false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177950158m/744388.jpg 365990 18 The opening section of <I>The Crossing</I>, book two of the Border Trilogy, features perhaps the most perfectly realized storytelling of Cormac McCarthy's celebrated career. Like <I>All the Pretty Horses</I>, this volume opens with a teenager's decision to slip away from his family's ranch into Mexico. In this case, the boy is Billy Parham, and the catalyst for his trip is a wolf he and his father have trapped, but that Billy finds himself unwilling to shoot. His plan is to set the animal loose down south instead. <p> This is a McCarthy novel, not <I>Old Yeller</I>, and so Billy's trek inevitably becomes more ominous than sweet. It boasts some chilling meditations on the simple ferocity McCarthy sees as necessary for all creatures who aim to continue living. But Billy is McCarthy's most loving--and therefore damageable--character, and his story has its own haunted melancholy. <p> Billy eventually returns to his ranch. Then, finding himself and his world changed, he returns to Mexico with his younger brother, and the book begins meandering. Though full of hypnotically barren landscapes and McCarthy's trademark western-gothic imagery (like the soldier who sucks eyes from sockets), these latter stages become tedious at times, thanks partly to the female characters, who exist solely as ghosts to haunt the men. <p> But that opening is glorious, and the whole book finally transcends its shortcomings to achieve a grim and poignant grandeur. <I>--Glen Hirshberg</I> 1930437 15 3 1994 The Crossing (Border Trilogy, Vol 2) total:3573|5:1264|4:1356|3:773|2:151|1:29| 3573 14394 5092 351 5 5 false false Tue Jul 31 03:48:16 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 09:30:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 09:47:07 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 09:58:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 2 false false Sun Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 19:30:36 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 20:08:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 25 11:36:34 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 10:40:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 02 22:58:27 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 15:25:28 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 3 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 10:46:12 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 28 16:33:39 -0700 2007 All the Pretty Horses, I felt (maybe somewhat unjustly) that the bar of expectation had been set extremely high. I realize that some (most?) people have a particular favorite part of McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, but I’d be hard-pressed to choose one after reading The Crossing. Ho...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 07 06:01:47 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 14:05:57 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 19:21:44 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 20:30:30 -0700 2007 The first time I tried this, 10 years ago, I couldn't get into it, but inspired by THE ROAD which I read this summer, I decided to try again and ha...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 27 23:23:35 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 26 08:46:36 -0800 2007
The first section with Billy and the wolf is stunning and surely among the best descriptions of man's relationship with the wild in literature.

The middle section meanders. I felt I needed a map to keep track of ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Sep 23 23:21:44 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 23:32:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jul 19 09:19:16 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 21:47:36 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 09:19:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Oct 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 16:43:52 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 13:01:59 -0700 2009
McCarthy's writing is as literately stark as his landscapes, and his words insidiously find their way under the reader's (or at le...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 31 06:27:33 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 11:58:49 -0700 2009
McCarthy's trilogy is a s...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 23 00:18:38 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 09 14:19:57 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jan 22 20:44:58 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 22 21:01:44 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Oct 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 04:22:12 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 04:22:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 05:36:15 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 02:00:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 22:16:40 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 21:09:14 -0800 2009
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He said the world...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995 Wed Apr 16 19:18:23 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 16 19:18:23 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri Sep 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 12:59:45 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 13:11:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=744388