I remember this one fondly, but it was most likely a right place, right time sort of situation. There are a few passages, like you mention, that are really, really good. The final scene being one of them.
You did an honest job of scoring up this one. I never knew it was written over 20 years, and I agree that it definitely reads like it was an on and off project. But even lower ranking McCarthy is still a head above most other novelists.
And as a check in - how you doing? You getting a tired of McCarthy yet? Still got a ways to go!
Thanks for checking in, Taegan. April was the craziest month in recent memory - winding down my corporate job, starting on four freelance gigs, all while finalizing the purchase of a house - so I've been discombobulated lately. Reading about Ol Sut's sleazy, carefree life while all that was going on probably made me resentful.
But am I tired of McCarthy? No! Not at all. Blood Meridian is up next, and I'm excited to reread it after 15+ years. That's followed by the Border Trilogy, which I've always been very curious about (a big reason why I started this project). Then it's two all-time classics, followed by his two new novels, which are the biggest reason why I started this project.
With Suttree done and dusted, I feel like I've gotten over the hump. Everything that remains is the stuff that I'm most looking forward to.
I couldn’t help but laugh at your first paragraph. That would indeed build up resentment. All those days hanging around on a fishing boat, stripped of responsibility.
Just finished Suttree this morning and I thinkninfelt much the same as you. The book just meanders...and then ends. Directionless and seemingly purposeless, it arrives, lingers, and then leaves without attempting to even really leave an impression.
It does feel like McCarthy at his funniest and most lyrical, but it is a very strange book that I'm glad to be done with.
Excited for Blood Meridien, which I read back in like 2006 or something.
I remember this one fondly, but it was most likely a right place, right time sort of situation. There are a few passages, like you mention, that are really, really good. The final scene being one of them.
You did an honest job of scoring up this one. I never knew it was written over 20 years, and I agree that it definitely reads like it was an on and off project. But even lower ranking McCarthy is still a head above most other novelists.
And as a check in - how you doing? You getting a tired of McCarthy yet? Still got a ways to go!
Thanks for checking in, Taegan. April was the craziest month in recent memory - winding down my corporate job, starting on four freelance gigs, all while finalizing the purchase of a house - so I've been discombobulated lately. Reading about Ol Sut's sleazy, carefree life while all that was going on probably made me resentful.
But am I tired of McCarthy? No! Not at all. Blood Meridian is up next, and I'm excited to reread it after 15+ years. That's followed by the Border Trilogy, which I've always been very curious about (a big reason why I started this project). Then it's two all-time classics, followed by his two new novels, which are the biggest reason why I started this project.
With Suttree done and dusted, I feel like I've gotten over the hump. Everything that remains is the stuff that I'm most looking forward to.
I couldn’t help but laugh at your first paragraph. That would indeed build up resentment. All those days hanging around on a fishing boat, stripped of responsibility.
Congrats on the house though! That’s awesome.
Looking forward to Blood Meridian!
Thanks man.
Perhaps the best among the several excellent, thought-provoking screeds you've posted.
Wow, really? Thank you!
Just finished Suttree this morning and I thinkninfelt much the same as you. The book just meanders...and then ends. Directionless and seemingly purposeless, it arrives, lingers, and then leaves without attempting to even really leave an impression.
It does feel like McCarthy at his funniest and most lyrical, but it is a very strange book that I'm glad to be done with.
Excited for Blood Meridien, which I read back in like 2006 or something.