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/lit/ - Literature

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727532 No.727532 [Reply] [Original]

Just finished this, /lit/

Opinions?

>> No.727553

I liked it. Not as compelling as his later stuff, but certainly worth anybody's time.

>> No.728353

>>727532
Any dead babies in it?

>> No.728377

Men are born for games . . . Games of chance require awager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve theskill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation ofdefeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficientstake because they inhere in the worth of the principals anddefine them. But trial of chance or trial of worth all gamesaspire to the condition of war for here that which is wageredswallows up game, player, all.

>> No.728380

Orchard Keeper is probably the last McCarthy book I intend to read (there's also the Crossing perhaps), if I ever see it around.

>> No.728381
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728381

In that sleep and in sleeps to follow the judge did visit. Who would come other? A great shambling mutant, silent and serene. Whatever his antecedents, he was something wholly other than their sum, nor was there system by which to divide him back into his origins for he would not go. Whoever would seek out his history through what unraveling of loins and ledgerbooks must stand at last darkened and dumb at the shore of a void without terminus or origin and whatever science he might bring to bear upon the dusty primal matter blowing down out of the millennia will discover no trace of ultimate atavistic egg by which to reckon his commencing.

>> No.728384

Only McCarthy I've read was Child of God; shit was so cash.

>> No.728392

Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak. Historical law subverts it at every turn.

>> No.728459

>>728384
That book was so depressing it is unbelievable.

>> No.728466

>>728459
Not neeearly as depressing as Outer Dark. Nothing good happens to anyone in that book.

>> No.728471

>>728466
Cormac McCarthy's stories are all grim really. I heard Suttree was actually funny though..

>> No.728483

>>728471
Suttree has funny parts, but I wouldn't say that Suttree is generally 'funny.' Mostly the book has a kind of contemplative, melancholy feel. In my opinion, Suttree is McCarthy's best book, followed by Blood Meridian.

And as for all of McCarthy's books being grim: you're right, obviously. Even so (and I've read everything the guy's written), I still think Outer Dark is the bleakest thing he ever wrote. I could summarize the plot for you and I think you'd agree, but I don't want to ruin the details for people who haven't read it.

>> No.728492

>>728483
I read that Suttree was suppose to be like Huckleberry Finn. (On the back of the back). Is that true. There really isn't really a good summary for the plot online.

>> No.728501

>>728483
Even the usual glimmer of hope he has at the end of his books (the road, epilogue of BM) isn't in Outer Dark. It's just....dark.

>> No.728532

>>728466

Outer Dark had the gloomiest last page I ever read. It put me in a weird state for about a day and a half, and the image is still firmly pressed into my brain. That said, I think McCarthy on the whole can be real pretentious.

>>728492

Well it's about a guy who lives on a riverboat, and encounters a series of misadventures. I guess it's Huckleberry'ish.

>> No.728601

>>728532
I don't think that McCarthy is really that pretentious--he uses some big words, but that's about it...the themes he tackles are really huge and sometimes complicated, but I don't think that the complication of his narratives equals being pretentious.

>> No.728624

>>728532
I really don't see pretension in McCarthy. His prose can be purple and his subject matter can be melodramatic, but that's hardly the same thing, and he is always entertaining. If you've ever read his interviews or seen what to my knowledge is his only one on video with Oprah (!), he has manner that seems not remotely grandiose and he has never made any special claims of his work.

>> No.728633

>>728601

Personally I don't think he's a great storyteller or great thinker, which has the effect of rendering those grand gnostic visions and run-on sentences superfluous. He can describe a landscape and the people in it, but the people don't have inner lives. Suttree was probably an exception though, and for some all the above is probably besides the point; but I need introspection and social relevance.

>> No.728635

>>728633
Hmm, I definitely like what you have to say about the introspection...I did wish there was more of that in McCarthy. However, the social relevance does not seem like something McCarthy does a lot, at least in his earlier novels, which seem to focus more on how possible being an actual individual in society actually is.

>> No.728636 [DELETED] 

So he's not psychological enough for you and thus pretentious? I don't think you know what pretentious means bro.

>> No.728640

>>728633
So he's not psychological enough for you and thus pretentious? I don't think you know what pretentious means bro.

>> No.728656

>>728640
Good point.

>> No.728691

>>728640

I suspect if he did try psychological depth and complex motives, it'd be kind of embarrassing and not worth reading. As I said, he's skilled at visual prose, but unless you subscribe to a backwards or misanthropic outlook there's not much else in the way of substance or tension. I think Blood Meridian brought me round to this, but I did enjoy reading Suttree and Outer Dark as mentioned.

People compare him to Melville but I don't there's any comparison at all in that regard, unless they think archaic equals depth.

>> No.728695

>>728691

Good point. This next novel he's working on sounds really interesting. The main character tries to come to grips with the suicide of his sister in New Orleans.

>> No.728706
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728706

>>728633

> I need introspection and social relevance.

This for you

>> No.728714

>>728706

You should probably give that to the guys in the suicide threads too.

>> No.728723

>>728706
+1

>> No.728739

>>728706

I wasn't even aware of this one. Cheers.

>> No.729617

>>728633
I don't think he'd ever do introspection (except in Suttree which is supposedly autobiographical) because I don't think it would jive with the way he writes. In a god's eye-view. Seeing people more like ants instead of people.
Child of God is basically a character study (sorta) of Ballard and him trying to fit himself into a society that will always condemn him. That NEEDS to condemn him. But we never get into his thoughts a whole lot.
I think McCarthy tries to deal with broader themes most of the time though....