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A review by huerca_armada
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
5.0
"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?"
Life really has a way of culminating into single points. That's what life is once you get down to it; a collection of tiny little points that you arrive at, are arriving at, will arrive at, and have arrived at. An arrival at one forecasts an arrival at another - life isn't subject to big and swift turns often, but rather a slow and gradual creep of those points down across the years, like a length of chain. Every small movement prods one down a pathway from which there can be no deviation. What sort of free will is there when this is already determined? Just how much can you truly say there is to the randomness of a coin toss?
Such is the central core of McCarthy's most famous novel, adapted into a Coen Brothers film in 2007 and which won critical acclaim for its direction. Llewelyn Moss's discovery of a drug deal gone sour in the Texas-Mexican desert border is the catalyst for the story, sure -- but in terms of the plot itself, the wick was burning long ago. And as much as the character of Moss attempts to escape the ultimate fate that his track has put him towards, he is never able to truly break free.
There is unfortunately far too much to write about with regards to this seminal novel. McCarthy very much remains in a league of his own, unassailable in his perch. Oppressive nihilism has never been more captivating.
Life really has a way of culminating into single points. That's what life is once you get down to it; a collection of tiny little points that you arrive at, are arriving at, will arrive at, and have arrived at. An arrival at one forecasts an arrival at another - life isn't subject to big and swift turns often, but rather a slow and gradual creep of those points down across the years, like a length of chain. Every small movement prods one down a pathway from which there can be no deviation. What sort of free will is there when this is already determined? Just how much can you truly say there is to the randomness of a coin toss?
Such is the central core of McCarthy's most famous novel, adapted into a Coen Brothers film in 2007 and which won critical acclaim for its direction. Llewelyn Moss's discovery of a drug deal gone sour in the Texas-Mexican desert border is the catalyst for the story, sure -- but in terms of the plot itself, the wick was burning long ago. And as much as the character of Moss attempts to escape the ultimate fate that his track has put him towards, he is never able to truly break free.
There is unfortunately far too much to write about with regards to this seminal novel. McCarthy very much remains in a league of his own, unassailable in his perch. Oppressive nihilism has never been more captivating.