Looky here ... This is such a great review. Fantastic and bang on point. Suttrree is indeed a masterpiece. I cant fully recall any book ever, I enjoyed as much as Sut. You nailed this review. Perfect .
Great Review, mate. I just finished Suttree yesterday. Being from Germany, a lot of these rarely used or McCarthy invented words added to this disoriented or hallucinatory feel I often get from his work. Blood Meridian is the peak of that for me, as well as my favourite book in gerneral. Yet this one was overwhelming in a lot of ways and after finishing the last page I was almost in tears. Its no sad ending per se, but I felt like it must seem very nice and sweet by McCarthy standards for most people, yet I thought there was something "off" about the car that picked him up without being called and the last inner monologue. Especially since McCarthy went out of his way to specify Suttree lifing his arm to call a cab shortly before this. The humour in this novel is impeccable. All the bits with Harrogate, Suttrees dry persona, etc. Said persona almost reminded me of Bukowski's Henry Chinaski. But then he comes swinging back with this violent, beautiful, almost divine prose that just makes you sit there and marvel at the genius of Cormac McCarthy. P.S. the whole infant son dying and Suttree burying him was some of the most heartbreaking shit put from pen to page man...how does he mange to have all of that content in one book, have that fragmented style of storytelling, yet have it be cohesive and focused? He will be missed for sure. He was to literature what Lemmy was to Rock n Roll.
This is my favorite book. But it is also a book that I struggle to attach an ultimate meaning to. Why is Suttree the way he is? What is he running from? What is he working towards? I feel the answer is hidden somewhere in the hallucinations (with mother she's potion) and the fever dream imagery with his sickness with typhoid. He always felt unworthy because of his survival and the death of his "twin" the anti-Suttree. I think he realizes there was no twin (or perhaps there was what is known as an Irish twin?) when he remembers an infant's funeral in his home when he himself was still a baby. But lol, McCarthy doesn’t exactly paint you a clear picture. He jumbles it up in this dream or spell mother she places on Suttree. Almost like a vision quest of a young native man trying to understand his life's purpose. The death of the bum in Suttree's house boat as a metaphor to the death of Suttree's aimless, vagrant lifestyle but a rebirth from death's door into what? What has Suttree actually learned? That answer is somewhere inside the fever dreams but again McCarthy wants you to work for it. I suspect the interpretations will be different for different people. This is a book I come back to often. It is a joy to read.
Thank you, I am halfway through Suttree. It just grows and grows, the death of his son really broadens the characters' depth. As he adopts sons along the way. I'm so glad I'm reading this (after The Passenger!)
McCarthy is my favorite American author. While Blood Meridian is undoubtedly a masterpiece that i love, Suttree has the power to bring me back for multiple rereads. It absolutely does not get the credit it is due, but i think time will prove Suttree to be McCarthy's 1b to Blood Meridian's 1a.
I bought Suttree by accident via Audible while attempting to purchase No Country, having just finished Blood Meridian. It will likely still be my favorite mistake when it's all said and done. Not only is it a colossal work of literature, but in this case, Richard Poe's narration is unfuckwithable. 'He's Hell when he's well' 'Not a cryin' dime' '...nuthin' - just ...Gene,.' It succeds so well in putting me in a world so innocent and so cruell at the same time. It drops the reader in a fledgling post WWII America where a ne'er-do-well can go two towns over and write bad paper all day long. I've read Suttree 5 times, but I'm never ready for the hunter to release his hounds and end it.
Suttree is, in my opinion, without a doubt his greatest work along with Blood Meridian. It is FAR better than The Road or No Country
Looky here ... This is such a great review. Fantastic and bang on point. Suttrree is indeed a masterpiece. I cant fully recall any book ever, I enjoyed as much as Sut. You nailed this review. Perfect .
Great Review, mate.
I just finished Suttree yesterday.
Being from Germany, a lot of these rarely used or McCarthy invented words added to this disoriented or hallucinatory feel I often get from his work. Blood Meridian is the peak of that for me, as well as my favourite book in gerneral. Yet this one was overwhelming in a lot of ways and after finishing the last page I was almost in tears. Its no sad ending per se, but I felt like it must seem very nice and sweet by McCarthy standards for most people, yet I thought there was something "off" about the car that picked him up without being called and the last inner monologue. Especially since McCarthy went out of his way to specify Suttree lifing his arm to call a cab shortly before this.
The humour in this novel is impeccable. All the bits with Harrogate, Suttrees dry persona, etc. Said persona almost reminded me of Bukowski's Henry Chinaski. But then he comes swinging back with this violent, beautiful, almost divine prose that just makes you sit there and marvel at the genius of Cormac McCarthy.
P.S. the whole infant son dying and Suttree burying him was some of the most heartbreaking shit put from pen to page man...how does he mange to have all of that content in one book, have that fragmented style of storytelling, yet have it be cohesive and focused? He will be missed for sure. He was to literature what Lemmy was to Rock n Roll.
This is my favorite book. But it is also a book that I struggle to attach an ultimate meaning to. Why is Suttree the way he is? What is he running from? What is he working towards? I feel the answer is hidden somewhere in the hallucinations (with mother she's potion) and the fever dream imagery with his sickness with typhoid. He always felt unworthy because of his survival and the death of his "twin" the anti-Suttree. I think he realizes there was no twin (or perhaps there was what is known as an Irish twin?) when he remembers an infant's funeral in his home when he himself was still a baby. But lol, McCarthy doesn’t exactly paint you a clear picture. He jumbles it up in this dream or spell mother she places on Suttree. Almost like a vision quest of a young native man trying to understand his life's purpose. The death of the bum in Suttree's house boat as a metaphor to the death of Suttree's aimless, vagrant lifestyle but a rebirth from death's door into what? What has Suttree actually learned? That answer is somewhere inside the fever dreams but again McCarthy wants you to work for it. I suspect the interpretations will be different for different people. This is a book I come back to often. It is a joy to read.
Thank you, I am halfway through Suttree. It just grows and grows, the death of his son really broadens the characters' depth. As he adopts sons along the way. I'm so glad I'm reading this (after The Passenger!)
Get ye a drink Sut.
Dont forget the n word dogs at the very end, made me laugh
@@bobhonkhonk9843"Why did Murrikaners used to carry gentleman's pistols commonly?" Well, that might be one reason why.
Hobo asceticism and Keltic "magic" ancestral memory
McCarthy is my favorite American author. While Blood Meridian is undoubtedly a masterpiece that i love, Suttree has the power to bring me back for multiple rereads. It absolutely does not get the credit it is due, but i think time will prove Suttree to be McCarthy's 1b to Blood Meridian's 1a.
My favorite book
The part where Harrogate almost kills himself with sewage.
I bought Suttree by accident via Audible while attempting to purchase No Country, having just finished Blood Meridian.
It will likely still be my favorite mistake when it's all said and done.
Not only is it a colossal work of literature, but in this case, Richard Poe's narration is unfuckwithable.
'He's Hell when he's well'
'Not a cryin' dime'
'...nuthin' - just ...Gene,.'
It succeds so well in putting me in a world so innocent and so cruell at the same time.
It drops the reader in a fledgling post WWII America where a ne'er-do-well can go two towns over and write bad paper all day long.
I've read Suttree 5 times, but
I'm never ready for the hunter to release his hounds and end it.