Quote:
Originally Posted by TimBone
I found out about McCarthy after both No Country and The Road became movies. I've went back and forth on whether to read something from him because I loved No Country but hated The Road.
Got a book recommendation for me?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NewChief
All the Pretty Horses is nice and not too insane.
Blood Meridian if you want to dive into the deep end.
The Road, imo, really isn't indicative of the rest of his work.
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AtPH is probably his best, but I REALLY liked Blood Meridian. Difference being, I read AtPH hardcover, . . . and listened to Blood Meridian on tape while on long trips, so I consumed it passively, in 3-4 hour chunks, a week or two at a time.
So I can't speak to NC's 'off the deep end' remark, except it really is a descent into a hellscape. Basically deeper and deeper doo-doo in the lawless old west. Think if Apocalypse Now was set in the Mexico territories.
But it stuck with me and I enjoyed it a lot.
And I agree, The Road is a much more sparse, spare, dire work.
If I were starting new, I'd warm up with Elmore Leonard shorts, then move to AtPH, then BM, then The Road from Cormac.
BEP's recommendation of McCourt will seem like a fellow traveller to McCarthy, McMurtry and Leonard, though he has a vastly different, autobiographical, story to tell.