'You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from'. This profound statement sets the tone for a story that unfolds in the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the Texas-Mexico border. It is a place where drug cartels terrorize the southwestern terrain, and a string of brutal, senseless murders has become all too common.

McCarthy's rich and complex novel delves deep into a world where violent lawlessness reigns supreme, overshadowing conscience, reason, and morality. Written in his trademark terse and bone-stripped prose, devoid of quotation marks, this is a thrilling read that haunts, unnerves, and horrifies. The novel contains one of the most disturbing antagonists in literature, Anton Chigurh. Preaching a warped philosophy of chance and flipping coins with his victims before brutally executing them, he is the deranged beating pulse of the story.

The story begins when Llewellyn Moss stumbles upon a bag of money at an undiscovered murder scene in the desert while hunting antelope. What seems like a stroke of luck quickly turns into a nightmare as it sets off a chain of events that embroils the police, dealers, hitmen, and innocent bystanders in a web of fate, chance, and luck. This is a truly phenomenal novel by a master of the gruesome Western genre. While the Coen Brothers' adaptation of the same name is also well worth a watch, staying largely faithful to the book and excellently portrayed, the original novel is a must-read for any fan of literature.

**What’s the most you ever saw lost on a coin toss?**

In the initial three scenes of the novel, we are introduced to our three principal characters.

Simultaneously, within those three scenes, a matter concerning them and death is presented.

The first character elaborates on how he has only ever dispatched one person to be executed.

He also mentions having conversed with the boy several times prior to the execution and admits that he personally has no stomach for the situation, despite knowing the boy's guilt.

The second character is shown successfully killing someone up close, strangling them without any semblance of emotion.

The third character is presented while hunting. He shoots at a deer, perhaps grazing it (he's not entirely certain), but the deer manages to escape.

This, ladies and gentlemen, will serve as a metaphor for the remainder of the book, as it essentially foreshadows what befalls all of them.

Bell will struggle with his job, Chigurh will achieve his goals, and Moss will seem on several occasions as if he might elude capture, but ultimately fails.

McCarthy accomplishes something truly remarkable with this book. He crafts a truly literary southern noir.

It is fast-paced, exciting, nihilistic, poetic, and beautiful all at once.

Some of the scenes, particularly those involving Bell's monologues, I read and then immediately reread.

They are melancholy yet beautiful pieces.

In fact, the entire book can be described in such a way.

The writing is stunning, although often employing short, abrupt sentences; he never wastes a word, even when using longer speeches or flowery prose.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of his stylistic choices (I prefer quotation marks and punctuation!), but I do not dispute his skills as a writer.

I find that even if I couldn't endure reading multiple books in a row like this, the style works well enough for him that I overlook it during the course of one of his novels.

Now, I'm about to delve deep into spoiler territory. So, for those of you who wish to remain ignorant of the plot, let me simply state that this is an excellent read.

It is fast-paced, yet poetic and well worth your time.

It offers an amazing experience and earns a rare full 5/5 stars.

Okay, I've seen the movie. I thought I would be prepared for the ending. I was not.

This is one of the most depressing things I have ever read.

The fact that the cat and mouse game between Moss and Chigurh concludes between scene breaks really hit me hard.

We cut away as a conversation ends, and the next thing we know, Bell is arriving at the crime scene and searching for Moss' body.

We're only given a brief explanation of what occurred, how he was killed by some anonymous side character.

He wasn't even killed by our main antagonist... he wasn't afforded a proper death scene and there is no closure.

It ended due to bad luck on his part, and that made it all the more shocking.

Adding to that, the movie concludes shortly after this. In the case of the novel, there are still another 40 pages of Bell attempting to come to terms with what happened and trying to find any means to resume the case, all to no avail.

Disillusionment sets in and he simply gives up.

It is heartbreaking to read these scenes.

This is the kind of ending that the author must earn to be effective and not seem like a cop out, and McCarthy manages to pull it off with elegance.

One final thing while we're in spoiler territory. I've seen numerous theories suggesting that Chigurh is possibly the embodiment of death.

Given the metaphorical nature of this novel, I feel it is appropriate to consider such ideas, but I disagree.

He gets injured and experiences too many random accidents, and while he does seem unstoppable, in the end, he too is not really given closure.

Hell, the car accident at the end reveals him to be just as much a victim of random violence... which makes me think he is the incarnation of bad luck.

This is evident in how he flips coins to decide some lives or how Moss keeps escaping only to leave something behind.

Chigurh is bad luck for all involved, and when they are all dead, he's even bad luck for himself.

And to a certain extent, isn't that even more terrifying?

4.5 to 5.0 stars. First, a pre-emptive apology. This is my first Cormac McCarthy novel, and my gush of praise might be a bit too over the top, like Captain Kirk's melodrama. Please forgive me. I'll try to keep my excitement to a minimum, but this guy can really write a novel!

I thought this was a brilliant, nuanced, and multi-layered story. It was told in simple, straightforward prose, but required the reader to sift through the dialogue and find the deeper meaning McCarthy was trying to convey. In other words, this book was full of win and pushed it into uber territory.

I've read quite a few books in my life, especially in the last five years when I was old enough to appreciate some of the "classics" I was forced to read in school. I have a healthy bookshelf of "All Time Favorites" and "6 star books." But only a handful of them have changed the way I think or given me a deeper understanding of my world and history. These are my "life-changers."

To that list, I now add this amazing book. It's the most concise, piercing, and accurate description of the rapid escalation of violence in America starting in the 1980s and the inability of the previous generation of leaders to respond. The fact that the reader isn't as shocked as Sheriff Bell by Anton Chigurh's actions shows how numb and accepting we've become of brutal violence in our daily lives.

The book was superb, and I can't wait to read more by McCarthy. And I have to say that Anton Chigurh is one of the most compelling, disturbing, and amazing literary characters I've come across in a long time. I was hooked on the story every time he was in the narrative. My advice? If he asks you to call it, just run!

  




  



Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and John Adams (both inspirational figures who demonstrate greatness to me);


American Psycho (the loss of empathy and consequent brutality resulting from the isolation, shallowness and loss of true identity that resulted from the rampant consumerism of the 80’s);


The Old Man and the Sea (the power and beauty to be found in a man’s simple determination to persevere and not give up);


The Sparrow (a superb story that illustrates the battle a good person can have with their faith when they are faced with the question “How could a loving God allow such evil and pain to happen to good people?);


The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (the Short Story) (the most evocative and powerful rebuttal to the utilitarian theory of ethics I have ever read...it still gives me chills when I read it);


Night (the stark reality of man's inhumanity to man is something I will never forget);


Lost Boys (the short story) by Orson Scott Card; (as a parent, this was the most devastatingly emotional piece of literature I have ever read).

Aware that Cormac McCarthy's writing was virtually without punctuation, I had studiously avoided his books for that very reason. You know what? It doesn't make a nickel's worth of difference when the characters are this rich, the story this good. Just wade on in and let yourself go with the flow. Pretty soon, you won't even notice it. It works and is exactly right for this story.

Things have gotten right lively in Sheriff Bell's neck of the woods, much to his chagrin. He is getting older and more reflective, increasingly disillusioned with the job and with life in general. And now he has this mess dropped into his lap. His character is drawn to perfection. He won't back down, but he is a mite more careful now.

Chigurh is right up there at the top of the tree when it comes to villains. Soft-spoken, with an almost philosophical air about him, his detachment from the people he kills is chilling. I do not have the words to convey just how scary he is, and how relentless. He is like a force of nature, unstoppable and unpredictable.

Happily, we seem to have three or four more of McCarthy's books on our shelf. My silly reason for avoiding them is gone. Give this author a whirl, you may be glad you did. His unique writing style and ability to create such vivid characters and intense stories make his books a must-read for any lover of literature.

No Country for Old Men is not McCarthy's best novel, yet it holds a special place among my favorites. Each time I reread it, which is quite often as I regularly teach it in my classes, it reveals more depth and complexity.

The novel is both fast-paced and deeply philosophical, exploring themes such as fate, individual choice, and the blurred line between civilization and savagery. McCarthy's prose is remarkable, stark and spare, almost pure, in contrast to the more baroque style of some of his earlier works.

The story revolves around three men whose lives intersect after a disastrous drug deal. Llewellyn Moss, a Vietnam vet and welder, stumbles upon a scene of carnage and takes $2.4 million in drug money, knowing he will be pursued by the drug cartel's henchmen. His pursuers include Sheriff Bell, an old-fashioned sheriff who wants to save Moss from his fate, and Anton Chigurh, an enigmatic enforcer with seemingly invincible power and skills.

As the chase unfolds from multiple perspectives, the tension, excitement, and terror build. Certain scenes are both exquisitely beautiful and terrifying. McCarthy also delves into several philosophical issues that have long preoccupied his work, often through the extended reflections of Sheriff Bell. Moss, too, comments on his fate and the human condition, and his conversation with a hitchhiker is particularly poignant. However, it is Chigurh who offers the most profound discussions on fate and responsibility, taking Moss's reflections to a terrifying level.

McCarthy originally wrote the novel as a screenplay, and the Coen brothers adapted it into a great film. Nevertheless, the novel is much richer, as some crucial scenes are cut in the film and the voiceover does not develop Sheriff Bell as fully as in the novel. Overall, No Country for Old Men is an astonishing novel and a great film.

4.5 stars. This book is set in the Texas-Mexican border, presenting a story filled with violence, drugs, and a plethora of action. It is truly unlike anything I have ever read before. It is a gritty and intense piece of literature, devoid of any sort of fluffyness. In fact, it is a rather mad story. I highly doubt that I would have enjoyed it as much if it had been written by a less talented writer than Cormac McCarthy. Reading such a book is not really my thing, but somehow I ended up enjoying it a great deal anywho. The vivid descriptions of the borderland and the complex characters draw the reader in and keep them on the edge of their seat throughout the entire story. It is a must-read for those who enjoy action-packed and intense novels.

**Elevating and Transcending Genre: McCarthy and 'Existentialist Crime'**

When I delved into 'No Country for Old Men', a new world unfurled before me, like a vast expanse of dry, golden plains. McCarthy's prose, though not overly descriptive, is a masterclass in the art of economy. Each word is carefully chosen, packing a powerful punch of idea and style. The antelope hunt in Southwest Texas that leads Llewelyn Moss to the bullet-riddled cars and corpses of the silent cartel battlefield is described with such clarity that it plays out in my mind like a vivid memory, almost identical to the film adaptation by the Coen brothers. This is a testament to the genius of all three men, as the movie feels like a 'remake' of the 'original film adaptation' that played out in my head.

McCarthy condenses his prose into clean, spare lines of poetic brevity. His language is like the porous bones of eagles and vultures, capable of soaring to great heights and sinking its talons into heavy prey and dark, disturbing notions. Very few writers have the courage to venture into the high and low places where McCarthy makes his home and hunts for stories. His narrative voice, with its casual grandiloquence, is reminiscent of Faulkner, and is strained from the apocalyptic cryptograms of Revelations and the more ominous books of the Old Testament.
'No Country for Old Men' was not well-received by some of McCarthy's fans, who saw it as a digression from literature and a 'slumming' in the ghettos of genre-fiction. However, if 'NCfOM' is a 'crime novel', McCarthy not only matches the genre's previous high water marks but also floods its narrative current with the force of a million-year old glacial dam's final collapse. He takes the genre to new heights, turning it into a mega-river that flows into the archetypal ocean of human knowledge.
The novel is also a meditation on existentialism, asking profound questions about morality, ethics, and the meaning of life. It explores the conflict between the conservative notions of right and wrong held by Sheriff Bell and the terrifying personification of moral relativism and the Nietzschean ubermensch, Anton Chigurh. This conflict is not only a battle of ideas but also a struggle for survival in a world where the rules have been rewritten.
In conclusion, 'No Country for Old Men' is a remarkable work of literature that elevates and transcends the genre of crime fiction. It is a powerful, thought-provoking novel that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page. While it may not be McCarthy's best work (that honor goes to 'Blood Meridian'), it is still one of the most important and influential crime novels ever written.

Columbo would have caught Anton Chigurh.

Columbo, with his disheveled appearance and seemingly bumbling ways, was actually a brilliant detective. He had an uncanny ability to notice the tiniest details and ask the most unexpected questions.

Anton Chigurh, on the other hand, was a cold-blooded killer with a twisted sense of fate. He believed that everything was determined by chance and used a coin toss to decide the lives of those he encountered.

If Columbo had come across Chigurh, it would have been a battle of wits. Columbo would have been intrigued by Chigurh's strange behavior and would have started asking questions. Eventually, he would have uncovered the truth about Chigurh's killings and sent him to jail.

Anyways, the book that this scenario is based on is amazing. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end and makes you think about the nature of fate and justice.

**Is the Book Better than the Film?**

Agreed, let's talk about it right away. The film, which I saw before reading the book, I liked. Rarely have I come across a film so faithful to the book from which it was adapted. And when I say faithful, I don't just refer to the screenplay of the film, but also and especially to the spirit of the book. In my opinion, the Coen brothers did not betray Cormac McCarthy in this regard. On the contrary, if possible, they enhanced his intentions.

That being said, let's also move on to the book! The beginning is slow, overly descriptive (I'm referring especially to the first chapter, in which Llwelyn, one of the three protagonists, discovers what he shouldn't, decides to appropriate it and decides to flee). But it's just the start, because from there on the story is very fast, full of plot twists, chases and blood. The characters are well-developed, the dialogues are tight and incisive, the settings are sparse and desolate. It's a modern Western, where one will find oneself rooting for a poor Vietnam veteran (but still a criminal who hopes to turn around his sordid existence with a theft) being chased by a psychotic killer and a sheriff at the end of his career in a phase of existential reckoning. Each of the three has his own morality and his own personal scale of values in life. Is there room for everyone in this modern West where life is sold at zero cost?

Sailing to Byzantium (The Tower, 1927), William Butler Yeats.

I.

That is no country for old men.

The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees -

Those dying generations - at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.

[...]

To Byzantium

I.

That is not a country for old men.

The young in each other's arms, the birds in the trees -

Those mortal generations - intent on their song,

The salmon falls, the seas teeming with mackerel,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, all summer long extol

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught up in that sensual music all neglect

The monuments of the ageless intellect.

[...]

There is No Place for Old Men is written by Cormac McCarthy. His creative, dark and tense narrative of pursuit and escape between the hunted and the hunter has three main aspects, Moss, Chigurh, and Bell. Although the author presents the stories of these three people in parallel, Bell, who represents the law, is always one step behind the plot and the reader. Bell not only can solve the knots of the story, but also fails to catch the hunter Chigurh or save the hunted until the end of the story.

Moss, a former Vietnam soldier, is a simple hothead who has a poor but peaceful and ordinary life. From his conversations with his wife Carla Jean, we can understand that they love each other affectionately. However, Moss should not be seen only as the hunted. Perhaps due to the experience of being a soldier, he suddenly has the desire to be a hunter, unaware that his prey is a hunter and a savage.

McCarthy shows money with worthless skill. Before that encounter, Moss had a peaceful life and his wife. But after getting that cursed briefcase, not only his peace is gone, but Moss exchanges his unknown future with his wife. His gamble is disastrous. Moss loses everything, both the briefcase and his wife.

It is difficult to define a social class for Anton Chigurh. The only word that completely describes him is a born killer. A killing machine that both reads and weaves philosophy. A killer who, if he has the courage, allows the fate of the prey to be determined by luck or a clear line, and of course, he is fair enough to give the hunted a choice. What the author portrays of Chigurh undoubtedly places him among the most terrifying and evil characters.

What makes Chigurh more terrifying and devilish, in addition to his terrifying silence, emotionless blue eyes, excessive cleanliness, and high intelligence, is the gaze he has on his victim or perhaps on humanity. From his cold gaze, there is no difference between humans and animals. He looks at his victims with this gaze. He kills some of them with a kind of air pump that is used to kill cows and sheep, and others with a sawed-off shotgun, whose disastrous use is clear to all of us.

But Bell should be known more than just as a character and a person. He is also a kind of narrator of the story and represents the law, although he is always behind in its implementation. Bell can be regarded as a representative of the older generation of America who believe that America was not so cruel in the past generations. In Bell's words, we can always see his nostalgia for the past.

We cannot write about McCarthy's book and not remember the film No Country for Old Men. Their film, which has a great deal of loyalty to the book, has been completely successful in creating McCarthy's dark world with the same bitter irony. The choice of Javier Bardem, a beloved person, and his amazing performance as the crazy killer Chigurh, and Tommy Lee Jones in the role of Bell with a gaze that is always full of nostalgia and pain, along with the flawless direction of the Coen brothers, has added a lot to the richness of McCarthy's book.

The plot of this story is extremely weak and seems to be at the mercy of the author's convenience, stretching the limits of credulity to the breaking point.

The characters are nothing more than two-dimensional cardboard-cartoon figures. There's an indestructible Poldarkian anti-hero and a down-home sheriff engaging in shoot-em-up action that is rife with all the clichés of a made-for-TV action-adventure-western movie.

McCarthy has a penchant for pornographic descriptions of firearms, custom modification silencers, and scene after scene of gratuitous violence that becomes numbing. This book is pathetically formulaic and reeks of greed. It's clear that Cormac "Coincidence is My Trade" McCarthy had the intention of optioning this as a screenplay.

The police and the hit man Chigurh both adopt a wise-guy affect when addressing the innocent and dead victims. Chigurh's tracking skills are such that the FBI would envy them. However, the way he manages to achieve impossible accuracy and speed in finding his victims is never fully explained. In two instances, he breaks into the victims' houses just after they've left and conveniently discovers phone bills in the just delivered mail, with the bills laughably showing calls made within the past 24 hours.

One wonders why Chigurh is killing all these people. Neither the missing money nor the missing drugs are his. Nothing seems to stop him, not even when two drug dealers with Uzi machine guns aim at him on a hotel balcony. He gets injured in the thigh during that shoot-out but manages to break into a veterinarian supply and steal supplies to operate on himself in a septic environment. Then he climbs 17 flights of stairs carrying a shotgun, a pistol, and a compressed-air tank connected to a captive bolt gun to murder yet another victim! And after all that, he is T-boned at an intersection by a car speeding at 60 mph. The driver of the speeding car is killed, but Chigurh escapes with a compound fracture of the arm! This is a preposterous, cheap, sloppy, and silly book that, unfortunately, judging from the rave reviews and ratings, is loved mostly by men. What an overrated author!

A key plot device involves ceiling-mounted duct grills in roadside motels. When was the last time anyone stayed in a motel room with central ductwork? Motels almost always have through-the-wall HVAC units.

Another key plot element depends on the reader believing that Moss, an experienced hunter and Vietnam Veteran, would hunt in the desert without bringing a canteen of water. This is simply unbelievable.

Finally, there are the creepy politics of this book, as McCarthy panders to the Conservative Right and their views on immigration, border patrol, and the "war on drugs."

  - Lost Highway - David Lynch (1997)





In 1980, during a hunting trip in the Texan desert, Llewelyn Moss, a welder, stumbles upon a massacre. Bullet-ridden pickups, a slain dog, a mass of corpses.


The signs of a botched transaction between cocaine suppliers and their clients are discovered. Also found is the suitcase containing the millions that were to be used to buy the cocaine. Llewelyn decides to take the suitcase, and a true exterminating angel begins to pursue him.


Against the backdrop of the desert and interstate highways, a sort of tragedy unfolds, paced by the confessions of Sheriff Bell.




THE TOPICS:



The transformations induced by modern wars in American society. The aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Personal responsibility.

Bell's fruitless search for the truth.




THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES:



The intensity of the scenes, their setting, the sense of urgency that pervades the entire work.

The obsessive power of repetition.

The convincing portrayal of Sheriff Bell.

The "theatrical" power of Anton Chigurh, with his conversations that are unreal due to their literal meaning and metaphysical scope. Ubiquitous and elusive, impassive and implacable.


The dialogues, which contribute to this intensity of the moment and the place, often follow a pattern: interlocutors on the defensive, questions, misunderstandings, redefinition of terms, answers, repetitions. The line between the hypnotic and the soporific is thin in places...


That's for the dialogue part. On the narrative side, I must admit that I had difficulty getting into it with the phrases that were transparent due to their whiteness, the series of actions presented coldly, without much punctuation, to which is added the Texan dialect. Well, once 50 pages have passed and the action is well underway, there is no question of giving up. And even less with the fury Chigurh on the prowl.


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An interesting analysis of No Country for Old Men related to the usual tropes of the western. It concerns the Coen Brothers' adaptation, but in many respects it remains valid for Cormac McCarthy's text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkZeB...



Another analysis compares the story to that of The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKyp9...





AUTORADIO:
Machinegun - Portishead