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THE PASSENGER | Cormac McCarthy | Review

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  • Опубліковано 31 жов 2022
  • CONTAINS SPOILERS - Cormac McCarthy just released a new novel, so I couldn't resist posting a short review. The Passenger (to be followed by Stella Maris in December) will most likely be the last works we get from one of America's greatest writers. The books includes themes of uncertainty, paranoia, chaos, and hallucination, and plenty of that unmistakably-Cormac-level language we all know and love. Check out my earlier Cormac video on his Kekule Problem essay: • Human Thinking Before ...
    And... if you're feeling generous:
    patreon.com/godward

КОМЕНТАРІ • 50

  • @andyc6439
    @andyc6439 Рік тому +8

    Glad to hear a mention of Salinger's Glass family. I felt the same way about Alicia and Bobby. Reminded me of 'Franny and Zooey', Salinger's true masterpiece in my opinion.

  • @LN-fi1nf
    @LN-fi1nf Рік тому +5

    I've only read his 'The Road', and I knew while reading it that it was one of my favorite, of all time, books. I look forward to reading all of his books. Thanks for reviewing this one.

  • @bdre5555
    @bdre5555 Рік тому +2

    I'm in the middle of reading Stella Maris, after having just read the passenger. The passenger was definitely interesting. It left a lot of lingering questions unanswered however.

  • @johnsilver8059
    @johnsilver8059 Рік тому +5

    I believe McCarthy is one of the greatest writers in English. He completely adapts his style to the story in ways that most authors do not. The narrative style and language of Outer Dark is similar to Appalachian/Scottish ballads with Greek tragedy thrown in. The language in the Border Trilogy is very different and mimics the laconic speaking style of the people he’s writing about. There is some surrealism at the end of Cities of the Plain that reminds me of the end of Jim Thompson’s The Getaway ( not the movie, the book). Blood Meridian has the tone of 19th century American literature, particularly McCarthy’s favorite book, Moby Dick kind of mixed with the ultra violence of A Clockwork Orange. This book is, so far, different from everything before it.

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      Moby-Dick is my favorite too, and I think that's why I probably preferred Blood Meridian to The Passenger -- but this is still, obviously, worth reading, and I've got Stella Maris on pre-order.

    • @barbarajohnson1442
      @barbarajohnson1442 Рік тому

      ​​@@GodwardPodcast great, I loved Moby Dick, hard to surpass that. And I loved Bllod Meridian, so I am going to give The Passenger a read.

  • @Th3BigBoy
    @Th3BigBoy Рік тому +2

    I wish I had a teacher like you growing up. The passion you have for literature is awesome. I have said it before but you inspired me to read again and Sallust and Justin Martyrs works are blowing my mind. Thanks man.

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      Makes my day, friend -- you reading the Jugurthine War or the Caitlin Conspiracy? Sallust really surprised me, should have a bigger reputation. And yeah, Justin is excellent! Have a great new year.

    • @Th3BigBoy
      @Th3BigBoy Рік тому +1

      @@GodwardPodcast I finished the Catilin conspiracy and now I'm on the Jugurthine war. I finished Tryphos dialogue with Justin recently also.
      I really get the sense that I'm nothing compared to those men. I don't idolize them, being a Christian but I certainly idealize them. We are collectively so weak compared to them that I honestly get the sense that I can only call myself a man because they are absent. If that makes sense.
      Have a great new year!

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      @@Th3BigBoy Justin’s Trypho is really what made Christianity finally click for me, I think. See also, John Chrysostom’s Homilies Against the Jews and Tertullian’s Adversus Judaeos. Same genre.

    • @Th3BigBoy
      @Th3BigBoy Рік тому

      @@GodwardPodcast I'll definitely check them out. Thanks for the recommendations.

  • @lookinfortime
    @lookinfortime Рік тому +3

    A welcome treat; I miss these!

  • @tdowns1100
    @tdowns1100 Рік тому +3

    I loved this book as I do all of McCarthy's writing. I hope that be wins a deserved Nobel prize for literature before he passes. As for this book, I'm surprised that your review (and many others) do not acknowledge that Bobby Western discovers that the missing passenger got out of the plane. He finds the raft, barely used, wrapped up and stuffed under a tree in a part of the vast archipelago off of New Orleans. So, Western knows more than we (the reader knows) about the plane and the missing passenger. Maybe that's why he's resigned to the people (Feds?) that are following him and taking his assets? Western also knows more about physics than we (the readers) do, and it's quite possible that Bobby knows more about love and doom than we do too.

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому

      Good point about his knowing more than we do - yet he still doesn’t *know* really, does he? I have Stella Maris on pre-order, and hope for some clarification. But, I know McCarthy sometimes can be elliptical. Effectively, of course.

    • @barbarajohnson1442
      @barbarajohnson1442 Рік тому

      Yes...resignation...I like that...very interesting , thank you

  • @rbailey294
    @rbailey294 Рік тому

    Your review was excellent.
    I say that even though I don't quite share your high opinion of this book. [Not a Cormac hater...I love 'The Road' , 'Blood Meridian']. I have now read both the companion books [Passenger, Stella Maris] and find very little that is exceptional about them. Heavy handed, contrived plotting and largely unoriginal storyline, touch pompous, posing wishfully profound questions that are neither new, nor expressed here in some profound way. When I hear folks [not you, but other reviewers] comparing this to Moby Dick as the new Great American Novel....and they never seem to be able to say exactly what is so great about it....I just shake my head. Folks will NOT be reading this 50 years from now, much less 170 years from now.
    But I loved the substantive way you reviewed this, and look forward to seeing more of your work. Thank you!

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      You know, I kinda agree--especially as time passes. I guess I didn't want to trash the book right out of the gate, but I wouldn't be surprised if Cormac's agents & family & handlers kinda made him wrap it up and put this out before he died for the $$$. I think Cormac's best books (The Road, Blood Meridian, Suttree) will have a lasting place in the canon, but these last two were iffy at best. Thanks for watching! Check out my Moby-Dick vids if you're bored, back around episode 20, I think.

  • @awligon
    @awligon Рік тому +4

    Yes on Kafka / trial! Had that same thought

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому

      Did you finish it yet? Do you think we’ll find out… like, what those feds were after him for? In Stella Maris?

  • @jamesmitchell2114
    @jamesmitchell2114 Рік тому +1

    Great review sir, thank you.

  • @barbarajohnson1442
    @barbarajohnson1442 Рік тому +1

    I can't help but think it has been too influenced by cinema? Lots of rich descriptions, but " strung together"... ideas that I like. Bits of homage to Faukner, Hemingway, Shakespeare, of course, Greek Tragedy, and the Bible. He has got them all. Maybe I sense a pastiche, a grand finale, but not surprising....

    • @barbarajohnson1442
      @barbarajohnson1442 Рік тому

      Moby Dick and Don Quixote are my favorite novels, so I'm now hard to please.... I really appreciate your assessments.

    • @barbarajohnson1442
      @barbarajohnson1442 Рік тому

      I did just order Stella Maris so I can complete the work.

    • @grahamcrawford4773
      @grahamcrawford4773 Рік тому +1

      @@barbarajohnson1442 I loved the mash up of Jason & Don Quixote - esp in the context of the double slit experiment.

  • @doyle6000
    @doyle6000 Рік тому +1

    Reading it at the moment!!

  • @joshuapaciorek3356
    @joshuapaciorek3356 Рік тому +1

    I dug your video. You should, however, give spoiler warnings. Bless you and keep reading and reviewing.

  • @beutyindetail
    @beutyindetail Рік тому

    You were on Art of Darkness and you didn't say anything 😢

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      Oh, I should do a post here -- I said something on twitter though.

  • @schizoric8436
    @schizoric8436 Рік тому

    🎉

  • @ricardowilliams3122
    @ricardowilliams3122 Рік тому

    Bro, we need Kanye Koverage.

  • @BobACNJ
    @BobACNJ Рік тому

    Walmart Greeters have only so much time to produce content. Glad you are not one of them.
    Can you get away from books for a bit and devote some time to the music that speaks to you?
    TIA

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      I don’t know how to talk about music, but:
      Bach’s cello suites
      Mozart’s requiem, symphonies
      Beethoven’s 7th symph, late quartets
      Liszt, Tasso
      Rachmaninoff’s Theme on Paganini
      Shostakovich’s Trio No. 2
      And then, the Beatles, Dylan, Donovan, Joe Cocker, Jim Croce, James Taylor, Nilsson, Dave Matthews, Bon Iver, Taylor Swift

    • @BobACNJ
      @BobACNJ Рік тому

      @@GodwardPodcast Fair enough. Can you speak to the lyrics in songs you like -solely for the lyrics?

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      @@BobACNJ no I don’t think the lyrics are what makes a good song - for that, read poetry, much better. The best Bob Dylan song is kinda crap if you take the guitar out. Try it some time. Do a reading of one of his songs without the music. Can’t hold a candle to Dickinson, Frost, Stevens, Eliot, etc.

    • @BobACNJ
      @BobACNJ Рік тому

      @@GodwardPodcast Centre Place...now!

    • @BobACNJ
      @BobACNJ Рік тому +1

      Did you go? I needed to hear homosexuals talking about marriage within the context of religion. The Bible is a living document. For phucks sake.

  • @psychicdriver4229
    @psychicdriver4229 Рік тому

    No... he absolutely ties it up with a bow

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому

      Ehhh I mean, I’m listening. Go!

    • @psychicdriver4229
      @psychicdriver4229 Рік тому

      @@GodwardPodcast well actually the way Stella Maris ends, ties it up with a bow... I guess you've read it by now... McCarthy might as well have hit me with a hammer.

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому

      @@psychicdriver4229 I guess I missed the bow in Stella -- I enjoyed it (better than the Passenger, I think), but it didn't nail me as hard as the endings of The Road, or Child of God, or Suttree, or Blood Meridian, for example.

    • @psychicdriver4229
      @psychicdriver4229 Рік тому +1

      @@GodwardPodcast yeah I agree the passenger left it wide open at its end but I never felt like it was finished until I read Stella... love those books you mentioned as well... I like that these were so different and I believe they should be read together. Passenger begins with her death and Stella Maris ends with her... it's interesting they both think the other is dead in either book. Seems to have really worked on me unconsciously, almost like it's coded somehow. weird and beautiful.

    • @GodwardPodcast
      @GodwardPodcast  Рік тому +1

      @@psychicdriver4229 I will read them again next year. Definitely will revisit/reassess. Thanks for watching.