Bad reading habits and why Cormac McCarthy should be more Elmore Leonard
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Book review of All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy contrasting his prose to that of Elmore Leonard
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I struggled with McCarthy for awhile until I eventually gave in to the lugubrious style of his. Now I just love it. It's like prose poems more than fiction. But I think you either love the style or it drives you crazy.
It definitely drove me crazy in this book, but I can see how it could work in the right book read at the right time.
I remember him saying that he only writes about death, because that's the most important thing in life - or something á la that.
@@CriminOllyBlogthe first book of his I read was The Road at my moms over a weekend and I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing style added to the bleak apocalyptic story and the less being described helped actually paint the picture better. I read No Country For Old Men last year and I didn’t realize that he wrote all his stories like that, and even though I really like the story, the way of writing kind of bothered me. I can’t read his books in public or around noise, it makes it hard to focus on what’s being said and what’s being told. I’m reading Blood Meridian right now and I’m enjoying the style more than I used to, it’s very odd but again the less being described helps paint the picture in a fuller way, and the main protagonist not having a name adds to the bleak bloody west that the story takes place in
@@bluegherkins Yeah he definitely requires a lot of attention - his writing style is incredibly dense
This is a long comment which you are free to ignore. It's interesting that you mentioned the Spanish portions, because I'm convinced that's precisely why McCarthy's stylistic choices have never bothered me: Spanish doesn't use quotation marks to denote dialogue, so I have never really been reliant on that kind of punctuation to navigate a text.
I think his style (which has a word for it, but that word is really long and I can never remember it, "poly" something) is one that I have really only ever seen replicated in another text: The Bible. They are both told with that constant use of conjunctions ("And God said onto him, and he did hear, and he did go and he did this and he did that"), and it creates this very strange experience of being "led" through a course of actions, rather than "experiencing" its representation for yourself. Erich Auerbach writes about this Biblical style extensively in his work on mimesis, if you are interested! But something tells me you're not lol.
I will agree, those who describe McCarthy's style as "simplistic" are clearly wrong. It is incredibly ornate with a particular style, only his style substracts rather than piles on, but it is very deliberate and carefully crafted. Apparently, he simply found quotation marks aesthetically unpleasing. What an asshole! I personally don't think McCarthy is looking to pay homage to simplistic westerns, but rather devilishly dismantle them. He is quite a curious figure in American literature. Also, I just realized I wrote this long fucking comment, yet I've never even read All the Pretty Horses lmao. However, I think his style is present in most of his work, most of which I have enjoyed. I wouldn't recommend Blood Meridian to you, since I wouldn't recommend his work to anyone, for I know better, but that is the one I personally consider his masterpiece. By the sound of it, though, All the Pretty Horses is less chaotic in style than Blood Meridian, so there's that!
As always your insight is fascinating, Juan. You’re absolutely right about the style being biblical. I wonder why that is why it didn’t bother me in The Road, but did here?
I do have Blood Meridian on my kindle I think, and No Country for Old Men. I’ll probably give him another go at some point, but this definitely wasn’t the right time for me and his very particular style.
I feel like I love his style when he's not telling that compelling a story, since I can just sit in it and enjoy the sentences as prose poetry. But if there's a real story, and I want him to get on with it and tell the thing, it becomes a bit more onerous.
I believe you are referring to polysyndeton ! : )
Blood Meridian is McCarthy at his most self-indulgent.
Brilliant work, but you have to get into a very McCarthy frame of mind to get through the writing style.
Not sure why Elmore Leonard’s rules are gospel and have to apply to every author. Yes, Cormac is verbose when describing actions, however his characters don’t just make tea; they perform acts that have since been lost to history and the descriptions of such are almost archaeological. Yes, the paragraphs are run on sentences, but that’s how people talk and describe things and the punctuation of such is a waste of time and would add nothing to the spirit of the prose.
Currently re-reading the Border Trilogy after binging all of Cormac's books 10 years ago.
I have always liked McCarthy's style, I read his stuff mainly for the descriptions of places and scenery and I just ride along with the story. I like the long descriptions and getting lost in them but even then sometimes I think he is taking the mick.
As a fan of eating tortillas and drinking coffee All the Pretty Horses gets a thumbs up from me.
I don't speak Spanish but I think in that case you are just like Rawlins, you know a little and have to get the gist from what is happening around you in the book.
Mc Carthy is the only fiction author that has captivated me in adulthood. I just read non-fiction otherwise. If that means anything.
I like the movie Revenant for the same reasons i like McCarthy. Huge beautiful shots of nature, then some fallen humans scalping each other and toiling under the sun, oh look a mountain stream.
I've read Blood Meridian more recently and liked that a lot. I'm definitely keen to try more of his work, but this one didn't work for me at the time
i was never into western novels but blood meridian really drew me to him. i dont think its his take on westerns its how he paints a scene in his writing. outer dark really felt like i was in applachia as did blood meridian i felt like i was in mexico.
If you want a more readable McCarthy book, go with No Country for Old Men. That's a great novel. The Road was also good, as you mentioned. But I couldn't even finish Outer Dark, as there barely seemed to be a plot. McCarthy's worst piece of writing, however was his screenplay for The Counselor. Some of the most impenetrable dialogue ever put on film.
I have No Country for Old Men on my Kindle - might give it a read soon!
I just finished the book and I so very much agree with everything you've said in this review. As you said, it felt superficial and I found myself not connected to anything that should've been interesting.
I was reading this book about horses and thinking about reading about dogs and dogs are great though they are not horses at all and not relevant so that caused me to not pay enough attention though I would if it had been about dogs. I have to say, this guy writes a lot better than I do. But then, so does my dog.
Fantastic video as always. 👋 Hey! Pay attention! I’m writing here!
😂😂😂
I picked up my first McCarthy book and am jumping right into Blood Meridian. I am not a big reader, I haven't read tons of books in my life and I'm quite slow, but I'm reading more and more these days. Reading Blood Meridian was probably the first time I felt like I was enjoying how the writer wrote. I find that I enjoy not having quotations during the dialogue parts as well as the sections where he does sort of go on and on about this and that and this and then this. Not sure why, but it all clicks and his writing style feels very comfortable for me and beautiful and so very very vivid. I'm only about half way through though, but really curious to try some of his other works. :)
Thanks for this video though, I will probably give All The Pretty Horses a go at some point I'm sure. I think I want to read The Road next.
I found for me that both Blood Meridian and The Road worked a lot better than All the Pretty Horses
Thank you for putting words on the problem with Cormac McCarthy writing. I read No country for Old men (and loved it), but I DNF'ed Blood Meridian. Though there is great atmosphere, the repetition gets to me, and especially the bad habit of answering a question with a repeat of that question.
You nailed it. I kept coming up with "poor user-friendliness" for Cormac's writing. Also, because he nonchalant switches to Spanish with no regard for the reader. If you don't know Spanish; tough on you.
Poor user friendliness about sums it up! (Sorry for the huge delay in replying!)
I really enjoyed your review and agree totally that the style he is using alienates the reader. I have read this book plus Blood Meridian and The Road and feel this is a trait you can observe throughout his work though I think it reaches its height in a detrimental way in this book. The western I would recommend is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. You feel very engrossed with the story about driving cattle from Texas to Montana and every character is so well realized that you immediately feel engaged with them and the same can be said for the way he conjures up the environment and the action. If your subscribers only ever read one western novel then make it Lonesome Dove! Keep up the great work Olly.
Yes I really loved Lonesome Dove, a truly wonderful book.
i've read Blood Meridian since filming this review and I liked that a lot more.
Sorry for the late reply!
McCarthy doesn't subordinate his clauses or use punctuation. Simple as.
I find it it creates a rhythmicality that's entrancing.
I really hated it in All the Pretty Horses, but I’ve since read Blood Meridian and I actually really liked that.
You're not alone, Olly, in your chagrin of All the Pretty Horses. It was the first McCarthy book I tried to read but I just couldn't get in to it. I recall getting a free copy with GQ magazine back in 1992 and my friends telling me it was an excellent read. It's fair to say I did not see eye to eye with their endorsements. In fact, the book almost put me off reading anymore McCarthy. That is until I bought Blood Meridian and took it away with me on holiday. What a fantastic read! Blood Meridian reignited the whole gory Western genre and I highly recommend it as your next McCarthy read.
That's fascinating to hear! Blood Meridian was indeed my next McCarthy read - I read it in June and really really liked it.
He did not force you to skip anything.
He made it hard for me not to. I have subsequently read 4 other books by him and liked them a lot more, so may revisit this one
I started with Blood Meridian and just fell in love with how he writes though it isn't for everyone (helps that I'm learning Spanish) I must say though that it's very explicitly mentioned it's 1949 and you not being able to remember what state it's set in is a little odd as it's stated throughout
I've actually read Blood Meridian since really liked it!
@@CriminOllyBlog I would have thought that one was more up your street, it's blown me away and The Judge has been in my head ever since. Also finished In The Miso Soup yesterday which I really enjoyed
@@tommortlock8783 Yeah the Judge is an amazing character
@@CriminOllyBlog I remember when I finished thinking that this is what Randall Flagg should have been and wasn't. I just finished Child Of God by McCarthy which is highly recommend, it will be a very quick read but it's very good imo
@@tommortlock8783 Totally agree re Flagg. I didn't love Child of God as much as Blood Meridian, but agree it was good
This is one of my favourite books and I had a polar opposite experience of it to you, but that tea skit was hilarious 🥲
I do need to give it another try I think, as I loved Blood Meridian
@@CriminOllyBlog Whilst hearing your point about it pulling you out of the text, if you do read again, Googling "All the pretty horses Spanish" brings up PDF docs where fans have translated those sections, matching them to page numbers. Thanks again for the vid
Ah that sounds like it would be useful
So you weren't equipped to read the book 0lly. Doesn't reflect on the writer or writing
Yeah I did go on a bit in this one.
"And then I slowly put the barrel of the gun in my mouth..." Lol 😅
😂
Easy as vomit to talk anything about the work of others.
I've found that listening to his work on audiobook can sometimes be more enjoyable. It can give the polysyndetic style ("and...and...and") the rhythm and momentum that is the purpose of writing that way to begin with.
His style isn't for everyone though. The emotional detachment from characters and events will leave some readers cold, but it works for me.
Curious why you bother to read books you don’t like. Can’t you accept that this just isn’t your style but might actually be pretty amazing for someone else? It seems rather arrogant to talk about his writing as if it’s somehow objectively flawed, just because the style didn’t please you personally. I mean the man did receive a Pulitzer after all, among many other prestigious awards.
Well, I'd previously had a good experience with him so I thought I'd give it a fair shot. I've actually subsequently read 2 more things by him (Child of God and Blood Meridian) and liked them a lot more than I did All the Pretty Horses. This probably was one of my more hyperbolic videos to be fair!
Brother...if you didn't get it, just say you didn't get it. Like some people don't get jazz. It might help to try Child of God.
😂 actually I just read Blood Meridian this month and I liked that one a lot more. There’s a review up on the channel somewhere
@@CriminOllyBlog Good of you to respond. Thanks. Glad to hear you have done Blood Meridian...what a book, right? To bolster my previous comment some, I must add that the second or third time through is when I get some stuff. DFW's Infinite Jest, as an example...those damned endnotes. Then I got the tennis thing. Back and forth, back and forth...! As for Jazz, Ornette Coleman...took me a while to realize I wasn't listening properly. Anyways, good luck with the channel. B
@@brentkozak7025 "Didn't like it" is a way more accurate framing than "didn't get it" because "didn't get it" kinda insinuates "didn't understand it" which is a shallowly pompous stance when it comes to McCarthy because he's not hard to understand at all on any level whatsoever.
@@okyouknowwhatever Sorry you didn't get it.
I read this in 2021 after hearing great things about Cormac McCarthy. I totally agree with you, I really didn’t like it. The pages of Spanish dialogue were the final straw, at least 40% of the dialogue was Spanish. Overly bloated and not ‘reader friendly’. Elmore Leonard much better :)
If you ever want to pick up Blood Meridian, I suggest to listening to the audiobook...
Thank you, I'l bear that in mind.
Reminds me of how I feel about Hemingway. Can't get on board with the style at all, it feels like work to read. I read The Road by McCarthy wayyyy back and remember liking the story but also struggling to enjoy the writing style.
Yeah I've struggled with Hemingway as well
I think All the Pretty horses has run its course, for me ;)
I haven’t read All the Pretty Horses yet, but I have read three of McCarthy’s other books (The Road, No Country for Old Me, and Blood Meridian). I know that you’ve read Blood Meridian and I seem to remember that you enjoyed it. I would be interested in hearing your view of the differences in McCarthy’s writing in Pretty Horses and Blood Meridian.
My favorite McCarthy book so far is No Country for Old Men. It’s been a couple of years since I read it, but I recall enjoying the story of the law officer intertwined with the violence of the other characters. I thought a lot about people’s motivations for killing.
No Country was first written as a screenplay, and so the writing is tighter than, say, Blood Meridian.
One of the things I hated most about All the Pretty Horses was the listing thing, which seemed far less prevalent in Blood Meridian.
I'm reading another of his books soon so will see how that compares.
I haven’t got around to reading no country yet. I’ve seen the movie, which I love. Is the movie faithful to the book?
@@wexfordrob It's easily the most faithful screen adaptation of a novel that I've ever seen. I did the opposite of you, read first, and wasn't at all disappointed in the movie. There was one really excellent scene in the book that wasn't in the movie, actually my favorite bit of dialogue, but it was an understandable cut. It's in my top 10 films of the 2000s, even prefer it to the other big masterpiece from the same year, There Will Be Blood, even though PTA is my favorite filmmaker overall.
All The Pretty Horses has been on my TBR for a while. Interesting comments about the writing and comparisons to Leonard. 😊💙
Lots of people seem to love it, but it really wasn't for me!
“Which to me was a waste of time” thanks for reminding me that brit opinions on westerns don’t matter
😂 my pleasure
I've read Blood Meridian and I have to say that Cormac is the David Lynch of authors..
He does stuff for himself.
That’s probably true. I read Blood Meridian in the summer and I did like it a lot more than this one
The best artists do
I never could get on board with McCarthy’s writing style.
Yeah, I subsequently read Blood Meridian and liked that a lot more
That’s unfortunate. It’s beautifully written. It’s a little harder of a read without proper punctuation and use of quotations but just using common sense really and slowing down and figuring out where the punctuation should be isn’t hard at all and doesn’t take a way from the book. If anything it helps for the story to sink in better. Hopefully one day you’ll give blood Meridian a read.
Just finished this book and as always I read/watch some reviews afterwards to see what other people thought. First time coming across your channel and I have to say I agreed with everything you said. Like you, I had only read the Road before this and loved it, so I was excited to read more of his work. But by the end it just felt like a chore - especially the Spanish bringing you out of the text (I kept looking up a PDF translation). I kept 'wanting' to enjoy it, but can't truly say I did. It was my goal this year to get back into reading and read many books I hadn't read so far in my life. Having just finished All the Pretty Horses I have just started Of Mice and Men and I'm relieved to be welcomed by Steinbeck's tone once again. Now that some time has passed, were there any other McCarthy books that you have read that you enjoyed as much as The Road?
The crossing is so much better so far in my current read
Ah that’s good to know!
There are different levels you can take most of these books, I'm sure. You can parse every detail if you want, or you can just graze right through it.
Mark Twain once took several paragraphs to describe coats of arms (family crest type-things popular in Europe) in painstaking detail -- the escutcheon, quartering, whatever. He knew most people wouldn't know what the fuck he was talking about.
I guess he did it as a joke --
Yeah I am going to try another one by him, Blood Meridian, so will see how I get on with that
cormac is the greatest american author. faulkner. but good
I've subsequently read Blood Meridian and thought that was excellent. Next up is Child of God
'Describes like listing' interesting that Cormac never uses semi-colons because they should only be used when listing things!
You've completely missed the artistic nature of his prose. This book is a masterpiece
I really didn't like it. BUT I have subsequently read Blood Meridian, which I thought was great, so I may go back to it at some point
@@CriminOllyBlog Great to hear. Blood Meridian is certainly his best work and my favorite. Suttree and The Crossing are second and third in my mind.
@@trendby4496 I'm reading Blood Meridian right now (300 pages in) and it's absolutely terrible. Not only is the language contrived and pompously pretentious garbage but the only fleshed out character in the story is a supernatural comic book-esque type of supervillain you would normally find in the Marvel Universe or something. Funnily enough though I very much liked Moby Dick by Herman Melville, which apparently is the favorite book of the author behind Blood Meridian.
No. No. It’s not.
@@okyouknowwhatever I like how often the word "pretentious" is thrown around. You'd think a critically-acclaimed, multi-award winning writer would know their way around language, and would be in their element using eloquent, stylized and artistic speech, but not according to a dude on UA-cam. Also, I don't think your other criticism is very strong. Not every story needs to be super character-driven and character-focused. That's not the point of BM in the first place. To me, the sociological entity of Glanton's Gang, as well as The Judge, were easily some of the most intriguing things I've ever read about. To try and pretend that they're in the same league as Marvel villains is real pretentiousness, if I've ever seen it.
So, I'm sensing you may not have enjoyed this one ...
Marshal McCluhan was a voracious reader and only ever read pages on the right hand side ie only every second page!
Excellent review with many astute observations. I also find a lot of his writing to be boring, repetitive and quite pretentious (passages in Spanish without translation, dialogue without punctuation etc.) and lacking in depth. Overrated, overwrought.
If you have a ridiculous opinion it’s best not to announce it to the world. It saves you the embarrassment
😂
oh I can't stand him. His books are so bad I can't even listen to his Audiobooks. Cities of the Plains, Full of violence, grossly described. The roping of dogs and the description
Yeah his prose style certainly takes some getting used to!
Thanks for watching and sorry it’s taken me so long to reply!
I have written one short story like that, but not more than 5,000 words. It becomes tedious, but many literary writings are full of this stuff.
Yeah in a short story I think it would work well, but when it's a whole novel it gets old quickly!
Kind of an awful book. Seems some people love anything with horses. Why do people keep pushing this as a great book? It’s got some fine writing in parts but overhyped.
Yeah I definitely didn't think it lived up to the hype
I am mystified by McCarthy's success. Stylistically, he's awful. I noticed the whole "and ... and ... and ... and" thing in The Road. It read like the work of an amateur. Total absence of artistry. His avoidance of quotation marks for dialogue only created confusion. What's the upside to this bizarre style? None.
Yeah, it seems strange to me too. And yet he's very successful and critically lauded, so he must be doing something right!
The arrogance and ignorance in this post is startling. You need to revise your definition of artistry man.
Good luck changing my mind by starting with a personal attack.
@@architchaudhary1285 thanks for watching 🙃
@@darrylsloan Just stating an observation. Not trying to change your mind or anything.