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მოხუცების ადგილი აქ არ არის

Cormac McCarthy

4.11 · Rating details · 156,066 ratings · 8,251 reviews

თანამედროვე ამერიკული ლიტერატურის კლასიკოსის, პულიცერის პრემიის ლაურეატ კორმაკ მაკარტის რომანი „მოხუცების ადგილი აქ არ არის“ 2005 წელს გამოიცა. ეს გახლავთ იგავი – მოდერნიზებული ვესტერნი, რომლის მთავარი გმირი, ვიეტნამის ომის ვეტერანი ლუელინ მოსი, ტეხასის მთებში ანტილოპებზე ნადირობისას გადააწყდება ბანდიტური გარჩევის კვალს – გვამებს, ნარკოტიკებს და კეისს ორი მილიონი დოლარით. თანამედროვე ამერიკული ლიტერატურის კლასიკოსის, პულიცერის პრემიის ლაურეატ კორმაკ მაკარტის რომანი „მოხუცების ადგილი აქ არ არის“ 2005 წელს გამოიცა. ეს გახლავთ იგავი – მოდერნიზებული ვესტერნი, რომლის მთავარი გმირი, ვიეტნამის ომის ვეტერანი ლუელინ მოსი, ტეხასის მთებში ანტილოპებზე ნადირობისას გადააწყდება ბანდიტური გარჩევის კვალს – გვამებს, ნარკოტიკებს და კეისს ორი მილიონი დოლარით. იგი ცდუნებას ვერ უძლებს, ფულს იღებს და გარბის. ლუელინს აედევნება დემონური კილერი ჩიგური, ხოლო ამ უკანასკნელს ფეხდაფეხ მისდევს შერიფი ბელი... კორმაკ მაკარტის ამ რომანის მიხედვით ძმებმა კოენებმა გადაიღეს ამავე სახელწოდების ფილმი ხავიერ ბარდემის, ჯოშ ბროლინისა და ტომი ლი ჯონსის მონაწილეობით. 2008 წელს ფილმმა არაერთი პრესტიჟული კინემატოგრაფიული ჯილდო მოიპოვა, მათ შორის ოთხი „ოსკარი“. ...more

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published 2020 by ბაკურ სულაკაურის გამომცემლობა (first published July 2005)

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Jan 10, 2012 Manny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: older-men-younger-women, parody-homage, if-research-were-romance

So are we gonna talk about No Country For Old Men, he said.

Why not, she replied.

Then we gotta do it like McCarthy, he said. Short sentences. Southern dialect. No punctuation.

I can drop the punctuation, she said. But I can't do Southern.

You can try.

Well then I caint. That good enough for you?

Youre tryin. That's the important thing. Caint do more than try.

Thank you. I wish I could speak it. It's a beautiful language. But I aint got his ear. He's got the best ear for dialect this side of Mark Twai ...more

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Apr 20, 2014 Glenn Russell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men

My first contact with this work of fiction was listening to a 'Partially Examined Life' podcast with 3 young philosophers and Eric Petrie, a university professor who has made a study of Cormac McCarthy's dark novel set in Texas in 1980. This fascinating discussion motivated me not only to read the book but listen to the audiobook read by Tom Stechschulte. I'm glad I did. Stechschute's reading is spot-on, particularly his portrayal of one of the main characters, a good old boy by the name of Sherriff Bell.

Since there are many reviews posted, in the spirit of freshness, I'd like to share a few reflections of a philosophical nature. My observations are in light of what contemporary British philosopher Simon May has to say about the nature of love. According to May, love isn't what philosophers like Plato say it is, that is, love being a longing for the Good and Beautiful; rather, May argues love has a wider range: we fall in love inspired by an anchoring for our life, an anchoring giving us a home in the world. Such a love is worth dying for, since we want so much to be rooted in the world with a feeling of being fully alive.

So, keeping Simon May's idea of love in mind, let's take a look at McCarthy's novel. An entire essay could be written for each main character, but, in the interest of concision, I'll limit my remarks to a few sentences on each man's way of living and loving:

Llewelyn Moss is a 37 year old welder who served as a army sniper in Viet Nam. Moss is out in the desert with his sniper rifle hunting game when he sees something unusual off in the distance--- a bunch of cars and trucks appearing to have been abandoned. He walks down to have a closer look and finds the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad - men and even dogs filled with bullets and covered with blood. Moss then comes across a briefcase filled with $100 bills. He takes the money and knows this is the moment his life will be changed forever. Why would he do such a thing? I see one big reason Moss would take the money: by so doing he will be skyrocketed into a world where the intensity of being alive is a thousand times greater than being a welder. Having had an experience of life-and-death intensity in Viet Nam, Moss knows the feeling well - and he loves intensity, made all the more intense when danger looms.

Anton Chigurh, also a Viet Nam veteran, is the man from the drug world who comes after Moss. As we follow Chigurh in the story, it quickly becomes clear he sees himself as a grim-reaper -- anybody who stands before him, if he so chooses, has come face-to-face with their own death. Well, not exactly his choice alone. Chigurh will occasionally flip a coin and ask the person to call it. If anybody shows the least hesitation to face their own choices in life or the reality of their own death, then, well, by Chigurh's standards, they might as well be dead. We would have to go a long way to find a character in literature, perhaps Richard III, who is equally the embodiment of pure evil. Love? Chigurh loves death; he is a true necrophilia, and he shares his love whenever the occasion presents itself. In the course of this McCarthy novel, Chigurh kills men and women left and right.

Sheriff Bell is a World War II veteran who sees his county losing its moral glue. And moral glue anchors Sherriff Bell's life and gives him a home in the world. He reflects toward the end of the story, "These old people I talk to, if you could of told em that there would be people on the streets of our Texas towns with green hair and bones in their noses speakin a language they couldnt even understand, well, they just flat out wouldnt of believed you. But what if you'd of told em it was their own grandchildren?" We also learn what especially anchors Bell's life (what Bell loves) is a prime military virtue: loyalty to your men. And Bell tells his old uncle about the major regret of his life -- when a Sergeant in the war he faced a choice: stick with his men or save his own life. Since at one point in a battle the overwhelming odds were that all of his men were dead, he made the choice to save himself by leaving. Bell says he has been reflecting on this event over the years and concludes he violated the code of loyalty. He goes on to say that if he had to do it over again, he would have died with his men rather than leaving.

These observations about the nature of love are made as a kind of invitation to read McCarthy's novel and see where you stand philosophically. Is love only love for the Beautiful and Good, or can love have, as Simon May puts forth (and illustrated by the respective objects of love of these 3 men), a more expansive and darker range?

American novelist Cormac McCarthy - Born 1933 ...more

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Feb 15, 2008 Kemper rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, 5-0, bad-guys-rule, favorites, noir, rednecks, famous-books, 2016-reread, mexico

This is officially the 1000th review I’ve written on Goodreads, and I wanted to make sure that the book would fit the occasion so that’s why I decided to re-read this one. What better novel could I choose than this heartwarming tale of human kindness from one of the most optimistic men on the planet, Cormac McCarthy?*

* Note - That statement is sarcasm done in the interest of humor. 1000 reviews have taught me that I apparently have to explain that or someone with poor reading comprehension will ...more

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Aug 04, 2013 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 21th-century, fiction, united-states, pdfs, mystery, crime-mystery, literature

No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy

No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy who originally wrote the story as a screenplay.

The story occurs in the vicinity of the United States–Mexico border in 1980 and concerns an illegal drug deal gone awry in the Texas desert back country.

The plot (of the book, rather than the film) follows the interweaving paths of the three central characters (Llewelyn Moss, Anton Chigurh, and Ed Tom Bell) set in motion by events relat No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy

No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy who originally wrote the story as a screenplay.

The story occurs in the vicinity of the United States–Mexico border in 1980 and concerns an illegal drug deal gone awry in the Texas desert back country.

The plot (of the book, rather than the film) follows the interweaving paths of the three central characters (Llewelyn Moss, Anton Chigurh, and Ed Tom Bell) set in motion by events related to a drug deal gone bad near the Mexican–American border in remote Terrell County in southwest Texas.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوازدهم ماه دسامبر سال 2012میلادی

عنوان: جایی برای پیرمردها نیست؛ نویسنده: کورمک مکارتی؛ مترجم: امیر احمدی آریان؛ تهران، نشر چشمه، 1387، در 285ص؛ شابک 9789643626006؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 21م

داستان «جایی برای پیرمردها نیست» درباره ی پسر جوان جوشکاری است، که روزی برای شکار، به کوه میرود، و آنجا شاهد یک صحنه ی بجا مانده از درگیری، در حین داد و ستد مواد مخدر میشود؛ در صحنه، مواد بسیاری بر جای مانده است؛ افرادی کشته شده اند، و پولها نیز، در همان نزدیکی، درون چمدان است؛ پسر، پولها را برمیدارد، و فرار میکند، و همین سبب تعقیب و گریزی طولانی میشود؛ بین پسر، و کسی که در پی یافتن پولهاست، و البته کلانتر آن منطقه نیز...؛

نقل از متن: (من یه پسر رو تو هانتسویل به اتاق گاز فرستادم؛ فقط یکی، نه بیشتر؛ خودم دستگیرش کردم و شهادت دادم؛ دو سه باری اونجا رفتم و باش ملاقات کردم؛ سه بار؛ بار آخر روز اعدامش بود؛ مجبور نبودم برم ولی رفتم؛ معلومه که نمیخواستم؛ دختر چهارده ساله ای رو کشته بود، و همین الان بهتون بگم که من هیچوقت هیچ علاقه ای به ملاقات پسر نداشتم، چه برسه به دیدن اعدامش، اما اینکار رو کردم؛ روزنامه ها نوشتند این جنایت از سر اشتیاق بود، و خودش به من گفت هیچ اشتیاقی در کار نبود؛ با اون دختره قرار میگذاشت هر چند که خیلی بچه بود؛ خودش نوزده سالش بود؛ به من گفت از وقتی که یادش میآد، نقشه ی قتل کسی رو میکشیده؛ گفت اگه ولش کنن باز همین کار رو میکنه؛ گفت میدونه که به جهنم میره؛ با زبون خودش به من گفت؛ نمیدونم درباره ش چی بگم؛ واقعاً نمیدونم؛ فکر کنم تا به حال هیچکس رو شبیه اون ندیدم و به نظرم خودش یه جونور تازه از نوع بشر بود؛ دیدم که چطور روی صندلی نشوندنش و در رو بستند؛ شاید کمی عصبی به نظر میرسید ولی همه ش همین بود؛ مطمئنم خودش میدونست که تا پونزده دقیقه ی دیگه به جهنم میره؛ شک ندارم؛ خیلی به این قضیه فکر کردم؛ حرف زدن باهاش خیلی هم سخت نبود؛ بهم میگفت کلانتر؛ ولی من نمیدونستم بهش چی بگم؛ به مردی که خودش میگه روح نداره، چی میشه گفت؟ چرا باید بهش چیزی بگی؟ خیلی به این قضیه فکر کردم؛ اما اون بچه نسبت به چیزی که انتظارمون رو میکشید هیچ بود

میگن چشمها پنجره ای رو به روح آدم اند؛ من نمیدونم چشمهای اون پنجره ای رو به چی بود، و حدس میزنم حالا حالاها ندونم؛ اما اون بیرون چیزای دیگه ای برای دیدن هست و چشمای دیگه ای که ببینند و اونجاست که همه ی اتفاقا میافته؛ مجبور شدم به جایی برم که عمراً فکرش رو هم نمیکردم سر و کارم بهش بیفته؛ جایی اون بیرون، پیامبرِ زنده و واقعی نابودی حی و حاضره و من اصلاً دلم نمیخواد به جنگش برم؛ میدونم که واقعیه؛ کارش رو دیده م؛ یه بار جلوِ چشمهاش راه رفتم؛ دیگه نمیکنم؛ دیگه ژتونهام رو وسط نمیذارم و بلند نمیشم برم به دیدنش؛ مسئله فقط پیر شدن نیست؛ کاش همین بود؛ حتا نمیتونم بگم این کاریه که به اراده ی خودم انجامش میدم؛ همیشه میدونستم برای انجام اینکار باید از قبل علاقه به مردن داشته باشی؛ این حرف همه جا صدق میکرد؛ هیچ چیز باشکوهی درباره ی هر کاری که بکنی وجود نداره؛ هیچی نیست به جز کاری که میکنی؛ اگه هم خودت ندونی دیگران میدونن؛ با یه نگاه میفهمن؛ فکر میکنم قضیه بیشتر اینه که چی میخوای بشی؛ فکر میکنم آدم مجبوره سر روحش قمار کنه؛ من اینکار رو نمی کنم؛ الان فکر میکنم که هیچوقت این کارو نمیکنم)؛ پایان نقل

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 20/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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May 10, 2017 Michael Finocchiaro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, american-20th-c, american-21st-c, novels, made-into-movie, crime-lit

Coac McCartney's No Country for Old Men is a quick but intense read. For those that saw the Cohen brothers' movie first (as I did years ago), the book is as bleak and violent as the movie was. Chigurh is probably up there with The Joker as one of the most evil, conscience-free bad guys in literature. He kills willfully and without a shred of remorse before slinking back into the woodwork unseen and uncaught. Moss is a tragic, but heroic character who gets caught up with something far beyond his Coac McCartney's No Country for Old Men is a quick but intense read. For those that saw the Cohen brothers' movie first (as I did years ago), the book is as bleak and violent as the movie was. Chigurh is probably up there with The Joker as one of the most evil, conscience-free bad guys in literature. He kills willfully and without a shred of remorse before slinking back into the woodwork unseen and uncaught. Moss is a tragic, but heroic character who gets caught up with something far beyond his abilities (which are great to say the least) to control. Bell is precisely how he was portrayed in the film: tired, old, jaded.

The writing is typically devoid of quotation marks but full of wonderful descriptions:
"It was a big redtail...Any small thing might venture to cross. Closing in on the prey against the sun. Shadowless. Lost in the concentration of the hunter." (P. 45). This attention of Bell for the dead hawk mirrors his attention to the various victims of the cartel and Chigurh.
"Anything can be an instrument, Chigurh said. Small things. Things you wouldn't even notice. They pass from hand to hand. People don't pay attention. And then one day there's an accounting. And after that nothing is the same." (P. 57). This is sort of the leitmotif of the entire novel. Nothing is ever the same.
Moss and the hitchhiker:
"What do I gotta do for it?
You don't gotta do nothin. Even a blind sow finds a acorn ever once in a while." (P. 233)
Moss never asks for help and yet throws himself into what he knows is a deadend quest - for a goal he is not even aware of, other than knowing that he will never reach it.

The last time we see Chigurh with Carla Jean, he again leaves her fate to the toss of a coin:
"I only have one way to live. It doesn't allow for special cases. A coin toss perhaps. In this case to small purpose. Most people believe there cannot be such a person. You can see what a problem that must be for them. How to prevail over that which you refuse to acknowledge the existence of." (P. 260)

As in most of McCarthy's novels, there is not really a moral to be found here. There is inescapable evil in the world and at some point you place yourself on one side or the other. When you straddle the line as Moss did, things usually do not come out well. Nonetheless, it is powerful reading and of course was made into an epic film. Hard to forget ...more

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Jan 16, 2018 Justin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Is No Country for Old Men a great book.
It is.
Is Cormac McCarthy becoming one of my favorite authors.
He is.
You reckon I outta read more of his books.
I do.
I don’t know why I love this book so much. I surely dont.
Read it bout three times now. Bout three times or so.
Dont ever seem to get old does it sheriff.
It dont. It surely don’t.
Got a bad man in it. Flips a coin. Scares people.
Call it. It’s your lucky penny.
Books got an old west flavor to it with a contemporary tone all at the same ti ...more

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May 24, 2009 Bill Kerwin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-mystery

A taut thriller with crisp, naturalistic dialogue, this book refuses to avert its eyes from the darkness.

Perhaps I'm rating this a bit low, but--considering the author's reputation--I expected more. Besides, I liked the movie better. ...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Lyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Cormac McCarthy has created - again - the perfect villain, this time in the form of a former special forces killer named Anton Chigurh.

Like Judge Holden and Glanton in Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, Chigurh is intelligent, resourceful and utterly devoted to violence and chaos. Yet, like the antagonists in Blood Meridian, McCarthy has imbued in Chigurh a strange integrity, a devotion to a natural order that I think is McCarthy's embodied illustration of evil - a man cut off ...more

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Dec 26, 2014 Fabian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Well, if you saw the Oscar-winning film, you pretty much got the gist.

This is an examination of evil at its most primitive level, in which lawlessness, even in the modern world, reigns over conscience, reason & morality. Chigurh is one very prototypical Boogeyman: a walking, talking Michael Myers (c.a. 1978 by J. Carpenter) that is not immortal, though the concept of him will rule all the ages, prevailing like a force of nature. Powerful stuff, emotional & heartless at the same time, & of cours ...more

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May 19, 2017 Jessaka rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lyrical-prose, western

When I was reading this book I began noticing how much the killings in it reminded me of the bible. They are the same book, I thought, No Country for Old Men and the bible. Only one is more graphic than the other. You have to really use your imagination when reading the bible. McCarthy fills in the cracks, takes away your imagination.

I once read a story about a woman who lived with a tribe, and a man from another tribe came in and raped her. After that her people killed every one of his people, When I was reading this book I began noticing how much the killings in it reminded me of the bible. They are the same book, I thought, No Country for Old Men and the bible. Only one is more graphic than the other. You have to really use your imagination when reading the bible. McCarthy fills in the cracks, takes away your imagination.

I once read a story about a woman who lived with a tribe, and a man from another tribe came in and raped her. After that her people killed every one of his people, men, women, and children. Sound like a McCarthy book? The murderers, in this case were the Israelites. God’s people. It was okay for them to kill because there was a reason, but whatever that reason was, I do not know, but I could not see the justice.

The murderer in McCarthy’s book does the same thing, he kills innocent people, but he is a psychopathic killer. He feels nothing for those he murders. If you want a psychopath to feel your pain, he has to look into your eyes. They won’t for this reason. Did God look into the eyes of those he had killed? Did he feel anything for them?

Moss, the main character in this book, lives in a Texas desert town with his wife, and he loves hunting antelopes. He was out hunting for antelopes on this fateful day, but instead of killing an antelope, he hunted up trouble. He got out his binoculars and scratched around the land for antelopes, finding instead three vehicles with dead bodies scattered on the ground.

Remember Lot’s wife in the Bible? She was told by an angel of God to not look back, if she did she would die. Moss looked back instead of running from the scene. He couldn’t help himself anymore than Lot’s wife could. Moss went down to check out the dead too many times. The first time was fatal; the second was just dumb. But I am not saying that he died in the story; just saying.

One man was still alive and asked for water, just like Lazarus,the man in hell in the New Testament, had. When Lazarus asked for water; God didn’t listen. Maybe He didn’t even look into his eyes to know his suffering. I don’t know. Moss, on the other hand didn’t have any water to give or he would have given it to him.

Then Moss checked out the vehicles, found heroin. He left the heroin where it was and walked down a bloody path where he found another dead man--and money. He took the money, went back to his truck and then home to his wife.

I thought then that his wife was now good as dead. She should have left him when he told her about the money. Maybe she should have left him long ago. Life is like that, sometimes you get only one window of opportunity.

Moss leaves his wife at home and decides to check out the scene again, but by this time it doesn’t matter. Whatever happens now is fate. ...more

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Aug 03, 2018 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: good old boys and girls

Recommended to Robin by: Javier Bardem

Shelves: southern-gothic, american, literary-fiction, 2018

This is No Book for Tender Hearts. No Book for Gore Haters. No Book for Punctuation Police.

But hot damn, it's a great book. I was worried that it might be dwarfed by the exceptional movie version, but then I read three pages and was completely in the hands of this writer. Yes, he writes without punctuation, in clipped, incomplete sentences. His voice is often and easily parodied. It didn't bother me, though. The bare, unsentimental style suits this ruthless 1980s cowboy story. There's almost no This is No Book for Tender Hearts. No Book for Gore Haters. No Book for Punctuation Police.

But hot damn, it's a great book. I was worried that it might be dwarfed by the exceptional movie version, but then I read three pages and was completely in the hands of this writer. Yes, he writes without punctuation, in clipped, incomplete sentences. His voice is often and easily parodied. It didn't bother me, though. The bare, unsentimental style suits this ruthless 1980s cowboy story. There's almost no interiority here, by which I mean the author describing his characters' inner turmoil or thoughts. There's no big backstory or even much physical description. There's just action, killer action, and some of the best dialogue out there, which tells us pretty much all we need to know.

Llewelyn Moss chances upon something that doesn't belong to him (fatal mistake #1) and then returns to the scene (fatal mistake #2) which sets the murderous story rolling along. Anton Chigurh is probably the most heartless villain ever written (if you can think of one worse, tell me!), and is hot on his trail in this vicious game of cat and mouse. When I say vicious, believe me. This should come with a rating of R for extreme violence.

The themes of randomness and chance come up many times, as depicted by Chigurh and his dreaded coin. The shape of your path was visible from the beginning.

Also, the big, dark question of destiny is answered bleakly:

Your notions about startin over. Or anybody's. You dont start over. That's what it's about. Ever step you take is forever. You cant make it go away. None of it.

Sheriff Bell is always a few steps behind, and is the source of all interiority in the book. He's disillusioned with the world. And who can blame him, after he sees the trail left by Chigurh and his terrifying air-gun-thing. The author speckles the Sheriff's thoughts throughout the book, in short, italicised chapters. They provide a sort of moral anchor to the book, which is necessary and works for the most part, but becomes too much towards the end. When all the spectacular action has wrapped up, when all the dead people are dead and the ones that survive have survived, somehow we are forced to keep reading more thoughts from the Sheriff - about how bad the world is, his experiences in the war, and other subtleties that are probably very meaningful but to which I became immune because by that point my interest had waned down to a disappointed blip.

How this book could be so razor-sharp and then so blathering brought down my review a star. Just a star, because it's SO good, it's worth reading. But just be forewarned. It needs the cardio-conversion paddles towards the end. ...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Nandakishore Varma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

This is started as a one-star book, then progressed to four slowly as the story unfolded. The novel grows on you.

No Country for Old Men starts out in a thoroughly disjointed way. Multiple POVs, total lack of punctuation, dialogue rendered exactly as the characters speak it... the reader is utterly confused as to where the focus is, who the protagonist is, and what the story is about.

It could be about one Llewlyn Moss who stumbles upon a fortune while hunting antelope near the Rio Grande. A tran ...more

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Dec 13, 2014 Paul Bryant rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD REVIEWERS

Rayner took the bolt of the Uzi and slid the firing pin on. He aligned the springs and dropped the housing in. He felt and made sure it was seeded properly. He got the barrel and pushed that down. It rotated and found the notch. Bryant rolled a thin one, tamping the tobacco, pinching off the surplus and returning it to the tin. There was a dog.

You fixin to make me flip a coin on you.

No I particular aint.

Don’t look like it to me.

You shouldn’t likely do this.

Well yo ...more

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May 17, 2008 Annet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gritty, dark, have-to-read-again, wilderness-books-can-usa, crime, literature-pure

Saw the movie, read the book afterwards to fully understand the story. Fascinating story. Great writing. I'm have become a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy! Grand writer. ...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Stephen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: psychos, crime, audiobook, literary-fiction, classics-americas, 2000-2005

4.5 to 5.0 stars. First, a pre-emptive apology...this is my first Cormac McCarthy novel and so my gush of praise may be a tad too CAPTAIN KIRKISH in its melodramatic over the top-ness, so please forgive me. I will attempt to keep my giddiness to a minimum...but man can this guy write a novel!!!

I will start by saying without trying to sound overly stuffy or pretentious that I thought this was a brilliant, nuanced, multi-layered story that was told in extremely simple, straight-forward prose ...more

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Jul 04, 2020 Brett C rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature

This was a great read in my opinion. The story reminded me of an American Western with a steady plot involving money, pursuits, shoot-outs, and the arid backdrop of West Texas. I saw the movie recently and that was only helpful because it provided visual aids while I reading.

The reading took some adjusting because the author employs a unique style of writing. McCarthy used a minimalist approach: short/quick dialogue, basic punctuation, and a gritty colloquial vernacular in the characters speech ...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Jason Koivu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Jason by: everyone and the kitchen sink

Shelves: fiction

Wanting to give up...
Refusing to give up...
Not knowing the meaning of giving up.

When drugs and money come to a small Texas town, sheriff-about-to-retire trope Ed Tom Bell is tasked with solving a deal gone murderously wrong. This is indeed No Country for Old Men.

A psychopath of a hitman, Anton Chigurh (that last name being pronounced cheekily similar to "sugar,") is making Bell's last days as sheriff a living hell. Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss isn't making things any easier. Moss happened upon the Wanting to give up...
Refusing to give up...
Not knowing the meaning of giving up.

When drugs and money come to a small Texas town, sheriff-about-to-retire trope Ed Tom Bell is tasked with solving a deal gone murderously wrong. This is indeed No Country for Old Men.

A psychopath of a hitman, Anton Chigurh (that last name being pronounced cheekily similar to "sugar,") is making Bell's last days as sheriff a living hell. Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss isn't making things any easier. Moss happened upon the drug deal aftermath, grabbed the loot and dashed. Chigurh's been on his heels ever since. That leaves Bell trailing along behind them, picking up clues and wondering what in the heck they all mean.

I found myself actually pulling for all three men, yes, even the psycho killer and that scared the crap out of me. He was such a good "bad guy" that I didn't want to see him die. There are a multitude of colorful and carefully crafted characters herein, some as thorny as the landscape. How do I know the landscape is thorny? Cormac McCarthy made me feel it.

The book is set in 1980. Thankfully, McCarthy doesn't overplay it with product placement...Oh look at me in my Lee jeans and pornstar mustache drinking from a glass bottle of Coke while sitting on the hood of my '76 Camaro....He uses period-appropriate props only when they are necessary.

The plot is tight when it needs to be and breathes when it can. The action fluctuates from relaxed to tense and back again. Not-completely-necessary-but-still-enjoyable story asides (that you won't find in the movie) often contain pearls of homespun wisdom like "Every step you take is forever. You can't make it go away. None of it."

I saw the movie version of this awhile back and, although the book and movie are very similar, this was still an exciting read for me. McCarthy's austere style may not set well with all readers - he doesn't fuck around with flowery words much - however, the spartan prose marches soldierly ahead, pressing the story on, delivering to the reader a tale victoriously told. ...more

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Oct 31, 2018 Katie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: set-in-the-us

I'd already seen and loved the film. I found my memory though was ingenious in withholding knowledge of what happens next until it happened on the page. The novel is written in the simple prose a gifted but alienated teenager might adopt. Up to the half way point it reads like a darkish crime story without much depth. Then, of a sudden, there's this hallelujah moment. The baddie delivers a speech about why he has to kill this innocent girl and it's as if lights were suddenly thrown on to reveal ...more

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Mar 23, 2020 Pantelis Andreou rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“People complain about the bad things that happen to em that they don't deserve but they seldom mention the good. About what they done to deserve them things”.

The perfect example of a book about being good and all the dangers and evil that someone may encounter.

With the movie being one of my all time favorites for a long time, the flow and style of the book it’s so immersive and had that sense of dread that lurks on every corner, making it all the way hopeless till the end.

- What’s his name?
- Ch ...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Matthias rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Matthias by: The Coen Brothers

Shelves: my-reviews

With a book like this, the movie pretty much made itself. You could've just as well filmed the pages being flicked through (preferably by Javier Bardem, I'm sure he'd do it astoundingly) and you'd get roughly the same experience.

I understand the comparisons being made between the film and the book. That's the kind of understanding guy I am. I can only say both are masterpieces. It all starts with Cormac McCarthy though, and while the Coen brothers and the cast of the movie did a tremendous job, ...more

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Feb 29, 2020 Johann (jobis89) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”

Marking this one down as one of the books that has surprised me the most this year! I expected an action-packed chase with lots of violence, but what I got was so much more.

One day Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain of catastrophic violence that not even the law can contain. “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”

Marking this one down as one of the books that has surprised me the most this year! I expected an action-packed chase with lots of violence, but what I got was so much more.

One day Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain of catastrophic violence that not even the law can contain.

I wholeheartedly loved this book. Sure, it’s bleak and hopeless, but it leaves you with a lot to think about. You think this is a typical thriller about a badass pursuing a regular guy who should have left well enough alone, but it ultimately evolves into a brooding analysis of fate vs free will, and also good vs evil. These are themes I love to read about, hence why East of Eden is one of my favourite books, and McCarthy really elevates it to another level.

The chapters alternate between the main story and the meandering thoughts of Sheriff Bell, and it was Bell’s monologues that really stood out. Every quote worth noting came from those sections, they were just so full of wisdom. His love and tenderness for his wife felt like a nice counterbalance to all the evil and violence unfolding around him.

No Country also gives us one of the most formidable and shit-your-pants-scary villains in literature. Anton Chigurh is the embodiment of pure evil, the grim reaper. Occasionally he will flip a coin and ask a person to call it - by Chigurh’s standards if there is any hesitation in facing their own choices in life, they might as well be dead.

As always, there is the traditional McCarthy style - no quotation marks - but I always surprise myself at how quickly I fall into the rhythm of his writing, and it ceases to be an issue within a few pages. The only minor reason I didn’t give it the full 5 stars was that some major events took place “off-page”, which somewhat confused me, and I still feel a little cheated by.

Overall, incredibly suspenseful. I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Highly recommend! 4.5 stars. ...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

While out shooting antelope, Llewellyn Moss stumbles upon a crime scene: three trucks, all shot up, and numerous bodies. Upon further inspection, Moss finds a substantial quantity of heroin and a briefcase containing over two million dollars. Moss takes the money and quickly ends up a wanted man. Can Moss survive long enough to enjoy the money?

This was my first McCarthy book and probably won't be the last. I devoured it in a single sitting. The clipped style really drove the story forward, remin ...more

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Oct 31, 2010 ΕιζΝιnΕ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ficgenre-mystery-police-procedurals, favorites-artbooks-and-comics, favorites-lit-historical-fiction

Elevating and Transcending Genre: McCarthy and 'Existentialist Crime'
[WARNING: Here there be spoilers.]
Another world unrolled like a carpet of dry, golden plains when I started reading 'No Country for Old Men'; the prose was vivid, but every word was a careful expenditure of idea and style. Cormac McCarthy is not an overly descriptive writer. But the antelope hunt in Southwest Texas that leads Llewelyn Moss to the bullet-riddled cars and corpses of the silent cartel battlefield is told with ...more

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Nov 17, 2019 Ginger rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, audio

4 STARS!

I enjoyed No Country for Old Men more then expected. I think what helped my overall experience with this book was the narrator, Tom Stechschulte. What a fabulous job he did and I'll be adding more audiobooks by him in the future.

No Country for Old Men felt like a western but had a criminal undercurrent to it. I enjoyed the dialogue in this one between all the characters and Cormac McCarthy did a fantastic job with the character, Anton Chigurh. What a scary guy he turned out to be!

The onl ...more

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Jun 15, 2008 Trevor rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: language

To be honest, I found this a bit irritating. It jumped around a little too much and the violence was pointless and excessive. I also found the ‘home-spun’ philosophy a bit hard to take.

There was not a single character in this book that I would urinate on if they were on fire – their deaths, therefore, were devoid of interest. I guess this book is Dirty Harry from the darkside. Same crap, same fascination with guns and the voyeurism caused by the effect bullets have on the human anatomy - I wond ...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

This is my least favorite McCarthy that I have ever, ever read. And you know what that tells you? Not shit, except that the man can basically do no wrong in my eyes. I can and will nitpick, but just know that I don't really mean it and it's only because I love you, baby.

First thing's first: I saw this movie about a zillion times before I read the book, though I wish, I wish, I wish that I hadn't. When an author bases a novel's emotional heft largely on the momentum of its action, suspense, and g This is my least favorite McCarthy that I have ever, ever read. And you know what that tells you? Not shit, except that the man can basically do no wrong in my eyes. I can and will nitpick, but just know that I don't really mean it and it's only because I love you, baby.

First thing's first: I saw this movie about a zillion times before I read the book, though I wish, I wish, I wish that I hadn't. When an author bases a novel's emotional heft largely on the momentum of its action, suspense, and general thrills!, verily it doth suck when you know exactly where all that bing-bang-boom is headed. I am willing to acknowledge that it is unfair of me to judge the book based on this external factor. However, The Road was unaffected by my pre-read film viewing, and so I cast one stone. Okay, so No Country is not as excellent as The Road. Again, not saying much.

Second thaaang: Unlike in that one book I just mentioned, the staccato style did occasionally get to me. I like to think of it as a warm-up exercise (since practice makes perfect and all), but still I found it to be excessively clipped and jarring in some places. Here and there, it was basically like this: "Moss needed to piss. He found a wall. He unzipped his Wranglers. He pulled out his penis. Moss urinated. The wall got wet. Moss felt relieved. So long, penis." Still, it's Cormac McCarthy; the bulk of the novel is putrid elegance. Expect no less.

Third: McCarthy is a craftmaster at evoking vivid landscapes. Added to his skill at articulating scenic minutia, I was actually (just like Moss and his buddy, Chigurh) traveling by car, train, and foot in Texas as I read, completed, and proceeded to mull over this book. I felt the oppressive heat, witnessed the sprawling golden fields, and raced past the rotting roadside dives as McCarthy tromped through them in text. It is eerie-cool to feel double-whammied by a book like that, and so I think I will make a point of being similarly literal again some time in the near future. I'll try not to take it so far that I'm like some asshole who reads Under the Tuscan Sun on vacation in Italy right after a breakup, but ya know...something like that. I wonder if astronauts read sci-fi novels in space?

Fourth and final point: I much prefer the fiery britches Carla Jean. That woman didn't actually quite take things lying down like a frightened and battered puppy. Her extended scene with Chigurh was quite telling, as was her Bonnie and Clyde-like resistance to Sheriff Bell's interrogation concerning Moss's whereabouts. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that despite the script's relative accuracy, there are some surprises yet as far as she, Chigurh, and Moss are concerned (to summarize, the latter has a long scene with a character who didn't make the cut for the screenplay, but who reveals a lot about Moss through her interactions with him). The book still has some stories to tell. It isn't all an echo.

Anyway, read this book. Why? It's McCarthy, dude. C'mon. ...more

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Apr 15, 2019 Brandice rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Part crime and part Western, No Country For Old Men is a classic on-the-run story. While out hunting one day, Llewelyn Moss comes across a scene of dead men, heroin, and a briefcase full of more than $2M cash. He takes the money, setting off a chase. Others involved in the chase include Wells, a former agent now working for the cartel, Chigurh, a dangerous murderer, and Sheriff Bell, who’s struggling with his own moral dilemma from the past.

I admit, it took me a good 30% into the story to famil ...more

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Feb 08, 2017 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nutters, own-it-spent-my-food-money-on-it, or-just-watch-the-movie, read-in-2017, stabby-stabby, read-it-to-win-a-major-award, black-as-mitchell-s-heart, lil-bit-of-chickenfriend, meth-ooooh-meth

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

No Country For Old Men has an unprecedented FOUR POINT THREE TWO rating amongst my Goodreads friends so what’s even left to say at this point? Allow me a moment to let the book speak for itself . . . .

“Do you love it? I guess you could say I do. But I’d be the first one to tell you I’m as ignorant as a box of rocks so you sure don’t want to go by nothing I’d say.”

The story here is of Llewellyn Moss, a single-wide dwelling weld ...more

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Apr 01, 2010 TK421 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literary

I appreciate the nuances of a McCarthy novel: his voice, the settings, the very real characters he conjures within that mind of his. But the one thing I cannot accept is when people say he only writes westerns. His books cannot be categorized with such a simple claim. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a perfect example. Sure, McCarthy uses some sterotypes (easy-going sheriff, bumbling hero, and creepy psychopath) to tell his story, but he uses them in ways that few writers can--McCarthy breaths life int ...more

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Oct 08, 2019 Meike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-read, usa

Cormac McCarthy is the quintessential American author: He writes about the American West, but not to glorify it or to perpetuate some ideology about "the land of the free". Rather, his poetically crafted novels meditate on greed, power, human fallibility, cruelty, and the devastating randomness of destiny - there is no rectifying karma in his books, and often no redemption. This guy renders his stories in an entrancingly beautiful, highly recognizable language that proves that short, clear sente Cormac McCarthy is the quintessential American author: He writes about the American West, but not to glorify it or to perpetuate some ideology about "the land of the free". Rather, his poetically crafted novels meditate on greed, power, human fallibility, cruelty, and the devastating randomness of destiny - there is no rectifying karma in his books, and often no redemption. This guy renders his stories in an entrancingly beautiful, highly recognizable language that proves that short, clear sentences can convey immense complexity of thought.

"No Country for Old Men" is a Western and an Anti-Western. Set at the US-Mexican border territory in 1980, our protagonist Llewelyn Moss accidentally ends up at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong, steals the suitcase with the drug money and hides it in the trailer where he lives with his young wife Carla Jean. Stricken with regret because he left the only survivor behind at the crime scene, he drives back only to be chased by men who want their drug money back - the beginning of an epic cat-and-mouse game in which Moss is hunted mainly by psychopathic contract killer Anton Chigurh. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is also on the case, trying to stop the mayhem that afflicts his community.

So in case you now imagine this as some kind of good guy vs. bad guy classic Western, you're badly mistaken - the way this plot evolves does not conform to the narrative conventions of the Western, McCarthy challenges the reader's expectations and the notion what a Western can or cannot be. Moss, a poor Vietnam veteran, risks his life and that of his wife for money, but it only starts to go wrong when he feels compassion for the dying criminal he left behind; Chigurh coldly kills anyone who gets in his way with a cattle gun, sometimes flips a coin in order to decide whether someone should live or die and compares himself to God; Aging Sheriff Bell ponders the changing world around him (remember the book title), but harbors a dark secret from his time in WW II. I bet you will be surprised how this story plays out (except you already read McCarthy's masterpiece Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West, then you might have a hunch).

In many contemplative vignettes, Sheriff Bell reveals the theme of the book, but as McCarthy is a master storyteller, it would be silly to reduce it to the "aging man does not understand the world anymore"-trope. Yes, there is an "old man" vs. "new man" theme, with the "new man" being the nihilistic hitman Chigurh, but not only is Sheriff Bell himself flawed, there are also many parallels between those two characters. Most notably, they are both convinced that the past is always present and they dismiss the idea that every day can be a new beginning. The most terrifying aspect of Chigurh's character is that he does stick to his own rules, he is a man of his word - it's just that his rules are immoral. Aaaaah, what a typically McCarthy-esque scenario! Plus: The title of the book refers to W.B. Yeats's poem "Sailing to Byzantium", and you should definitely check that one out after reading the book ("Whatever is begotten, born, and dies./ Caught in that sensual music all neglect / Monuments of unageing intellect" - not too shabby).

Just some thoughts on the style of the book: A couple of days ago, I read a hilarious article about who might win the Nobel Prize. Under the category "These Americans Aren’t Going to Win", there was of course Cormac McCarthy who, the piece says, "won’t win because of the mysterious, glistening patterns in the amber current, the skittering light humming over the prairie at sundown (...)" - it's a funny article, but I LOVE McCarthy's writing style - and if I have to read once more that people here on GR insist on quotation marks because they are oh-so-confused otherwise, I'll scream (get some self respect or read Jojo Moyes instead or whatever).

So yes, this isn't the best McCarthy, but he is one of my favorite writers ever, and he is miles, miles ahead of most of the competition. I will probably never get over the fact that Dylan got the Nobel for the US, not Philip Roth or him (don't get me started on this year's decision, Peter Milošević Handke). So read Cormac McCarthy, he is fantastic. ...more

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About Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy

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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. His earlier Blood ...more

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Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West

All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, #1)

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