A review by jnzllwgr
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

4.0

Probably my least favorite of the 11 books I’ve now ready of McCarthy. One thing picked up on, however, and worth contemplating was how CMcC is the master of the unstated/inferred. This has tripped me up in the past and it certainly did this time. Sometimes, major hinge points of the story seem to occur between the lines of text, or “off stage” if you will. This is readily observed in the final moments of Blood Meridian where the death of the primary character is so subtle almost to be missed without re-reading the passage a couple times. And it certainly happens here. I struggled to understand what motivated the brother and sister at times. This could be considered a strength or a weakness of his stories, I suppose: giving the reader space to contemplate and color outside of the barest edges of the imagery or potentially losing someone entirely. Anybody else make this observation?