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Outer Dark
Outer Dark is a novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century. A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately ...more
Paperback, 242 pages
Published
August 11th 2010
by Vintage
(first published 1968)
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This was my second Cormac McCarthy read, having initiated myself years ago with his more Faulkneresque rookie effort, The Orchard Keeper. I really enjoyed this one—grim, brooding, spectral atmosphere, replete with three harrowing strangers, seeping violence, who dog the steps of the fraternal half of our brother-sister protagonists. The book begins with sin, and this particular stain won't wash out, regardless of how far the brother, Culla, journeys through unnamed Appalachia in an attempt to sc...more
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Dear Mr McCarthy,
I write this as a formal apology. I feel a culpable shame to have only recently become cognizant of your mind stimuli prose infused writings. My discomfiture is only furthered by the thought that I almost dismissed my first purchase of your writings in the form of The Road due to the fact there was a sneering Oprah Book Club decal smacked on the hardcover. If the recommendation for the read had not come from such an infallible source Im afraid I would still be in i...more
I write this as a formal apology. I feel a culpable shame to have only recently become cognizant of your mind stimuli prose infused writings. My discomfiture is only furthered by the thought that I almost dismissed my first purchase of your writings in the form of The Road due to the fact there was a sneering Oprah Book Club decal smacked on the hardcover. If the recommendation for the read had not come from such an infallible source Im afraid I would still be in i...more
This, much more so than the Orchard Keeper, feels like McCarthy's first full work. The narrative focus is much tighter, even if the journeys that Culla and Rinthy take are every bit as shiftless and as doomed. But by the end of the book, Mccarthy has stepped well beyond the typical southern Gothic territory he spends most of his first novel treading through. Outer Dark, with it's central incestuous conflict, could easily have been just another novel about screwed-up Appalachian degenerates. Inst...more
Another harrowing slice of americana from McCarthy. Outer Dark is a disturbing story of a brother and sister with a terrible secret that tears apart their relationship and casts them both on separate journies through the angry lands of the rural south. The setting is gritty and hard -- a land where a person can't tell a preacher from a judge from a murderer --where the heat, swamps, and forgotten towns suck the souls from the characters. Misunderstood and often caught in situations beyond the...more
Not his greatest book, but still a good read. McCarthy describes setting in such vivid original terms that he could write a book about nothing and have my attention the whole way through. This book is allegory (I think), and I'm not quite sure yet what it's getting at. As usual, he writes the dialogue as if he'd spoken in the strange southern dialect all his life. McCarthy is extremely good at pulling off authenticity. I might read it again... but the "to read" pile is growing dai...more
All of the other reviews are too slavering, too worshipful, too fucking nerdy and self-referential to suggest that their authors actually read this book. I read about 15 of them, and not once did I see a comment, suggestion, reflection that added anything to my understanding of the text. Spare me the book reports. If you don't have anything to say, find a forum in which your lack of authority is expected: I suggest the rest of your life. Funny that I didn't see a single mention of its place in t...more
I enjoyed the book but it didn't "WOW" me. It didn't throw me into the world or give me any emotional turmoil over the characters. Overall it is nicely written but nothing special. The mystery wasn't very suspenseful. I felt disconnected from the characters. When an emotional event occurred, I didn't feel the appropriate pang of sadness or the ping of joy. The writing is done well and the descriptions are done beautifully but the story is lacking a connectivity that brings you close to...more
I'm not a fan of nonsense lyrical language nor am I a fan of incest cannibalist nihilism or lack of punctuation so this book is probably not the book for me.
Of the books I've read by McCarthy, this had the most Southern Gothic feel to it. I could definitely see the influence by Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner.
Outer Dark is McCarthy's second novel. His early work, before Blood Meridian, was set in Tennessee--the state he grew up in. The setting here is the Appalachian mountains during the late 19th century.
A sister and brother undertake seperate surreal journeys from inner darkness to outer. She searches for her child...more
Outer Dark is McCarthy's second novel. His early work, before Blood Meridian, was set in Tennessee--the state he grew up in. The setting here is the Appalachian mountains during the late 19th century.
A sister and brother undertake seperate surreal journeys from inner darkness to outer. She searches for her child...more
A brother and sister have a baby and the man abandons it in the woods,they find out it was saved and begin a search for it.
It sounds simple but as ever in the strange world of mccarthy it soon gets very dark. with a mother desperate to find the boy and her brother getting into all sorts of trouble,it becomes a haunting masterpiece and with an ending set many years in the future it is also very emotional.
It sounds simple but as ever in the strange world of mccarthy it soon gets very dark. with a mother desperate to find the boy and her brother getting into all sorts of trouble,it becomes a haunting masterpiece and with an ending set many years in the future it is also very emotional.
This book turned me into a Cormac McCarthy fan. While waiting for his newest book, The Road, to come available at the library, I read this earlier work of his. It was set somewhere in Appalacia, although the setting only matters to understand the terrian and the dialect in the book.
Once again, McCarthy is a master at character development, and while he doesn't lay everything out for you in a nice, neat package at the beginning, he tells you enough about the characters to keep you...more
Once again, McCarthy is a master at character development, and while he doesn't lay everything out for you in a nice, neat package at the beginning, he tells you enough about the characters to keep you...more
This story is about a brother, his sister and her baby which is left to die in the forest. The sister goes in search of the baby and her brother heads out after her to find her and bring her back. Along the way, they meet people from all walks of life..some kind, some not so kind. Once again, Cormac McCarthy paints a grim tale of human suffering. Although this is not the kind of book you enjoy reading, I find it staying with me as The Road did. There is one scene in the book that I felt co...more
This is another book set in Appalachia in the early part of the century. The plot, though, reads more like Greek mythology or something. You follow the two main characters as they make their way across a nightmare landscape and cross paths again and again with a murderous trio. I loved Mcarthy's ability to put you back in that time and his attention to detail. The plot is unsettling and very dark but, like the Orchard Keeper, doesn't have a traditional story arc. It does come to an end that kind...more
The only issue I take with "Outer Dark" is that the trio of men remain unexplained other than that they seem to murder anyone Culla comes across, including his deformed son. I'm not sure what McCarthy is trying to convey other than setting up a universe whose people are generous with food, casual with violence, and possess a adversarial relationship with nature. It is a quick read, maybe an afternoon or two, and was perfect to read out on the porch. Enjoyable but a little lacking on re...more
I really enjoyed reading this. The story was very sparse, and of course, as with all Cormac McCarthy novels, prepare to be depressed. There ain't a one person who is nice to another in all the world, it seems, and this story is no different. He nailed the Appalachian dialect. Reading the dialogue was a real treat, and not cumbersome in the least.[return][return]The story was spare and Gothic, but I'm not sure what I mean by that. Other reviews have said it's a classic Western set in the App...more
Stylistically, McCarthy is probably one of my favorite English-language writers. Though obscure at times, his prose carries a biblical authority and bears a sense of the mythological that I find American literature otherwise lacks.
That said, the rotted support beam of McCarthy's writing is usually his content. I read Blood Meridian, and I read No Country for Old Men- I've read a lot of McCarthy staples in general. While beautifully written, and intelligently told, much of his work...more
That said, the rotted support beam of McCarthy's writing is usually his content. I read Blood Meridian, and I read No Country for Old Men- I've read a lot of McCarthy staples in general. While beautifully written, and intelligently told, much of his work...more
I’m glad there are still these early Cormac McCarthy’s I have still to get to. He’s never been the sort of writer that I want to chain-read. McCarthy’s second novel is pure Southern Gothic horror. Culla gets his sister Rinthy with child, hides her away in their backcountry Appalachian cabin until the babe is born in a welter of pain and blood, and then runs off stumbling and desperate through the night with the infant through the swamps and hollers to leave it out in the woods for some predator ...more
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It's been said that for writer's first novels, it is inevitable that they wear their influences on their sleeves. This is certainly the case with Cormac McCarthy's second novel, Outer Dark. Steeped in the tradition of Southern Gothic writing, this story of wandering siblings perpetually on the wrong side of luck and fortune reads like a Faulknerian nightmare.
Rinthy Holme has no sooner given birth to her first child than its father, her brother Culla, hoping to rid himself of the in...more
Rinthy Holme has no sooner given birth to her first child than its father, her brother Culla, hoping to rid himself of the in...more
If you've read McCarthy's The Road, this book is its cousin in many ways, but I liked it more. The writing consists of a luscious poetics that is virtuosic enough to endure provocative narrative elisions and ghastly scenes of social and domestic violence. The characterizations in this book build from flat pockets of dialogue and a heightened attention to the main characters' most basic and desperate machinations, which are often circular and repetitious; we never get a sense of their inner liv...more
I liked Outer Dark a lot, but it's not for everyone. I was arguing with someone that you could cross out the title and write The Road (McCarthy's recent, successful book--unlike this one, I guess, which was early, copyright 1968, and I'm guessing not that successful)on it, but they disagreed. Or, it's like Oh Brother Where Art Thou, but with more biblical references, and themes, some of which I'm sure I don't understand, not being myself a bible scholar. It's dark though. I read where McCart...more
Another web of nightmares and biblical dark spun by the ineffable McCarthy. This one felt incredibly tight, void of the sort of meandering endlessness that fills his later novels; where a road that never ends fits the tone of his others (I'm thinking Blood Meridian, the Crossing, and Pretty Horses in particular), the sharp and timeless visceral quality of Outer Dark suits its tale. A brother and sister who share a dark secret, a tinker who knows it, and a trio of spine-chillingly present omnisci...more
Outer Dark is the McCarthy book that, for me, bears the most blatant marks of the Faulkner influence. Reading it felt like a twisted journey into an alternative dimension of Light in August, but instead of chasing a no-good boyfriend, Rinthy chases her child. The three interspersed dark strangers color everything else in this book, from Rinthy to Holme, in tones of overcast black and gray. Sudden violence interrupts pastoral descriptions of a hardened Appalachia and strikes a balance that not on...more
Anyone familiar with McCarthy’s work with recognize his touch on this one as well – dark imagery, contemplative actions, vague pronouns and motivations, characters that search and encounter death. I don’t think it’s close to being his best book, but if you’re a McCarthy fan it’s worth the read.
The focus here is relationship between a brother and sister – she bears his child. He abandons it. So begins the first 5 pages. The rest of the novel depicts each of the character’s journeys a...more
The focus here is relationship between a brother and sister – she bears his child. He abandons it. So begins the first 5 pages. The rest of the novel depicts each of the character’s journeys a...more
This is an darkly atmospheric and episodic tale, as we follow the separate travels of a brother and sister around some uncertain part of the American South, probably in the late 19th Century. She is searching for her lost new born child and he follows, searching for her. The land is a harsh, unforgiving wilderness and the people who inhabit it often as harsh as the climate and as poor as the soil. Alternating episodes deal with encounters of the siblings on their travels. The sister, Rinthy, ten...more
Dark indeed...
There are few redeeming aspects of this harrowing book about a sister who bears her brothers child only to have the brother abandon the newborn in the woods out of shame then later rescued by a wandering "tinker" salesman. The sister then sets out on her own to find the chap while the brother realizes what he's lost and chases after her. All the while there are three ominous and destructive men on the loose terrorizing the area.
Again, McCarthy is a...more
There are few redeeming aspects of this harrowing book about a sister who bears her brothers child only to have the brother abandon the newborn in the woods out of shame then later rescued by a wandering "tinker" salesman. The sister then sets out on her own to find the chap while the brother realizes what he's lost and chases after her. All the while there are three ominous and destructive men on the loose terrorizing the area.
Again, McCarthy is a...more
It might be surprising to those who know me as a children's book author to hear that OUTER DARK has had a profound effect on my writing.
The dark fairytale world of McCarthy's Appalachia captivated my imagination the first (and every other time) I read this book. My books are far from Cormac-esque horror, but I've delved deep to understand how McCarthy could make a world so strange and magical out of an utterly bleak time and place. He's masterful.
As a side-note, I'm c...more
The dark fairytale world of McCarthy's Appalachia captivated my imagination the first (and every other time) I read this book. My books are far from Cormac-esque horror, but I've delved deep to understand how McCarthy could make a world so strange and magical out of an utterly bleak time and place. He's masterful.
As a side-note, I'm c...more
Mysterious, lyrical and dark. I love every of this adjectives, especially when we talk about literature. I think sometimes I don't look for a specific sense, big world changing thoughts to write in notebooks and on t-shirts. Sometimes I just let the book to flow me with words. I'm watching pictures they built and keeping pleasure. Keeping pleasure because I love creepy and bloody imagination in McCarthy's style. This book have title "Outer dark" but I don't think the world showed here ...more
Having never read anything but THE ROAD, I never understood why anyone thought McCarthy was verbose and needlessly poetic, but it struck me that they may have been talking about OUTER DARK.
Okay story about a series of related people searching for lost things, blindly wandering the unknown, but only engaging from the viewpoint of the character that doesn't come around as much as she should.
Appropriately dour McCarthy ending, but riddled w/ terribly sticky, needlessly jum...more
Okay story about a series of related people searching for lost things, blindly wandering the unknown, but only engaging from the viewpoint of the character that doesn't come around as much as she should.
Appropriately dour McCarthy ending, but riddled w/ terribly sticky, needlessly jum...more
Uproarious fun!
"What’s his name? the man said.
I don’t know.
He ain’t got nary’n.
No. I don’t reckon. I don’t know.
They say people in hell ain’t got names. But they had to be called somethin to get sent there.
Didn’t they.
The tinker might have named him.
It wasn’t his to name. Besides names die with the namers. A dead man’s dog ain’t got a name."
"Before him stretched a spectral wast...more
"What’s his name? the man said.
I don’t know.
He ain’t got nary’n.
No. I don’t reckon. I don’t know.
They say people in hell ain’t got names. But they had to be called somethin to get sent there.
Didn’t they.
The tinker might have named him.
It wasn’t his to name. Besides names die with the namers. A dead man’s dog ain’t got a name."
"Before him stretched a spectral wast...more
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Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels in the Southern Gothic, western, and post-apocalyptic genres and has also written plays and screenplays. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road, and his 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
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“Ive seen the meanness of humans till I dont know why God aint put out the sun and gone away.”
—
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“Don't take in no strangers while I'm gone.
She sighed deeply. They ain't a soul in this world but what is a stranger to me, she said.”
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She sighed deeply. They ain't a soul in this world but what is a stranger to me, she said.”
