I read Suttree earlier this year. The single most unforgettable moment for me is his recollection, on the journey to the funeral, of the touch of his son’s hand at the carnival, transfixed by the fireworks. I think this is the kind of reverence and awe at beauty that McCarthy is in search of through language; it’s a moment that Suttree let slip physically but cannot leave behind mentally. I could only move on from it with difficulty in the book because I became a father a few months prior to reading. Thanks for giving this book the time it deserves!
You know a book is amazing when you never, EVER see a used copy of it in a store. I've found used copies of all McCarthy's books except Suttree. Great review/analysis, your videos are always a pleasure!
now no way!!!....i just re-read some fav. pages. and now switched on the computer and thought how nice life in isolation would be listening to leaf by leaf. damn me boy, i might be blessed on this rainy day. thanks chris, u genuinely the best out there!
I just read Suttree this year and am excited to dig into your video! It took several failed attempts before I finally committed to finishing it, but I am very glad that I did. Thank you for your insightful videos!
Great video! Great channel! Thank you. A lamentation: A challenge with this whole "best" talk is that McCarthy wore lots of hats and wrote in lots of different forms. So, with that in mind, my take is that Blood Meridian, the Road, and All the Pretty Horses are all equally a master class in narrative storytelling and pace. So, if a novel is just a story (it isn't but if we just pretend that it is for a sec) those three books are as good as any american novels ever in my flawed and incomplete opinion. They're really, really good stories and everyone I talk to seems to share that they were basically un-put-downable from the first sentence. Suttree on the other hand is a different beast and I appreciate that you make that point at the very beginning of this video. To me, Suttree is the peak of McCarthy's talents as a prose lyricist. Suttree's song is a folk hymnal from the crypt communicating various expressions of the suffering, moral degradation, and human laments of the old testament run through the oral story telling tradition of the American South. The only thing I can compare it to is something like Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom. But, Suttree offers a different, and I think deeper exposition of human emotion than Absalom in that Suttree understands his own degradation and suffering and despite his knowledge of himself still shows a total disinterest in his own redemption, which is just a crushingly sad little thing to think about. I should add, I haven't listened to your whole review yet, I had to pause while listening because I was overcome with thoughts and wanted to write this. You probably bring it up, but man, the last sentence "fly them" also deserves some attention. Given what we now know about McCarthy, I'm about ready to be done reading and talking about his work, but I don't think I'll ever be able to shrug off the effect he had on me as a reader.
Colossally great review Chris. I read Suttree in the Vintage Contemporaries series, had to re-read it as soon as I finished it. I have since read it at least 5 more times and have it on my list to read again in the next few weeks. I don't think it can be overstated how marvelous a novel Suttree is, on the highest level of Literature with - The Magic Mountain, Crime and Punishment, War and Peace, Blood Meridian, a few others. The brilliance of your review encapsulates this novel down to its very essence. Great review sir, great review.
One of my all-time favorite exchanges between characters is in this book. During Suttree's fever dream, he's imagining being questioned by the police: Police: Did your uncle die of natural causes? Suttree: No sir. Police: What were the circumstances surrounding his death? Suttree: He was taking part in a public function when the platform gave way. Police: Our information is that he was hanged for a homicide. Suttree: Yes sir. I literally laughed out loud. I loved how Mccarthy flips the conversation on its head in just a few lines of dialogue.
That's one thing I wish I had brought up in the video: the humor. There is a lot of humor in this book. The exchange between Suttree and Harrogate in the diner had me rollin'!
@LeafbyLeaf it's going fantastically. I've listened to the audiobook a couple times and I've read the paperback in between. I had to recommend Suttree to my family who moved to Tennessee from California a couple years back. I've found the reading to be somewhat challenging but completely immersive and hilarious at times.
ABSOLUTELY agree Chris...Suttree is my absolutely favorite McCarthy novel and his apogee....and the best ending of an american novel in the last 30 years....btw, i LOVE when you are scattered and not overly-prepared, just like Suttree himself....i've watched the first 20 minutes, fabulous....i will watch the rest when i finish teaching. THANK YOU CHRIS!...bb
HERE IS THE BOOK I WANT AND BEG YOU TO READ....Lara Pawson's SPENT LIGHT. It was my favorite prose book of 2024 and was nominated this year for the Goldsmiths Prize....also, published by my favorite UK Press, the extraordinary CB EDITIONS...please read it....just extraordinary....hoping you and your family have a wonderful christmas, hug, bob
PS, CHRIS, YOU MUST READ Agee's Death in the Family. The opening, must be one of the most beautiful in all of american lit: here is the opening: cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.massart.edu/dist/a/1711/files/2019/11/knoxville1915.pdf
Oooohhhhh! A good friend just reminded me that I coined the name Tarmac McCarthy from back when I read the entirety of The Road while my plan was stuck on the tarmac. I’d totally forgotten!
Important vs. best is an eloquent distinction that succinctly describes my feelings regarding Cormac's zenith but doesn't allow for my serpentine and redundant rhetoric flourishes when waxing my boring board about my affection for this brutal bard.
I braced myself before reading Suttree. I'd heard it was difficult, but other than that first section, and a few other places, I found it far easier than I was expecting. The last half keeping me coming back each day with anticipation. Of his books I've read, this is my favorite. So 40+ books in 3-4 months for the prize. A Paris trip. Another vacation. The Tunnel videos and reading, Suttree and the supplemental books...did you quit your day job?:)
Haha! I didn't quit, but I do have an incredible amount of vacation days (a perk of working for one company for 20+ years). Plus, I finished all the Tunnel stuff before I got into the Prize reading, etc. Still, yeah, I'm ready for a bit of a break.
That reminds me of what Harold Bloom said of William Gaddis: that Gaddis could have rested on his laurels for the rest of his life after _The Recognitions_ .
On one hand I'd never want to live in the kind of poverty Cornelius Suttree does. On the other hand, is my poverty not deeper than his when I've never had a friend who tries to scam money from scientists by trapping and killing bats? Great book, definitely.
“I make my living off the evening news Just give me something Something I can use People love it when you lose They love dirty laundry Well, I coulda been an actor But I wound up here I just have to look good I don't have to be clear Come and whisper in my ear Give us dirty laundry We got the bubble-headed bleached blonde Comes on at five She can tell you 'bout the plane crash With a gleam in her eye It's interesting when people die Give us dirty laundry Can we film the operation Is the head dead yet? You know the boys in the newsroom Got a running bet Get the widow on the set We need dirty laundry You don't really need to find out What's going on You don't really want to know Just how far it's gone Just leave well enough alone Eat your dirty laundry Dirty little secrets Dirty little lies We got our dirty little fingers In everybody's pie We love to cut you down to size We love dirty laundry We can do the innuendo We can dance and sing When it's said and done We haven't told you a thing We all know that crap is king Give us dirty laundry” -Don Henley
One of the best lines in all literature is found in the Border Trilogy, to be precise the last one _Cities of the Plain._ Can I assume everyone knows this however and is being reticent about it as may be.
McCarthy seems to have read Quantum Physics for Dummies and people think he's a genius. I think he's pompous, unable to write realistic dialogue or character and totally over rated. Even the letters he wrote to actual girls are cringe and extremely problematic. Not a fan in anyway.
I agree about McCarthy’s use of physics (in Stella Maris especially - that book just sounds like a pretentious high schooler spouting out concepts he learned from Joe Rogan guests), but I think his dialogue and characters are very lively. If you’ve only read The Passenger and/or Stella Maris (assuming because they’re the physics books), give Outer Dark or Suttree a shot.
Well, you're definitely in plenty of company there. I will say that I always take novelists' use of material like quantum physics with a huge shaker of salt, i.e. his genius, for me, is in the language, not his use of brainy discourse. His editor definitely felt his dialogue and characters were too overblown and homogenous. But, again, I think this is where I'm just pretty one-dimensional as a reader: I cut my teeth on the English Romantic poets and I'm a sucker with elaborate ornamentation over everything else. I appreciate you sharing your opinion here!
Finally Suttree getting the love it deserves. Without a doubt, an overlooked gem.
I read Suttree earlier this year. The single most unforgettable moment for me is his recollection, on the journey to the funeral, of the touch of his son’s hand at the carnival, transfixed by the fireworks. I think this is the kind of reverence and awe at beauty that McCarthy is in search of through language; it’s a moment that Suttree let slip physically but cannot leave behind mentally. I could only move on from it with difficulty in the book because I became a father a few months prior to reading. Thanks for giving this book the time it deserves!
Great comment!
A truly piercing moment, indeed!
Finally, I have found someone who agrees with me about Suttree! Thanks, Chris.
High five!
This is pretty amazing for a casual, improvised talk. It also convinced me to give a second try.
Well, this is all the validation I need right here. :)
You know a book is amazing when you never, EVER see a used copy of it in a store. I've found used copies of all McCarthy's books except Suttree.
Great review/analysis, your videos are always a pleasure!
That is a great point! I only found a used copy of it once--and that was at a beach bookstore (presumably it didn't make the best beach reading). :)
This month is set to be one of the best in LxL history! Thank you so much for all your hard, vital work, Chris
Very, very kind of you to say. Thank you!
now no way!!!....i just re-read some fav. pages. and now switched on the computer and thought how nice life in isolation would be listening to leaf by leaf. damn me boy, i might be blessed on this rainy day. thanks chris, u genuinely the best out there!
LOL! This comment was great! And thank you so much!
I just read Suttree this year and am excited to dig into your video! It took several failed attempts before I finally committed to finishing it, but I am very glad that I did. Thank you for your insightful videos!
Thanks so much! Sometimes I have to keep putting a book aside before it...takes.
I always get emotional at the end of the first italicized paragraph. Its lyricism and resonance is overwhelming.
I resonate with this. I've had similar experiences with parts of certain symphonies, including Beethoven's _Egmont_ overture.
My favourite mccarthy book. I read it 2 times and I have 2 different editions.
That vintage paperback is my favorite edition of Suttree.
Same!
Great video! Great channel! Thank you. A lamentation: A challenge with this whole "best" talk is that McCarthy wore lots of hats and wrote in lots of different forms. So, with that in mind, my take is that Blood Meridian, the Road, and All the Pretty Horses are all equally a master class in narrative storytelling and pace. So, if a novel is just a story (it isn't but if we just pretend that it is for a sec) those three books are as good as any american novels ever in my flawed and incomplete opinion. They're really, really good stories and everyone I talk to seems to share that they were basically un-put-downable from the first sentence. Suttree on the other hand is a different beast and I appreciate that you make that point at the very beginning of this video. To me, Suttree is the peak of McCarthy's talents as a prose lyricist. Suttree's song is a folk hymnal from the crypt communicating various expressions of the suffering, moral degradation, and human laments of the old testament run through the oral story telling tradition of the American South. The only thing I can compare it to is something like Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom. But, Suttree offers a different, and I think deeper exposition of human emotion than Absalom in that Suttree understands his own degradation and suffering and despite his knowledge of himself still shows a total disinterest in his own redemption, which is just a crushingly sad little thing to think about. I should add, I haven't listened to your whole review yet, I had to pause while listening because I was overcome with thoughts and wanted to write this. You probably bring it up, but man, the last sentence "fly them" also deserves some attention. Given what we now know about McCarthy, I'm about ready to be done reading and talking about his work, but I don't think I'll ever be able to shrug off the effect he had on me as a reader.
After reading this excellent comment, I certainly hope you won't be done reading and talking about his work.
Colossally great review Chris. I read Suttree in the Vintage Contemporaries series, had to re-read it as soon as I finished it. I have since read it at least 5 more times and have it on my list to read again in the next few weeks. I don't think it can be overstated how marvelous a novel Suttree is, on the highest level of Literature with - The Magic Mountain, Crime and Punishment, War and Peace, Blood Meridian, a few others. The brilliance of your review encapsulates this novel down to its very essence. Great review sir, great review.
That means a lot coming from you--thank you so much!
Sut !! What an absolutely phenomenal novel. Probably my favourite ever. It`s a masterpiece without any doubt . Great review man thanks for that .
My pleasure!
I agree. His best book. …to lampposts stoned blind…and painted tyres where dirty flowers grow.
👏👏👏
Hey, welcome back- and with no less than Suttree!
👋👋👋
One of my all-time favorite exchanges between characters is in this book. During Suttree's fever dream, he's imagining being questioned by the police:
Police: Did your uncle die of natural causes?
Suttree: No sir.
Police: What were the circumstances surrounding his death?
Suttree: He was taking part in a public function when the platform gave way.
Police: Our information is that he was hanged for a homicide.
Suttree: Yes sir.
I literally laughed out loud. I loved how Mccarthy flips the conversation on its head in just a few lines of dialogue.
That's one thing I wish I had brought up in the video: the humor. There is a lot of humor in this book. The exchange between Suttree and Harrogate in the diner had me rollin'!
What a timely video. I just started Suttree a few days ago after being somewhat intimidated.
How's it going with the reading? :)
@LeafbyLeaf it's going fantastically. I've listened to the audiobook a couple times and I've read the paperback in between. I had to recommend Suttree to my family who moved to Tennessee from California a couple years back. I've found the reading to be somewhat challenging but completely immersive and hilarious at times.
This is the best book review I have ever watched.
Wow! Thanks so much! 🙏🙏🙏
Here Here👍🏼
Suttree is regarded by many as being his most autobiographical novel.
Imagine that.
Indeed. Dianne Luce does a great job digging into this.
ABSOLUTELY agree Chris...Suttree is my absolutely favorite McCarthy novel and his apogee....and the best ending of an american novel in the last 30 years....btw, i LOVE when you are scattered and not overly-prepared, just like Suttree himself....i've watched the first 20 minutes, fabulous....i will watch the rest when i finish teaching. THANK YOU CHRIS!...bb
HERE IS THE BOOK I WANT AND BEG YOU TO READ....Lara Pawson's SPENT LIGHT. It was my favorite prose book of 2024 and was nominated this year for the Goldsmiths Prize....also, published by my favorite UK Press, the extraordinary CB EDITIONS...please read it....just extraordinary....hoping you and your family have a wonderful christmas, hug, bob
PS, CHRIS, YOU MUST READ Agee's Death in the Family. The opening, must be one of the most beautiful in all of american lit: here is the opening: cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.massart.edu/dist/a/1711/files/2019/11/knoxville1915.pdf
Oh, I ordered a copy immediately after reading about it in that one critical piece. Thanks so much, Bob!
Sheesh! I can't find a copy of _Spent Light_ anywhere! I've added it to my hunting list.
Thanks for the feedback, Bob. I'm always curious as to how much preparedness v. extemporaneousness is a perfect balance.
Definitely my favorite Cormac.
high five!
His most human and soulful book I'd say.
I'm gonna have to agree with you there. It really is a stand-out in his repertoire.
I'm so happy that you are back!
Thanks so much! Great to be back!
Good to see the return of Tarmac McCarthy
It that an autocorrect blunder or an allusion to something that went over my head? :)
Oooohhhhh! A good friend just reminded me that I coined the name Tarmac McCarthy from back when I read the entirety of The Road while my plan was stuck on the tarmac. I’d totally forgotten!
@@LeafbyLeaf 😆
Important vs. best is an eloquent distinction that succinctly describes my feelings regarding Cormac's zenith but doesn't allow for my serpentine and redundant rhetoric flourishes when waxing my boring board about my affection for this brutal bard.
I really enjoyed reading this comment!
I braced myself before reading Suttree. I'd heard it was difficult, but other than that first section, and a few other places, I found it far easier than I was expecting. The last half keeping me coming back each day with anticipation. Of his books I've read, this is my favorite.
So 40+ books in 3-4 months for the prize. A Paris trip. Another vacation. The Tunnel videos and reading, Suttree and the supplemental books...did you quit your day job?:)
Haha! I didn't quit, but I do have an incredible amount of vacation days (a perk of working for one company for 20+ years). Plus, I finished all the Tunnel stuff before I got into the Prize reading, etc. Still, yeah, I'm ready for a bit of a break.
I believe the word you were searching for at 36:59 might have been "mind-forged manacle"
Above and beyond his best-not even close. Had he just written Suttree it would have been enough.
That reminds me of what Harold Bloom said of William Gaddis: that Gaddis could have rested on his laurels for the rest of his life after _The Recognitions_ .
Casual Friday -- go for it!
🙏🙏🙏
Amazing novel
On one hand I'd never want to live in the kind of poverty Cornelius Suttree does. On the other hand, is my poverty not deeper than his when I've never had a friend who tries to scam money from scientists by trapping and killing bats?
Great book, definitely.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This comment really cracked me up--bravo!
“I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something
Something I can use
People love it when you lose
They love dirty laundry
Well, I coulda been an actor
But I wound up here
I just have to look good
I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry
We got the bubble-headed bleached blonde
Comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash
With a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation
Is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom
Got a running bet
Get the widow on the set
We need dirty laundry
You don't really need to find out
What's going on
You don't really want to know
Just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry
Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers
In everybody's pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done
We haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry”
-Don Henley
“Vacation Brain”. Lol.
This review is awesome and I don’t pick up any sign of a neurological problem.
🙏🙏🙏
in the wake of recent articles and investigative journalistic piece about mccarthy, do you think your opinions about him and his work had changed?
Him-of course. His work-no.
Imagine writing Blood Meridian, then also writing a book that is better than that. Good gravy.
Sort of like Gaddis writing _The Recognitions_ AND _J R_ !
By far his best work and my very favourite. Such an amazing book
Im glad that you are posting long videos again. When is the tunnel video coming out?
12.20 🕳️🕳️🕳️
One of the best lines in all literature is found in the Border Trilogy, to be precise the last one _Cities of the Plain._ Can I assume everyone knows this however and is being reticent about it as may be.
Not convinced. It's still Blood Meridian.
Totally fair.
I'll never look at watermelons the same again...
No kidding!
correct
Poor timing hehe
Yes, I’ve since learned about the scandal. I’m afraid I’m seriously out of touch with pop culture. 😬
McCarthy seems to have read Quantum Physics for Dummies and people think he's a genius. I think he's pompous, unable to write realistic dialogue or character and totally over rated. Even the letters he wrote to actual girls are cringe and extremely problematic. Not a fan in anyway.
Agreed, Elmore Leonard kicks McCarthy into touch, big time.
Leonard has a great sense of humour. To his credit. Unlike McCarthy.
I agree about McCarthy’s use of physics (in Stella Maris especially - that book just sounds like a pretentious high schooler spouting out concepts he learned from Joe Rogan guests), but I think his dialogue and characters are very lively. If you’ve only read The Passenger and/or Stella Maris (assuming because they’re the physics books), give Outer Dark or Suttree a shot.
Well, you're definitely in plenty of company there. I will say that I always take novelists' use of material like quantum physics with a huge shaker of salt, i.e. his genius, for me, is in the language, not his use of brainy discourse. His editor definitely felt his dialogue and characters were too overblown and homogenous. But, again, I think this is where I'm just pretty one-dimensional as a reader: I cut my teeth on the English Romantic poets and I'm a sucker with elaborate ornamentation over everything else. I appreciate you sharing your opinion here!
@randallowen9350 - Hey! Please recommend an Elmore Leonard for me to start with. Thanks!