I just finished reading “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy, and I would enjoy sharing thoughts or impressions about this book.
McCarthy strikes me as one hell of a direct, succinct writer, who raises questions of essential importance that have no answers. This book, like “The Crossing”, studies the massive, incomprehensible force of personal ethics in our lives. Regardless of whether we follow our hearts, our brains, or some combination of these assets, we cannot obtain even a glimpse of absolute truth. We can compare perceptions of truth with other finite humans in order to conjure up ineffectual affirmation, but we can never truly understand the scope, direction, or virtue of our actions. We cannot truly know what is right for any human being.
It appears obvious to me that the characters of the Judge and the Radio Minister and his wife represented a mature response to the above moral dilmena. One can respond to finite human comprehension by adopting a faith-based relationship with a divine director to assure oneself ot the righteousness of one’s beliefs. Alternately, one can identify one’s human talents and exploit those talents in the pursuit of “good”, which is an vasive, inconclusive goal.
Conclusion? Sheryl Crow says it so well:
"I do what I can; I work for a living and that’s what I am.
We would like to contribute good to the world over the course of our lifetimes, but we will never truly know whether or not we are on the right track. This is a maddening, mind-numbing, exhilarating, and depressing purpose, but it can rescue us from the dispair of a pointless existence.
I won’t pretend to be able to converse with you on the level above but did want to briefly share in your appreciation of both these works. Cormack is one of my favorite authors. I’ll bet I read the opening passage of Horses thirty times, it moved me so much. Enjoyed your take on it too.
CMc direct and succinct? Uh, you haven’t read Suttree and Blood Meridian yet, huh?
Now Orchard Keeper was direct and succinct. Why did he abandon that style?
There was a (I thought) humorous discussion of CMc and several other currently poular novelists including Annie Proulx and Don DeLillo in the Atlantic a couple of months back.
And, at the risk of alienating any purists, I thought the film version of ATPH rocked!
I think that is CMcC’s overarching theme. I read All the Pretty Horses a long time ago, and enjoyed it, but don’t remember too much about it (and I haven’t seen the movie). I read Blood Meridian last year, and that book is seared into my conciousness. It is a very graphic telling of a story based in large part on actual goings on in the border regions, with all of the CMcC hallmarks. And it vividly touches on the nature of reality, good, evil, etc.
shelbo,
Thanks for the heads-up on another great book by CMcC. I’ll be sure to look for it at half-price books (I’m an incurable cheapskate).
A book my wife is currently reading, which has her very excited, is “House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski. Nancy has consistently referred me to incredible books, so I do believe that this book is another great one for folks who like to have their perception of reality shaken!
You’re welcome HP.
Be warned - it’s not for everyone (very graphic violence, etc.), but if you enjoy his style, I think you’ll enjoy the book. Some really beautiful writing. I hope you find it cheap, and like it.
McCarthy at his best is also at his worst. Mental illness and obsession are his main themes (and this from a big fan). To truly understand, Suttree and Child of God are must-reads. The former is about a self-destructive scion of a well-to-do Southern family (worth the read if only for the watermelon-humping scene), and the latter about a mentally deficient homocidal necrophiliac, who McCarthy makes you sympathize with.
Writing the last part of that, I almost have to compare McCarthy with Nabokov, in that he is able to make you sympathize with those obsessed, those on the fringes of society and morality.
Geez, now I’ve gotta get out my collection & work through it again.
I enjoyed the STORY in Suttree very much. Including the great majority of the writing. I just found some of his - um - descriptive passages - nigh unintelligible. Gotta hand it to the guy, tho, can’t think of a book that had me turning to my dictionary more frequently.
As far as Blood Meridian being permanently seared, I think the merriest of the images that continues to haunt me is the dead babies hanging from the thorn trees. Don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler. Worse shit than that happens every other page. Man’s inhumanity towards man and what not.