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The Orchard Keeper : Faulkner? Is that you?
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- Опубліковано 9 жов 2022
- Check out TH3 F4LCON's channel : / th3f4lc0nx
And check out TH3 F4LCON's The Orchard Keeper review: • The Orchard Keeper boo...
All thoughts and book analysis are my own. Wikipedia was used to confirm publication dates, biblical references, religious ethos, historical tribes, and translations for names.
Thanks, the recap helped put together some things where I understood what was happening, but wasn’t sure if it was happening. This is my 3rd mccarthy book and I love how the setting never fades into the background. It’s a lot like real life, especially for people who aren’t able to rise above their circumstances.
I was delighted by the title, I had to click on this.
I completely view McCarthy as the successor/heir to Faulkner. The Orchard Keeper was only published 3 years after the publication of The Reivers and Faulkner’s death in 1962. It is hard to imagine a more seamless torch passing. I just reread the opening of All The Pretty Horses earlier this evening and was struck by how much it could absolutely pass for the opening of a Faulkner novel. Their common obsession with light is present. Anyway, great review!
I appreciate your review on this because I just finished the Orchard Keeper and was so confused. But your video explains everything I was confused about in a way that makes it so much clearer. Thank you so much!
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching.
Very enjoyable review. I agree with your take that the density of description renders almost all of the action as passive. When Sylder drove off the road and into the creek, I was halfway through the long paragraph before I realized I needed to go back and reread the scene as a car accident. I also missed the fact that the pelt John Wesley had gone back to reclaim at the end was the bird he had tried to nurse back to health, so thanks for that connection. The fenced tank I just saw as an anonymous symbol of the government’s encroachment by brute assertion onto the wilder land, and Ather’s blasting it with shells as his brute rebuke. Seeing that scene play out from Sylder’s view made it more cinematic for me, and also hid from the reader what, if any, were the tank’s contents. I also loved the last scene between John Wesley and Sylder, especially how, after explaining the justice of his situation to the kid, Sylder’s humanity comes out in the instant regret that he hadn’t accepted the kid’s help and been freed from his situation. Lengthy review of the reviewer…. Thanks for posting, very helpful for unpacking an insanely dense short novel!
I hadn’t considered that seeing that scene from Sylder’s (Marion’s) perspective hides what was in the tank. 🤔 great catch there. And I completely agree on the writing, so many times I had to go back and reread because I wasn’t picking up on the characters actions. It was as if the setting was the main event and the characters were background. Thank you for watching!
On vacation near Knoxville last month I visited the area McCarthy described as Red Branch. The tank actually enclosed a radio navigation beacon for airplanes. For the time period I can't think of a more modern disruption of the landscape.
Oh, that's great to know. Thank you for sharing.
Really great job! Your analysis made this rad book…radder? I’ve finished all the others and this is my final mccarthy book and I didn’t expect to like it so damn much. I’m pretty blown away that this was his first novel. What an author…
I'm loving my journey through all of his works and I'm reviewing them all on my channel as well. What a ride!
Love how you unassumingly and humbly approached this review, and then had deep insight into what exactly McCarthy was doing. Really excellent. Thank you!
Thank you so much. Have you read The Orchard Keeper? If you did, what did you think of it? I find myself continuously thinking about what McCarthy is implying of mercy. I believe he is saying that nature is violent and cruel but that mercy is human nature. And Ather mentions that he knew a blind man that could tell a lot of things before they happen, which raises the question of are those blind kittens as pitiful as they are portrayed? There is so much to ponder. Sorry for blathering on. 🤦🏻♀️
@@ItsTooLatetoApologize Yes! I've read it about 8 years ago and again this year, when I reread everything he wrote in preparation for the Passenger and Stella Maris.
Interesting to see themes emerging here that will be further explored later, the passing of time for a human life in parallel to the passing of time for cultures and civilizations, in parallel to the passing of evolutionary time. The search for meaning in our lives which takes place against a backdrop of enormous emptiness and threatens to impose insignificance on us. This appears in Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy, in No Country for Old Men and Suttree.
I love McCarthy. He sets out with great care and tremendous skill the questions that are at the center of what it means to be human, to try to navigate this complex and confusing space between oblivions.
I really liked that you pointed out that here it's technology, or "progress" which the characters and perhaps McCarthy himself seem to see in a dubious light that serve as a threat. Compare this to Blood Meridian where nature is its own kind of malevolent entity, threatening and hostile. I would suggest that in the Passenger he explores both ideas.
As I find time I'm making my way through all your McCarthy reviews. So far I saw this one and the Road which were both fantastic. Thank you again!
@@John-uw4hz thank you. I feel like my The Road review was a bit awkward in delivery. 🫣 But oh well. I do have a Blood Meridian review also. I’m currently reading Outer Dark and I’m about 60% through it and I have the rest of McCarthy’s work on my shelf waiting to be read and The Passenger and Stella Maris in the mail. I’m excited to read all of it and I’m not sure I can wait until I’m done his earlier work before I read The Passenger. I have zero chill. 🤣
Thnx so much for the shoutout! Really appreciate it! 😄 Your review of this book was so much better than mine tho, lol. 😅 I think you got a lot more out of it than I did. I kinda thought it was mainly just about a dying way of life and whatnot, but your observations about the cat imagery and the hawk scene were quite brilliant. However, I think I would still consider this McCarthy's weakest effort; it lacked a sense of its own identity and I thought the characters were *really* thin, even by McCarthy standards. And plus it seemed like it just forgot certain elements of its own plot and some of the threads just petered out in a fairly unsatisfactory fashion, or at least for me. Outer Dark is where McCarthy really took off I think, (although Child of God I felt was something of a step back, actually). Anyway, great review, and can't wait to hear your thoughts on more of his works! 😊
Hey, no problem. Your channel is awesome. I agree with a lot of your thoughts. The Orchard Keeper gets a bit muddy in spots. It is my least favourite of McCarthy’s works so far. But as a debut novel I feel it’s quite an impressive display of what makes McCarthy so great. I can’t wait to read on.
Thanks, that was helpful! I just finished “The Orchard Keeper”, and I was looking for some help tying together the loose ends. You pointed out a bunch of stuff I hadn’t even thought of. Great job and thanks again.
You're very welcome! Thank you for watching.
Agree that McCarthy novels center on some malevolent evil. Would suggest that there is something a little similar in Faulkners books, but instead of evil it is the legacy of Southern history and cultural change. This is one of the McCarthy novels that I have not read. Enjoyed your review and analysis.
Hello! I need to read some more Faulkner but I think I’m going to get through McCarthy first. Have you read Mosquito or Soilders pay?
Thank you for making this!!
You're so welcome!
Well done.. and many of the ideas you pointed out run through all of his works
Thank you. I can't wait to read more.
I've preordered the 2 new books as well and am very much looking forward to them. The Orchard Keeper is next on my TBR and I hope to get to it before The Passenger comes out. I've only read 3 other McCarthy books, BM, The Road, and recently Child of God. I thoroughly enjoyed them all and BM is easily in my top 10 of all time.
I agree. BM is a reading game changer.
Your reviews are excellent! Are you going to do Suttree? We are completely out of sync on McCarthy. I've not read The Road, Blood Meridian, or The Orchard Keeper. But I have read Suttree, All The Pretty Horses, and No Country For Old Men.
welcome to my channel. My plan is to read all of McCarthy’s works and review them all. I’ve just finished reading Outer Dark. I have all his novels waiting on my shelf except for The Passenger and Stella Maris. Those are coming in the mail soon. **wiggles sweaty little raccoon hands in anticipation**
Suttree IMO his masterpiece and belongs on the very top shelf of American lit. Just circled back to Orchard Keeper, 1st read and for a first novel masterful. Going to put off Outer Dark for a bit and jump ahead to All the Pretty Horses and through the border trilogy. I confess to putting down Blood Meridian, simply chickened out. Since it is most often described as his best work, I cannot wimp out, must be read.
As for The Passenger and Stella Maris? Stunning, and hopefully not a conclusion to his body of work 🤞. You do a good job and hope you keep at it.
The Orchard Keeper has been forever on my TBR. I was in debate as to whether I should watch this. But it's McCarthy. A little thematic help can be a good thing. ;)
Anyway. Great analysis and review. I can't imagine how long it took you to put this together. And perfect intro. ;)
I recieved the box set last week or so. It's ... beautiful. I haven't started it yet. I need to allocate the time.
Thank you! I received my boxset also. It's burning a hole on my TBR shelf. I think I'm going to open up 2023 reading them. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Having read only *The Road* so far, and even though the story was easy to follow, this phenomenally thoughtful and detailed review of yours makes me wonder if I might've missed three quarters of the story wrapped in hidden symbolism, and makes me feel pretty ignorant on top of it. I've resorted to looking for reviews because I'm half through with the *Orchard Keeper* and actually quite bored and frustrated, because there is so much tiring descriptiveness and struggle to figure out what I'm actually reading. Not sure yet if I will continue. It's like the author is just showing off here and playing with me like a cat.
Thank you for watching. Some may think that starting with The Orchard Keeper as it’s McCarthy’s first novel is the place to start. It’s not. To me it’s his most distracting and difficult to follow that I’ve read so far. The Road is the best place to start, I believe ( I’ve reviewed The Road and some of his other books). But the Road is so straight forward in comparison to the rest I’ve read that I can see it packing an extra wallop to follow that up with The Orchard Keeper (went from most straightforward to most obscurant). McCarthy likes to make the reader work for the pay off. That’s not for everyone, which is ok, but sometimes the challenge is nice. 😊
@@ItsTooLatetoApologize For me it's extra difficult because English isn't my first language and the diction and complexity of the language adds to the tiring confusion. I decided to discontinue because overall it was a lot more frustrating and boring than it was enjoyable to me. I might read further books of his in the future, as I really enjoyed *The Road.* Currently reading Koontz's *The City* and it's very good so far.
Have a great weekend, cheers!
I read it some 10 years ago, I totally did not remember any of the events, except the fact they were looking for cougars at some point, but I also remember I really enjoyed the book, today it is my second favourite of his after No Country For Old Men
I can’t wait to read No County for Old Men.
Just finished The Orchard Keeper today. It's my 10th McCarthy book. I read the others years ago, but for some reason avoided this one. I did find it a bit confusing so I appreciate your review and explanations of what you think the various meanings of events were in the book. I think my favorites of his would be The Road and The Crossing. Waiting to get The Passenger and hope it lives up to my expectations. Thanks for the review.
Thank you for watching. It’s hard for anything to live up to the expectations of McCarthy’s works. I’ve read the passenger and I wonder if my excitement to read it did it a disservice. I need to sit with my thoughts of it for a while before I write that review but I hope you get in there and read it soon.
@@ItsTooLatetoApologize Finished reading The Passenger recently and was a bit underwhelmed by it. Came looking for your review. I will wait a while before reading Stella Maris.
Had to bail when you said spoilers, but got a good chuckle from the first few minutes 😜
I’m glad I could at least make you chuckle then. 😂
I do not think it possible to spoil a McCarthy book. The story to me is just an interesting framework for some of the most beautiful and wisest writings possible.
The beginning of McCarthy's books are soooo hard to get through. I've been about 60/40 on which of his books I can stick through. Couldn't make it with this one, but it sounds interesting.
This one is especially difficult because of the amount of description used. As a commenter here worded it perfectly “it renders almost all the action as passive.” It’s so easy to get lost in it. You read several pages and wonder “what did I just read?”
Rest In Peace Cormac McCarthy
Appreciate this video just finished the book loved parts of the writing but had issues with the story making much sense to me and this provided some much needed structure for me to think about. Miss that about having English class
Glad it was helpful! I miss that about English class too. All that discussion was so great like unraveling a puzzle with clues.
Thank goddess(?), I just finished the Orchard Keeper.
Because the Passenger & Stella Maris came to me as a challenge to take up with a friend, I realized I needed to go back and explore the previous works. 😂 yes, FAULKNER, but....
I appreciate the meaning you extricated from this work. Maybe the " Faulkner influence" obscured it. I didn't find this difficulty in Blood Meridian or Suttree( which may be my favorite)
Yet...now I'll give it a second read...
Yes, I agree. I found the Orchard Keeper obscurant writing style more difficult to interpret than Blood Meridian,. Although BM has a lot mull over. Thank you for watching.
John Wesley’s moral code and humanity -pretty damn impressive for a fourteen year old lad. I had to look this bounty thing up, and yeh that’s how civilized society worked. The tension between law & order and the natural order of things pervades all aspects. Rejection from John Wesley, Marion and Uncle Ather of that social structure unites all three. Your point on the Orchard, an aspect of civilization and cultivation, though does give me pause? The question of the tank, also got me, it sure triggered the contempt of the old man.
John’s morality is impressive considering his father.
thanks for what you do, great sense of humor.
Welcome to my channel and thank you!
It’s years since I read McCarthy’s Orchard Keeper. What stands out for from all his writing is his style. It takes on a life of its own. It’s the background music ( as in film) to the plot. I love McCarthy. A veritable genius. R.I.P.Requiescat in Pace.( love to take this woman out for a few pints sometime: I live in Ireland, unfortunately !
I read Light In August by Faulkner recently, I think it might be his moodiest, it’s also not nearly as difficult to follow as Absalom Absalom or Sound and the fury... I read Suttree after that and I think I wore my patience out though.
We're all working on that fictional endurance. It's extra hard because no one thinks it's real. LOL! Sorry, bad pun. 😉After I read The Orchard Keeper I read Shakespeare's Henry the 6th part 1 and it read like plain english. It felt as straight forward as a children's Dick and Jane story. Felt like I'd entered a parallel reading universe. LMFAO! Reading the tough stuff gives you super-reading powers or something.
Read Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! already. It will blow your mind more than almost any other book ever
AWESOME VIDEO, YOUR AMAZING
Thank you!
I saw Saramago's "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" in the pile at the beginning of this vid. A wonderful book. But I like the bookends of "Blindness", one of the bleakest works I've ever read and "The History of the Siege of Lisbon", one of the sweetest love stories (between two very bookish characters) ever! I know I've already suggested many books to you in less than a week. It's what I do with everyone. 😈
This is my first Saramago novel but I would like to read more from him so thank you for the recommendations. Those titles were already on my radar, you enabler you. 🤣
Great review thank you.
Thank you for watching!
Absalom, Absalom! Is not like The Orchard Keeper. The Sound and The fury is like it in some ways. The closest comparison is still probably AILD.
Thank you for clarifying this.
I hear ya! Good one 😂
Thank you!
@@ItsTooLatetoApologize IMA Faulkner aficionado! #FaulknerInAugust --Allen
@@bighardbooks770 have you read Soilder’s pay or Mosquito? I’m thinking about going to the beginning for Faulkner too.
@@ItsTooLatetoApologize I have not. Id be interested in doing so!
I have just fallen in love with you. But I really, really need to know what bottle that is.
Hello! Welcome to my channel. The bottle is a 50/50 mix of my current 2 favourite "budget" sipping whiskeys. Kirkland Irish whiskey, and Crown Royal salted caramel whiskey. mmmmmmm...so good. Yes, I mix my whiskey with more whiskey. LOL!!
If you love "dirty realism" read Harry Crews " A feast of snakes "
Love your reviews and recommendations
Thank you for the kind words and for the book recommendation. ☺️
Flannery O'Connor influenced Harry Crews andCormac.The term "Grit-Lit" is used.AFOS was banned in S. Africa
Haven’t read Crews yet…have heard he’s great, thanks for the reminder.
Pour me a cup too, please. Thank you. 😉
Hahaha! Of course!