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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Certainly not as riveting as The Passenger. It's simply a dialectic journey between a traumatized woman and her psychologist in the mental ward. There is lots of interesting scientific philosophy; specifically regarding mathematics and mathematians.
I wonder if these chapters were originally part of “The Passenger”’s alternating structure? I enjoy reading everything that McCarthy wrote, but this feels more nice-to-have than need-to-have, slightly unfinished. Still packed with interesting ideas, though.
Impressive! Astounding how an author can emulate the mind of a genius mathematician bordering on or dealing with a mental breakout. This is the second novel following a brother sister duo and can be read separately but I found the previous novel, Passenger, enhanced this one.
Better than The passenger in my opinion, also because Alicia is a great character, one not to be forgotten with all her drama and despair. Another great performance by the author, perhaps one of his best, but I am missing a few books from the past to be able to say for sure.
Migliore di The passenger secondo me, anche perché Alicia é un grandissimo personaggio, uno di quelli da non dimenticare con tutti i suoi drammi e la sua disperazione. Un altra grandissima prestazione dell'autore, forse una delle sue migliori, ma mi manca qualche libro del passato per poterlo affermare con sicurezza.
Migliore di The passenger secondo me, anche perché Alicia é un grandissimo personaggio, uno di quelli da non dimenticare con tutti i suoi drammi e la sua disperazione. Un altra grandissima prestazione dell'autore, forse una delle sue migliori, ma mi manca qualche libro del passato per poterlo affermare con sicurezza.
Reading 'The world has created no living thing that it does not intend to destroy' while listening to Bach's Chaconne (imaging Alicia playing it) hit me right in the feels. Whoof.
challenging
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you've ever wondered what it's like to have a constant confliction in your brain, try this book. I LOVED the presentation in the form of conversations between Alicia nd her therapist. It's a must-read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Incest
I may change my mind on this slightly lower-than-Passenger rating, but overall I really liked McCarthy’s duology. A classic hero of the West story (lol, like the names of the protags, get it?) completely undone by guilt, sadness, insecurities, a lack of a will to life, and a cynicism towards calls for action. Meanwhile there’s also an emotional depth there I didn’t really see with Blood Meridian or in the movies I know McCarthy was more involved in.
(Below I’m going to list out a general synopsis but given the one-track nature of this book ppl might see it as spoilers so be warned)
Stella Maris is less of a novel and more of a script lacking in stage descriptions or directions. We get an extended dialogue between Bobby’s sister and the man treating her at a facility named Stella Maris, in which more light is shed on the nature of Alicia’s hallucinations, her past with Bobby, her career in mathematics and general musings from her on life, death, love and maths.
I liked Stella Maris, it was interesting to get more Alicia (particularly as her presence is always overtaken by the Kid’s in Passenger) but I think there was some stuff here and there in this book I just didn’t care for. McCarthy *really* wants to sell how intelligent Alicia is and because of that there’s a lot of faff about maths and other STEM-y reflections that sometimes seemed brilliant and other times felt indulgent. I’m also not wild about the “I’m so smart I can’t *NOT* be depressed” passages, which were just a little lame and didn’t make sense coming from either Alicia or Dr Cohen. There’s 2 or 3 bits about the sexual tension between these two that I genuinely think could’ve just not existed, there’s one line in particular that’s so bad during these parts that for the first time in a McCarthy novel I thought wow: this reads very cheap.
I should stress tho, these are tiny moments in an overall interesting dialogue where it’s (interestingly) unclear what exactly Cohen is trying to get out of Alicia, and her perception of the world, as well as how this slowly uncovers more story, is fascinating.
The Passenger duology feels like McCarthy wondering what would happen if an All-American epic were to fuse with a Greek tragedy. It’s a really cool experiment and it is genuinely fantastic to see a writer still be this sharp at 89. I’ll definitely go back and read more McCarthy in good time, but until then, this was a neat little venture into his current literary aims.
(Below I’m going to list out a general synopsis but given the one-track nature of this book ppl might see it as spoilers so be warned)
Stella Maris is less of a novel and more of a script lacking in stage descriptions or directions. We get an extended dialogue between Bobby’s sister and the man treating her at a facility named Stella Maris, in which more light is shed on the nature of Alicia’s hallucinations, her past with Bobby, her career in mathematics and general musings from her on life, death, love and maths.
I liked Stella Maris, it was interesting to get more Alicia (particularly as her presence is always overtaken by the Kid’s in Passenger) but I think there was some stuff here and there in this book I just didn’t care for. McCarthy *really* wants to sell how intelligent Alicia is and because of that there’s a lot of faff about maths and other STEM-y reflections that sometimes seemed brilliant and other times felt indulgent. I’m also not wild about the “I’m so smart I can’t *NOT* be depressed” passages, which were just a little lame and didn’t make sense coming from either Alicia or Dr Cohen. There’s 2 or 3 bits about the sexual tension between these two that I genuinely think could’ve just not existed, there’s one line in particular that’s so bad during these parts that for the first time in a McCarthy novel I thought wow: this reads very cheap.
I should stress tho, these are tiny moments in an overall interesting dialogue where it’s (interestingly) unclear what exactly Cohen is trying to get out of Alicia, and her perception of the world, as well as how this slowly uncovers more story, is fascinating.
The Passenger duology feels like McCarthy wondering what would happen if an All-American epic were to fuse with a Greek tragedy. It’s a really cool experiment and it is genuinely fantastic to see a writer still be this sharp at 89. I’ll definitely go back and read more McCarthy in good time, but until then, this was a neat little venture into his current literary aims.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced