Search - No Country for Old Men

This book has been made into a movie, and while I would not want to see it, the book made excellent reading. It is exceptionally violent, but McCarthy gets the reader to deeply care about the characters and what is happening to them. His style of writing is at first a litle disconcerting, since he leaves out most punctuation marks, i.e. apostrophies, quotation marks, and even some upper case. This is at first difficult to get used to and at times confusing as to who is actually doing the talking. But there are some pages of conversation that consist of all short sentences, and the reader can appreciate the absence of clutter the quotation marks would create.

The story flows quickly and is exciting. It is told from the perspective of a Texas sheriff who must try to pursue the drug dealers that left bodies in the desert outside his small town. One of the locals, Moss, becomes involved when he takes the drug money he finds at the site of the murders. From then on, it is a case of cat and mouse with Moss attempting to escape the drug overlords who are trying to kill him and get their money back, with the sheriff always just a step behind.

This is the second Cormac McCarthy book I have read. I don't normally read this type of book, but definitly liked the excitement and fast pace. Most of his books are centered in the southwest part of the country - New Mexico, Texas, etc. I will read this author again. D.

I saw the movie first, but even that prior knowledge did not prepare me for the impact of the writing. Spectacular and so totally original. Surprisingly, the movie stays very true to the book (deftly editing for length, of course).

The best part about reading the book, for me, was the narration by the sheriff. It is a person speaking to you, not a character in a book, with all of the 'folksy' turns of phrase and a simple, authentic point of view that makes me want to sit, have a cup of coffee and talk for hours. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

This is a very good story. If there was any confusion after watching the movie, this book will sort it out. I was a little put off by Mccarthy's writing style. He does not use quotation marks, commas, or apostrophes. So during his lengthy character conversations it is hard to keep track of who is talking and if they are talking or if it's narrative. I'm not sure why he likes that style. It's like he's snubbing traditional grammar. That's very iconoclastic but a little ridiculous. I'm not sure I want to read anymore of his work because of this style.

This was a good book. It took me a while to get used to his writing style of no/little punctuation (quotation marks, commas, apostraphies etc.) I was less excited about the parts of the book that were being narrated by the Sheriff than the actual story. I was also very unhappy with how the book ended. Still, it was a good book and I'll see the movie which is supposed to be great and dead on with the book.

This is the first of McCarthy's books I've read. I started to read it about a year ago, gave up on the beginning of it and then picked it up again yesterday. Despite finding the beginning hard to get into, once I started to get to know Moss and his wife and found out what happened with the deaths in the desert, I was on my way to discovering a new author and a different style of writing. I actually didn't notice the lack of punctuation for a while. It made reading easier.

McCarthy's simple style in this book was easy to read and follow. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell's thoughts were some of the best parts of the book for me. Although he struggled with his guilt over what he had done in the war and felt he didn't deserve a medal, he still remained a good man and really loved his wife and was loved in return. It's hard for older people, even though Bell isn't that old, to accept changes around them. Bell hadn't grown up with the drug problem and all the crime and violence that came with it. Now he was in the middle of several murders that occured over a large amount of drugs that were in one of the vehicles and were taken, and a lot of money that Moss had stolen and was on the run to keep. No matter where he went, a murderous man named Chigurh was after him as well as a hit man named Wells. Between the two of them they left a trail of death behind them a mile long.

Some of the things that Moss did didn't make a lot of sense to me. He was good at hiding the money, but not at thinking things through. Did he really think he would get to the point where the two killers wouldn't be looking for him and wouldn't retaliate on others? It was fairly easy to see what was going to happen, especially when he took the hitchhiking girl with him and put her life at risk.

I'm glad I read this book first. I intend to read more of McCarthy's books now that I've read this one. Usually I read the book before seeing the movie, but I saw the movie and want to see it again now that I've read the book. Four stars for this one.

(My amazon review of this book)

McCarty is a fine writer, one who builds his characters in such a way that the reader quickly becomes a friend, foe, victim, or cheerleader. Yet, rarely provides a glimpse of what the character's physical nature is, other than gender. Faulkner did this with many characters, especially 'Eula Varner'.

Far into this book, McCarty carries one major player into the clothing store. He picks out something to wear. For the first time, one sees what the charcter looks like from his clothes' size. Silly example, but demonstrates how the reader pays attention as the pages go by.

McCarty's prose style does stream along too. It's a good read.