lo sarebbe stata se mi fossi deciso a scriverla tempo fa, ma vorrei aggiungere un’ultima cosa: quando ho finito di leggere Il passeggero ho avuto come la sensazione che se avessi abbandonato lo sguardo da quelle ultime frasi, il mondo intorno a me sarebbe scomparso per sempre. Ecco, oggi per me è come se la letteratura avesse respirato per l’ultima volta.
Se non si fosse capito, questa non è una recensione, e neanche lo sarebbe stata se mi fossi deciso a scriverla tempo fa, ma vorrei aggiungere un’ultima cosa: quando ho finito di leggere Il passeggero ho avuto come la sensazione che se avessi abbandonato lo sguardo da quelle ultime frasi, il mondo intorno a me sarebbe scomparso per sempre. Ecco, oggi per me è come se la letteratura avesse respirato per l’ultima volta.
bexlrose's review against another edition
4.0
Not as good as its sister book Stella Maris, but still worth a read. 3.5 stars.
Merged review:
Not as good as its sister book Stella Maris, but still worth a read. 3.5 stars.
Merged review:
Not as good as its sister book Stella Maris, but still worth a read. 3.5 stars.
Merged review:
Not as good as its sister book Stella Maris, but still worth a read. 3.5 stars.
Merged review:
Not as good as its sister book Stella Maris, but still worth a read. 3.5 stars.
dan_black's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness and Suicide
nrstevens7's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
leftybill's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
duderino_sama's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
grahamclements's review
3.0
The Passenger is a novel with a false plot. It is a plot that doesn't matter at all. Things happen and you think they may be connected but that connection is never substantiated. So, it is a frustrating novel for anyone who wants events to come together in the end.
What is it about then? It is about Bobby who has many regrets about his one true love, his sister Stella. She may have desired a sexual relationship which he shunned. She spends a lot of time in a mental institution before killing herself, and he regrets rejecting her and not being there when she died.
The novel consists of many long conversations between men who seem to be intelligent but delusional about the world around them and their place in it. Perhaps McCarthy is saying something about how deluded Americans have become in the Trump era.
In between conversations Bobby has many adventures, from racing car driver to deep sea diver, which starts to look like an improbable Forrest Gump type life. The adventures that don’t let him escape from his regret for his sister.
The novel frequently goes into the schizophrenic mind of Stella as she hallucinates conversations with the imaginery Kid who has been damaged by Thalidomide. The Kid tries to keep her amused by hosting not very good cabaret acts. Who knows why she chooses a character who had Thalidomide as the drug was never approved in the US, so they did not have the flood of babies born with its birth defects.
McCarthy continues his habit of no quotation marks and no attributions for dialogue, which may have not mattered much for his other novels, like the dialogue sparse The Road, but becomes a pain for this one with its masses of dialogue. I was frequently wondering who the hell was speaking and had to go back and re-read, but even then found it hard to track down who was speaking.
The passenger in the title might be Bobby's regret about not being there for his sister or it might mean that he has no control over his life and is just a passenger being taken wherever fate decides to take him. Or it might just be a reference to the plot red herring at the start of the novel where a passenger has disappeared from a crashed plane.
Overall, if you want a novel with a resolved plot, don't touch this. If you want a novel where you think you may be able to resolve the plot from clues in the book, don't frustrate yourself with this. If you want a novel that ruminates on America's delusions then this might be the novel for you.
What is it about then? It is about Bobby who has many regrets about his one true love, his sister Stella. She may have desired a sexual relationship which he shunned. She spends a lot of time in a mental institution before killing herself, and he regrets rejecting her and not being there when she died.
The novel consists of many long conversations between men who seem to be intelligent but delusional about the world around them and their place in it. Perhaps McCarthy is saying something about how deluded Americans have become in the Trump era.
In between conversations Bobby has many adventures, from racing car driver to deep sea diver, which starts to look like an improbable Forrest Gump type life. The adventures that don’t let him escape from his regret for his sister.
The novel frequently goes into the schizophrenic mind of Stella as she hallucinates conversations with the imaginery Kid who has been damaged by Thalidomide. The Kid tries to keep her amused by hosting not very good cabaret acts. Who knows why she chooses a character who had Thalidomide as the drug was never approved in the US, so they did not have the flood of babies born with its birth defects.
McCarthy continues his habit of no quotation marks and no attributions for dialogue, which may have not mattered much for his other novels, like the dialogue sparse The Road, but becomes a pain for this one with its masses of dialogue. I was frequently wondering who the hell was speaking and had to go back and re-read, but even then found it hard to track down who was speaking.
The passenger in the title might be Bobby's regret about not being there for his sister or it might mean that he has no control over his life and is just a passenger being taken wherever fate decides to take him. Or it might just be a reference to the plot red herring at the start of the novel where a passenger has disappeared from a crashed plane.
Overall, if you want a novel with a resolved plot, don't touch this. If you want a novel where you think you may be able to resolve the plot from clues in the book, don't frustrate yourself with this. If you want a novel that ruminates on America's delusions then this might be the novel for you.
hedvigvj's review against another edition
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
3.25