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ethanphilion 's review for:
The Crossing
by Cormac McCarthy
I loved the first chapter of this—it reads like its own entire book and was both beautifully written and emotionally rich. There is a dreamlike quality to the story from the beginning that works especially well in the first chapter. From there the writing remains mostly stellar but I gradually stopped feeling attached to the characters and therefore stopped being particularly interested in the book. I still enjoyed the way McCarthy explores the theme of humans and writers reliving and rewriting ancient stories over and over again. Billy’s struggle to find out what actually happened to his brother because his brother’s life became one with an already established tale, told slightly differently over decades throughout Mexico, is really well done. McCarthy is obviously doing this same kind of retelling himself here with a book about a young man’s journey and subsequent loss of innocence. The final scene is compelling. But I wish that that this book had moved along a little more and I found some of the philosophical scenes almost corny rather than compelling.