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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5
It had me until I realised it had nowhere to go. McCarthy undeniably has a talent for prose and there are some marvellous passages, but the indulgence in dust and blood is laid on so thick as to drown itself. As a result, the imagery loses all effectiveness and any attempt at character rarely transcends confetti. If all it wants to be is a thematic mood piece, that's just fine, but then it shouldn't expect us to care when character and narrative suddenly decide to rear their ugly faces.
It had me until I realised it had nowhere to go. McCarthy undeniably has a talent for prose and there are some marvellous passages, but the indulgence in dust and blood is laid on so thick as to drown itself. As a result, the imagery loses all effectiveness and any attempt at character rarely transcends confetti. If all it wants to be is a thematic mood piece, that's just fine, but then it shouldn't expect us to care when character and narrative suddenly decide to rear their ugly faces.
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So I now know why they say this book is un-filmable. Intense is the word of the day. If one wants to read, go into it knowing it is unflinching in its brutality.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Cormac McCarthy’s genius is not simply in subverting the conventions of the Western we have become so familiar with through the pop culture sanitisation of the ugly realities of the history, but goes further as a study in the human capacity for depravity and cruelty, as well as the seeming indifference of the universe towards us.
Apart from the graphic depiction of violence throughout the narrative, the nature of brutality and war are directly addressed and mused upon by Judge Holden; an enigmatic, seemingly inhuman figure who could be interpreted as perhaps being an antichrist or symbolic embodiment of evil.
Beyond all this, this book is worth reading alone for McCarthy's prose style, written with his signature approach of lengthy, unconventionally punctuated sentences, which read aloud have a cadence that is akin to epic, Biblical Old Testament passages.
What most struck me about this novel was the exquisite descriptions of the environment and nature the characters journey through, set in contrast to the sudden but brief outbursts of absurd brutality they inflict.
Can we ever call ourselves good and in harmony with other natural life, which we seem so starkly and disturbingly divorced from?
Apart from the graphic depiction of violence throughout the narrative, the nature of brutality and war are directly addressed and mused upon by Judge Holden; an enigmatic, seemingly inhuman figure who could be interpreted as perhaps being an antichrist or symbolic embodiment of evil.
Beyond all this, this book is worth reading alone for McCarthy's prose style, written with his signature approach of lengthy, unconventionally punctuated sentences, which read aloud have a cadence that is akin to epic, Biblical Old Testament passages.
What most struck me about this novel was the exquisite descriptions of the environment and nature the characters journey through, set in contrast to the sudden but brief outbursts of absurd brutality they inflict.
Can we ever call ourselves good and in harmony with other natural life, which we seem so starkly and disturbingly divorced from?
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes