tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post2281466265225005615..comments2024-01-02T15:37:04.858-05:00Comments on Caravana de recuerdos: Blood MeridianRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-11897312344874561622018-04-25T12:24:14.779-04:002018-04-25T12:24:14.779-04:00All the Pretty Horses is almost certain to be the ...<em>All the Pretty Horses</em> is almost certain to be the next McCarthy in my queue, possibly as early as next month, so what you say about its style sounds rather, uh, appealing. Hope you enjoy <em>2666</em> when you get to it--would love to hear what you think about it. Cheers!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-15085161816160720232018-04-24T18:24:35.882-04:002018-04-24T18:24:35.882-04:00I guess I don’t really have an opinion yet on McCa...I guess I don’t really have an opinion yet on McCarthy, having only read All the Pretty Horses, years ago for school, and not really forming a solid opinion on that. There was something about the style I found appealing, but I don’t know how I’d feel about it in his other books, which I gather by reputation to be more...intense. Reading your review, I’m a bit tempted to find out, though. (Prior to that however, and coincidentally to reading this post, I find myself looking at my copy of 2666 and thinking it’s time...)amanda @ simplerpastimeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14127945915013121105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-25209667848619999142018-04-15T03:05:21.540-04:002018-04-15T03:05:21.540-04:00Your impression is correct. Looking it up, that b...Your impression is correct. Looking it up, that book sold I lot more than I had remembered.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-5917578577670310102018-04-14T23:44:22.310-04:002018-04-14T23:44:22.310-04:00I was under the impression that All the Pretty Hor...I was under the impression that <em>All the Pretty Horses</em>--not published until 1992 but the immediate follow-up to <em>Blood Meridian</em>--was McCarthy's first bestseller, but that still backs your point that the '70s and the '80s were lean years for him commercially. Will be interested to see if his later work is all that more accessible than his earlier work, but maybe I shouldn't be since I'm not all that in tune with the marketplace side of things anyway.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-64167121339750753322018-04-13T17:44:59.792-04:002018-04-13T17:44:59.792-04:00McCarthy did not really hit the jackpot, though, u...McCarthy did not really hit the jackpot, though, until recently, when Oprah picked <i>The Road</i>, which I guess has the advantage of being a genre book, as is <i>No Country for Old Men</i>. In the 1980s he was prestigious but did not sell many books.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-72605917743105717752018-04-13T12:49:50.674-04:002018-04-13T12:49:50.674-04:00Thanks for sharing that extended follow-up to Tom&...Thanks for sharing that extended follow-up to Tom's thumbnail summary, Séamus. Enjoyed your prose as always!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-47000865107392550412018-04-13T12:47:46.555-04:002018-04-13T12:47:46.555-04:00Not to read too much into the little of McCarthy t...Not to read too much into the little of McCarthy that I've now read for myself or just heard about from others, but I find his terrible theme/filled with grandeur style a pretty uncompromising cocktail for such a commercially successful writer. Strange, no?Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-71361558242517220662018-04-12T23:06:47.008-04:002018-04-12T23:06:47.008-04:00This is the only McCarthy book that I have read. I...This is the only McCarthy book that I have read. I liked it for a lot of reasons. I agree with you in regards to his prose. They are so full of grandeur even when he is describing terrible things. Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-6147795437731292792018-04-12T19:36:39.524-04:002018-04-12T19:36:39.524-04:00This has me revisiting my own experience with Chil...This has me revisiting my own experience with Child of God - https://theknockingshop.blogspot.ie/2011/10/child-of-god.htmlSéamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-26232802329714603932018-04-12T12:34:32.696-04:002018-04-12T12:34:32.696-04:00You were one of the McCarthy "haters" I&...You were one of the McCarthy "haters" I'd been thinking about, Rise, but I couldn't remember the reasons for your animus or if you'd ever even explained it in detail. Whatever, quite an interesting response! Your "mannered" critique is quite intriguing to me, though, because even though I recognize that <em>Blood Meridian</em>'s prose is highly stylized, I enjoyed the faux-biblical tone, the descriptive flair and Judge Holden's occasional speechifying. Still, I shall likely heed your advice and only reread the novel one more time and not 1.5 more times!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-59560384009413625872018-04-12T12:20:14.125-04:002018-04-12T12:20:14.125-04:00I'd think that would be a really rewarding exp...I'd think that would be a really rewarding experience. Or at least that's what I thought until I read Rise's comment below!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-49561495539661861492018-04-12T12:17:20.668-04:002018-04-12T12:17:20.668-04:00Ah, I'd been wondering what kind of history yo...Ah, I'd been wondering what kind of history you had with McCarthy. <em>Child of God</em>'s "Faulkner-prose" sounds pretty great, the other stuff less so. Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-27392293541864993992018-04-12T11:13:32.250-04:002018-04-12T11:13:32.250-04:00I read this 2.5x, a bad case of overreading. The f...I read this 2.5x, a bad case of overreading. The first time I thought the author was a genius and read other books by him and book reviews I could find to make sense of it. The second time he was still right up there. It was during the third time the trauma set in and the whole thing crumbled and I hated the artifice, finding it so mannered and numbing. Now I found the quote above funny and farcical. Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-32701419316192451972018-04-12T07:16:44.969-04:002018-04-12T07:16:44.969-04:00This has been on my reread list for a decade or mo...This has been on my reread list for a decade or more. This might give it that necessary push to the top.<br />Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-41679604060728215342018-04-12T02:59:09.302-04:002018-04-12T02:59:09.302-04:00I've only read McCarthy's Child of God, wh...I've only read McCarthy's <i>Child of God</i>, where the subject matter is horrifying, just hideous, and the Faulkner-prose is sharp, sharp, sharp.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.com