All The Pretty Horses is a comfort book for me. I listen to it audio on a semi constant basis. The scenes are beautiful and spacious on the desert and plains of Texas and Mexico. It’s basic at a young man on an adventure through the west. Mccarthy also shoe-horned in 10 pages of history on the Mexican revolution disguised as a dialogue between the main character and his love interest’s great aunt. Yes there’s drama and a knife fight and a tragic love storyline. But the middle third of the book when John Grady Cole starts his role as a cowboy on a Mexican ranch-breaking horses, eating with the Mexican ranchers, learning of the culture and history of Mexican haciendas, falling in love with a rich man’s beautiful Mexican daughter, learning about the soul of the horse and it’s deepest bond with man over history, war, cattle ranching… is all just unputdownable greatness.
No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses are two excellent and very accessible Cormac McCarthy novels. A story about a psychopath killer and a love story with a knife fight that is frightening to read. Right up your alley Mr. Durfee. Brilliant correlation to Elmore Leonard.
He's my favorite writer and I love his work, but you're totally right about him being an acquired taste. 😅 I can't wait to read The Passenger and Stella Maris; (got em on the wishlist, lol 😁). I do get the sense that this is kind of an unwieldy experience, but I think he's earned it. Enjoyed your review! 🙂
I've now read The Psngr, and I just acquired the Stella Maris and I've gotten to pg 25. It's so friggin' great. Not exactly tip-toein' through the too-friggin-lipps happy story-wise.
I would love to see you get into some McCarthy books! If you really want to read a disturbing book I would recommend his Child of God…. it will haunt your dreams
Great review! Cormac McCarthy novels are definitely an acquired taste. A few years ago, I attempted to read Blood Meridian for the first time. I didn't like it. I thought it was verbose, over-the-top, and pretentious. However, I recently reread it and I really liked it. I read some critical essays about it and tried to get an idea of what Cormac was trying to achieve with the book and, what do you know, the second time around it clicked. It was kind of like dusting off an old bottle of vintage wine, sipping it, getting past the metallic bitterness, and realizing it's starting to taste sweet. I will definitely have to reread some of his other works and maybe gain a new appreciation of his oeuvre. Again, excellent review.
Reading this one at the moment. Not sure what to make of it. I have read a couple of Cormac McCarthy books before and have always struggled with his writing style.
i'm in my 1990s in my head, that decade shaped who i am and still carry it with me today. it was the best decade! i have to be in the mood when i read cormac mccarthy, same with faulkner. it's worth it, but I have to read slow to appreciate it.
Blood meridian is one of my favorite books. But when I read it first time I even have not finished it! I loved it in my second attempt. Oh it is such delicious book!
OK! i now know what i can expect if and when i ever get to him. i will go down the Road first. i still remember the scene in the movie when the guy's wife 'goes out into the night' and never returns. gads that was powerful.
Is it super depressing? It’s so exhausting trying to read McCarthy’s writing style when it’s just going over sad horrific stuff. I think I got my fill with The road and blood meridian.
I want to read more MCcarthy. I read the road which is one of my all time favourite books. Now Im reading the blood meridian....yea...its a little rough. Really strange book. However I do want to read the passanger after that as well and see if I like it or not. Im not sure how to describe this author. Does he focus on writing good stories like other novelists, or is he more of a philosopher and writing a "meh" story around his philosophy? I dont know yet.
Also, if you want another 90 percent-dialogue book, check out The Silence, by Don DeLillo. I was pretty underwhelmed, but it seems like it may be a trend, lol, among literary fiction.
No Country for Old Men and Child of God are pretty accessible. I mean the later not so much on content but on style/presentation. Child of God is about 150 pages with the longest chapter being maybe 8 pages, most are under 5. It's about a serial killer who is quite the necroromantic, a "child of god just like you and me."
Having just finished his book, there must be something wrong with me, All I see is people waxing lyrical on youtube, how great this book is , I thought there were at times some very powerful images and characters, but he also describes in every single detail of someone making a coffee , It left me with lots of questions and lose ends
Those definitely aren't the ones to start with/try. The Road is the best start with or No Country for Old Men. If you don't like those, then you need not try the others.
Try All The Pretty Horses. It’s gorgeous, less violent and more romantic than other works and so descriptive that you can see the movie in your mind reading. The monologues of the Spanish grandmother are novellas inside the books itself. My personal favorite and a National Book Award winner.
Cormac McCarthy writes bleak and depressing stories, often celebrating sickening violence with prose that would get any grammar school student flunked. He is to literature what Jackson Pollock was to fine art: dubious enough to be a Communist plot. He's lauded by the press and rewarded/funded with movie deals and prestigious prize money to the point of inviting suspicion. Who's paying this guy off and, more importantly, why? Thousands of American writers are vastly more talented and deserving of praise than McCarthy.
All The Pretty Horses is a comfort book for me. I listen to it audio on a semi constant basis. The scenes are beautiful and spacious on the desert and plains of Texas and Mexico. It’s basic at a young man on an adventure through the west.
Mccarthy also shoe-horned in 10 pages of history on the Mexican revolution disguised as a dialogue between the main character and his love interest’s great aunt.
Yes there’s drama and a knife fight and a tragic love storyline.
But the middle third of the book when John Grady Cole starts his role as a cowboy on a Mexican ranch-breaking horses, eating with the Mexican ranchers, learning of the culture and history of Mexican haciendas, falling in love with a rich man’s beautiful Mexican daughter, learning about the soul of the horse and it’s deepest bond with man over history, war, cattle ranching… is all just unputdownable greatness.
I’m shocked Durfee hasn’t read more of Cormac’s work. He’s the most widely-read guy on YT that I’ve discovered.
And here too folks, our hero Durfee gives us some valuable writing advice. Watching your videos Brian, definitely teaches new things in life.
No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses are two excellent and very accessible Cormac McCarthy novels. A story about a psychopath killer and a love story with a knife fight that is frightening to read. Right up your alley Mr. Durfee. Brilliant correlation to Elmore Leonard.
He's my favorite writer and I love his work, but you're totally right about him being an acquired taste. 😅 I can't wait to read The Passenger and Stella Maris; (got em on the wishlist, lol 😁). I do get the sense that this is kind of an unwieldy experience, but I think he's earned it. Enjoyed your review! 🙂
I've now read The Psngr, and I just acquired the Stella Maris and I've gotten to pg 25. It's so friggin' great. Not exactly tip-toein' through the too-friggin-lipps happy story-wise.
I would love to see you get into some McCarthy books! If you really want to read a disturbing book I would recommend his Child of God…. it will haunt your dreams
Great review! Cormac McCarthy novels are definitely an acquired taste. A few years ago, I attempted to read Blood Meridian for the first time. I didn't like it. I thought it was verbose, over-the-top, and pretentious. However, I recently reread it and I really liked it. I read some critical essays about it and tried to get an idea of what Cormac was trying to achieve with the book and, what do you know, the second time around it clicked. It was kind of like dusting off an old bottle of vintage wine, sipping it, getting past the metallic bitterness, and realizing it's starting to taste sweet. I will definitely have to reread some of his other works and maybe gain a new appreciation of his oeuvre. Again, excellent review.
Reading this one at the moment. Not sure what to make of it. I have read a couple of Cormac McCarthy books before and have always struggled with his writing style.
i'm in my 1990s in my head, that decade shaped who i am and still carry it with me today. it was the best decade! i have to be in the mood when i read cormac mccarthy, same with faulkner. it's worth it, but I have to read slow to appreciate it.
Blood meridian is one of my favorite books. But when I read it first time I even have not finished it! I loved it in my second attempt. Oh it is such delicious book!
OK! i now know what i can expect if and when i ever get to him. i will go down the Road first. i still remember the scene in the movie when the guy's wife 'goes out into the night' and never returns. gads that was powerful.
Is it super depressing? It’s so exhausting trying to read McCarthy’s writing style when it’s just going over sad horrific stuff. I think I got my fill with The road and blood meridian.
I want to read more MCcarthy. I read the road which is one of my all time favourite books. Now Im reading the blood meridian....yea...its a little rough. Really strange book. However I do want to read the passanger after that as well and see if I like it or not. Im not sure how to describe this author. Does he focus on writing good stories like other novelists, or is he more of a philosopher and writing a "meh" story around his philosophy? I dont know yet.
McCarthy's prose sometimes takes my breath away. And his style forces you to focus. I used to really dislike it. Now, I really appreciate it.
He definitely isn't the author for everyone. I've read almost all of his books and he definitely is an acquired taste.
Best writer of all time in my opinion
I am in tears 😂😂😂😂 you explaining his age
You missed one big thing he did in the last fifteen years: The Counselor. That screenplay is like modern Shakespeare.
Also, if you want another 90 percent-dialogue book, check out The Silence, by Don DeLillo. I was pretty underwhelmed, but it seems like it may be a trend, lol, among literary fiction.
No Country for Old Men and Child of God are pretty accessible. I mean the later not so much on content but on style/presentation. Child of God is about 150 pages with the longest chapter being maybe 8 pages, most are under 5. It's about a serial killer who is quite the necroromantic, a "child of god just like you and me."
Having just finished his book, there must be something wrong with me, All I see is people waxing lyrical on youtube, how great this book is , I thought there were at times some very powerful images and characters, but he also describes in every single detail of someone making a coffee , It left me with lots of questions and lose ends
Cormac McCarthy is the best living writer and one of the greatest American novelists of all time!
Cormac McCarthy is not the author for me. I couldn't handle Child of God or Blood Meridian. Nice review.
Those definitely aren't the ones to start with/try. The Road is the best start with or No Country for Old Men. If you don't like those, then you need not try the others.
@@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD Thank you!
Try All The Pretty Horses. It’s gorgeous, less violent and more romantic than other works and so descriptive that you can see the movie in your mind reading. The monologues of the Spanish grandmother are novellas inside the books itself. My personal favorite and a National Book Award winner.
@@randyrodriguez1445 Thank you for the recommendation!
James Patterson is a writer for everyone. Cormac McCarthy is for folks of a more intellectual bent.
Nice review Our UK cover is nicer though 😂
Ya i saw the UK cover at a Waterstones in Amsterdam. I agree
You’re review helped me think I’m not going crazy too as i think I looked into it too much. Nice one man.
Gimme doublequotes when people talk please.
Zzz. If he ever writes a book about squids in space and laser cannons I might read that.
Cormac McCarthy writes bleak and depressing stories, often celebrating sickening violence with prose that would get any grammar school student flunked. He is to literature what
Jackson Pollock was to fine art: dubious enough to be a Communist plot. He's lauded by the press and rewarded/funded with movie deals and prestigious prize money to the point
of inviting suspicion. Who's paying this guy off and, more importantly, why? Thousands of American writers are vastly more talented and deserving of praise than McCarthy.