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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I should shudder to say that I “understand” McCarthy. At the very least, I sense a wavelength of humming dread in his books that connects with me at a sometimes-discomfiting level. I can’t help but to read him, because he is willing to gaze at aspects of the modern soul that few authors want to call attention to.
For a fuller review: https://jryanlonas.com/2023/12/09/the-last-of-a-lineage-cormac-mccarthys-final-novels-and-the-american-literary-project/
For a fuller review: https://jryanlonas.com/2023/12/09/the-last-of-a-lineage-cormac-mccarthys-final-novels-and-the-american-literary-project/
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There are some artists that I trust more than my own aesthetic sense. It is a small list including Sufjan Stevens, T.S. Eliot, Kendrick Lamar, etc. and most recently, Cormac McCarthy. I think of this artist-consumer relationship as artistic trust. I trust these artists to make something beautiful even when I can't see the beauty. Maybe I am not getting the reference. Maybe I need more years on my life to appreciate the reverence.
McCarthy's work here is obviously the work of an aged artist. I couldn't help but think the whole time through Passenger/Stella Maris, 'Why is this what he left us with?' What provokes an aged author of neo-westerns and existentialist apocalypses to write us a dialogical novel about math? There is a presumption of violence but mostly this novel is about math.
I say all of that to say I trust McCarthy. I will be dwelling on this for months ahead. I frankly did not "get it" but I know the gravity of this work. This is one I will be revisiting in the very near future.
McCarthy's work here is obviously the work of an aged artist. I couldn't help but think the whole time through Passenger/Stella Maris, 'Why is this what he left us with?' What provokes an aged author of neo-westerns and existentialist apocalypses to write us a dialogical novel about math? There is a presumption of violence but mostly this novel is about math.
I say all of that to say I trust McCarthy. I will be dwelling on this for months ahead. I frankly did not "get it" but I know the gravity of this work. This is one I will be revisiting in the very near future.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished this book a while ago and didn’t have the energy to review. It was good, and maybe my brain is just burnt out, but it felt like a whole lot of nothing. Also I find it so funny how Cormac will do anything to avoid writing from a feminine/female POV. Best part was her contemplation of what happens when you try to drown yourself, classic incredibly breathtaking McCarthy writing, but a bit too much theory for me this time.
Also, does it not say in the passenger about Bobby’s time in the Italian hospital?? I don’t remember anything about that
Also, does it not say in the passenger about Bobby’s time in the Italian hospital?? I don’t remember anything about that
So, were The Passenger and Stella Maris meant to be a quantum literary double-slit experiment? Who knows. Schrodinger‘s cat? Who’s alive and who’s dead? Both! Neither!
Well, unlike The Passenger where some good writing made the derivative-feeling hodgepodge trip worthwhile in spite of frequent boredom, I was mostly bored out of my gourd with this all-dialog companion piece. I’d give this one star if not for quite a bit of personal resonance (including out of body experience) and a couple of well-done descriptions of what it’s like to actually do the mathematics. True, I left math in the dust for computer science almost 40 years ago, but I got pretty darned far in and this reads like a shallow pastiche of math history and mathematician biography that focuses heavily on the mind-twisting nature of foundations smashed into philosophy and iced with gossip about the lives of the various names dropped. Every time real depth is called for the subject changes.
Oh, and most mathematicians are stone cold party animals and Worcester doesn’t rhyme with rooster but those are nits. And kittens scream bloody murder. And Alicia reminded me of a verbally domineer and pontificating neighbor who could be fun to debate with as he held forth and spewed occasional total crap (e.g., crying babies) but in this book the pontificator has free rein to tedious effect.
PS: I went on to read The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson and it contained this:
‘Over dinner the talk veered wildly, with what Colville described as “a lot of flippant conversation about metaphysics, solipsists and higher mathematics.”’
Hah! As all rampant readers know, weird links frequently occur between very different books.
Well, unlike The Passenger where some good writing made the derivative-feeling hodgepodge trip worthwhile in spite of frequent boredom, I was mostly bored out of my gourd with this all-dialog companion piece. I’d give this one star if not for quite a bit of personal resonance (including out of body experience) and a couple of well-done descriptions of what it’s like to actually do the mathematics. True, I left math in the dust for computer science almost 40 years ago, but I got pretty darned far in and this reads like a shallow pastiche of math history and mathematician biography that focuses heavily on the mind-twisting nature of foundations smashed into philosophy and iced with gossip about the lives of the various names dropped. Every time real depth is called for the subject changes.
Oh, and most mathematicians are stone cold party animals and Worcester doesn’t rhyme with rooster but those are nits. And kittens scream bloody murder. And Alicia reminded me of a verbally domineer and pontificating neighbor who could be fun to debate with as he held forth and spewed occasional total crap (e.g., crying babies) but in this book the pontificator has free rein to tedious effect.
PS: I went on to read The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson and it contained this:
‘Over dinner the talk veered wildly, with what Colville described as “a lot of flippant conversation about metaphysics, solipsists and higher mathematics.”’
Hah! As all rampant readers know, weird links frequently occur between very different books.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Think I liked this more than the passenger, lots of interesting stuff in the conversations that take up the entire book. Each chapter has something think about in terms of reality and the unconscious.