4 ms·
Blood Meridian obviously and rightly gets the most attention, but Suttree is a sleeper favourite for a lot of people. There's something about the way McCarthy's
by beezlebroxxxxxx 4y ago
Blood Meridian obviously and rightly gets the most attention, but Suttree is a sleeper favourite for a lot of people. There's something about the way McCarthy's descriptions of filth and muck and water and garbage blend into some of the funniest scenes many will read, the incredible rendering of the vernacular language from the Tennessee River, that is utterly arresting. Reading it feels like finding oneself in that space between wakefulness and dreaming, like you are occupying the main character's life entirely.
- briga 4y agoIt’s definitely his most personal book, he spent many years writing it and it feels like everything he had written before that point was just a prelude to Suttree. It also helps that it’s less unrelentingly bleak than his other work, for instance in the episode of the ‘moonlight melonmounter’. He’s always had an impressive way with words The Passenger is similar in tone but very different in style. Less of the stylized biblical poetic language and more focus on dialogue and character. Haven’t read the followup yet but I have a feeling things won’t be wrapped up neatly. They never are in McCarthy books
- tehnub 4y agoYes exactly, and I love the understated dignity the characters exhibit amidst the squalor. Throughout the story’s various episodes, described in some of the most lyrical writing I’ve ever read, you will be moved to cry, laugh, sigh, hope, wince, and smile, right alongside Suttree.