Robin's Reviews > No Country for Old Men

2022 re-read:

My thoughts are much the same as when I read this four years ago, except that I love it even more than I did the first time around. Up it goes to five stars, even though I still find the ending somewhat "blathering" and still think that there could have been a lot less chewing of the cud (there's a shockingly huge amount) to round up the book.

Why five stars now? I think this time I appreciated Sheriff Bell's parts more. I finally understood that the book was really about him and his (failed?) attempt to bring some good into the world, rather than about Chigurh or Moss, as compelling as those two are.

I think I appreciated more what a marvel this book is, how it is riveting but also deeply arresting, because it's about the mystery of life. Cormac McCarthy shows his impressive skills here. Dialogue to die for. A vision of evil unparalleled in all literature.

In addition to the many leisurely chapters that he gives Bell and his thoughts at the end of the book, he goes against the often agreed upon wisdom of not ending a narrative with a dream. But that just goes to show McCarthy can do what he damn well wants, because he's that good. The ending, that dream, is a thing of beauty, and this book goes on my favourites shelf because I just can't stop thinking about it.

Original 2018 review:

This is No Book for Tender Hearts. No Book for Gore Haters. No Book for Punctuation Police.

But hot damn, it's a great book. I was worried that it might be dwarfed by the exceptional movie version, but then I read three pages and was completely in the hands of this writer. Yes, he writes without punctuation, in clipped, incomplete sentences. His voice is often and easily parodied. It didn't bother me, though. The bare, unsentimental style suits this ruthless 1980s cowboy story. There's almost no interiority here, by which I mean the author describing his characters' inner turmoil or thoughts. There's no big backstory or even much physical description. There's just action, killer action, and some of the best dialogue out there, which tells us pretty much all we need to know.

Llewelyn Moss chances upon something that doesn't belong to him (fatal mistake #1) and then returns to the scene (fatal mistake #2) which sets the murderous story rolling along. Anton Chigurh is probably the most heartless villain ever written (if you can think of one worse, tell me!), and is hot on his trail in this vicious game of cat and mouse. When I say vicious, believe me. This should come with a rating of R for extreme violence.

The themes of randomness and chance come up many times, as depicted by Chigurh and his dreaded coin. The shape of your path was visible from the beginning.

Also, the big, dark question of destiny is answered bleakly:

Your notions about startin over. Or anybody's. You dont start over. That's what it's about. Ever step you take is forever. You cant make it go away. None of it.

Sheriff Bell is always a few steps behind, and is the source of all interiority in the book. He's disillusioned with the world. And who can blame him, after he sees the trail left by Chigurh and his terrifying air-gun-thing. The author speckles the Sheriff's thoughts throughout the book, in short, italicised chapters. They provide a sort of moral anchor to the book, which is necessary and works for the most part, but becomes too much towards the end. When all the spectacular action has wrapped up, when all the dead people are dead and the ones that survive have survived, somehow we are forced to keep reading more thoughts from the Sheriff - about how bad the world is, his experiences in the war, and other subtleties that are probably very meaningful but to which I became immune because by that point my interest had waned down to a disappointed blip.

How this book could be so razor-sharp and then so blathering brought down my review a star. Just a star, because it's SO good, it's worth reading. But just be forewarned. It needs the cardio-conversion paddles towards the end.