No Country for Old Men
In his blistering new novel, Cormac McCarthy returns to the Texas-Mexico border, setting of his famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones. One day, a good old boy named Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law--in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell--can contain. As Moss tries to evade his pursuers--in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives--McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning's headlines. No Country for Old Men is a triumph. (From the Trade Paperback edition)
Stats for nerds
18recommend
44mentions
39people
2015–2026years
41% recommend52% neutral7% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I can’t resist an invocation:)
Most of these are old since I’ve been reading more articles these days but here are a few good books or series I’ve read more than twice: The Hobbit, LOTR, the Silmarillion, Neuromancer, the Chronicles of Narnia, Hong Lou Meng, The Heart Sutra, The Bhagavad Gita, The Tao De Ching, The Wheel of Time series, No country for old men, Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, The Way of Kings, The Talisman, the Dark Tower Series, and The Prophet.
- > I actually read the first book and it was so poorly written it made me wonder if I should continue
In his defense, that was early in his career, and in one of the countless afterwords or prefaces, he also mentions that he has, of course, evolved since then.
"The Gunslinger" is really a bit borderline. The next one, "The Drawing of the Three" is much more complex and better written. You could also read the last book first ("The Wind Through the Keyhole"); it’s separate from the main story and set somewhere in between, but it’s the final book.
> Cormac McCarthy
No country for old men? Its probably in my top 5 of all the books (and movies) that I read. A masterpiece.
Edit: i realized i mixed the names up. Its not black, its "The Gunslinger". Its translated as black in the german series and confused me.
- "Child of God?" You started at just about the darkest, least approachable place. Try "No Country for Old Men" or "All the Pretty Horses," both of which are far easier to read and contemplate.
- I have a Random House audiobook version of the trilogy read by Brad Pitt. His Spanish pronunciation isn't great (although better than mine) but I enjoy his quiet voice and slightly careworn delivery. It's abridged, though, and I wanted to read the whole work.
The Recorded Books recordings of The Road and No Country for Old Men narrated by Tom Stechschulte are very good too.
- Read The Border Trilogy first (a coming-of-age story set on the US-Mexico border):
Then Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men.* All the Pretty Horses * The Crossing * Cities of the Plain - I came across his work far too late and am catching up, having only read The Road Blood Meridian, and No Country for Old Men so far. I've never read an author who can paint such a vivid picture in my mind with so few words. I wasn't much of a fiction reader prior to picking up his work, and it's certainly reignited a love of reading for me.
His books don't resonate with a good number of friends, and I can understand why. But for me it's a strange mix of dark and comforting, with words that make my neurons dance like they're listening to jazz.
