The Devil All the Time: Initial Impressions, June 2014

[Martin]

Good points, Josh.

McCarthy's works are labored over to a degree that may be unequaled in American literature right now. At least, that's the impression I get from those who have pored over his publicly available papers, which include notes, drafts, and the likes for Blood Meridian.

TDatT is well crafted, but I'm still reading and haven't yet developed a strong enough impression to complete the sentence, "This is about..."

[Larry]

Josh wrote: "I liked all three- guess I'm in the sicko camp!"

I must admit that I am looking forward to getting back to reading TDatT after all the good comments here. I really want to find some socially redeeming value to Pollock! (I am not holding my breath.) But right now I am just having fun reading Katherine Anne Porter! Imagine that... enjoying reading a book... sounds like what I learned about reading in grade school before McCarthy and Faulkner and Pollock entered my reading life!

[Larry]

Josh wrote: "While no where near as violent, I agree with Mike that tones of O'Connor play in here- reminds me alot of Wise Blood although that text is more abstract and perhaps satirical when compared to the uber realistic approach used in this one. "

So now I have to go back and look at O'Connor too? I think I have to add "Wise Blood" to the list of stories I never quite understood. I guess I will just have to create my own personal "incomprehensible" genre. You folks just keep saying, "Come in! The water's fine!" But, I don't know ... maybe I am too brain-dead for the deep end.

Uber realistic? I will have to add that to the list of new phrases I have encountered On the Southern Literary Trail! I think I used to say "gross" but I guess that lacks a bit of the literary aspect we seem to seek.

[Martin]

"socially redeeming value to Pollock!"

Be selective about the river you choose for panning gold, Larry.

[Martin]

Matt - the link between WestbygawdVirginia and the south, I get. Faulkner makes that link in Absalom! Absalom!

But, Ohio!? I went to school in Marietta, on the right side of the river from Parkersburg, and don't get a southern feel in the least for the Ohio side.

I know enough about American history to know that southern Illinois can be considered southern in many ways, but don't get that at all from Ohio.

In anycase, I think the book's "southern" qualities are in it's tone and characters.

[Larry]

Martin wrote: "I went to school in Marietta, on the right side of the river from Parkersburg, and don't get a southern feel in the least for the Ohio side."

I drive from Virginia to Michigan about every six weeks to see my Dad and stay at the Lafayette Hotel in Marietta on the Ohio River. To say something that might sound obvious, that town seems somewhere between the North and the South to me. The restaurant in the hotel is called the Gun Room and guess what it has mounted on the walls?

[Larry]

Matt wrote: "I don't think I have never written a sentence that long before in my life. I hope that I never do so again."

You ran some good sentences together there, Matt! Thanks for putting your thoughts out here for me to consume.

Part of the Ohio River tradition is sternwheel paddleboats. They certainly seem southern to me.

[Martin]

Matt - I have no doubt you can make a good argument. But I live at the foot of the Appalachia, was born in the Apopalachia, descend from hillbillies, hike in the Appalachia, even pronounce it correctly, went to school in SE Ohio, and I don't see SE Ohio as anything but Midwest, through and through.

Marietta and environs may not have been Cleveland, but any resemblence to the South was coincidental. Anywho.

Larry, if it's guns that make the South, then the entire West is deep South. By the bye, glad to hear the Gun Room and the Lafayette are still there. College students were not allowed in the front door unless accompanied by a parent, or handcuffed in the custody of a cop when I was there.

[Josh]

I've never been there myself, so direct opinion I have not. That said, your all's (yalls if you are not from Ohio) friendly disagreement has sent me on a little search to see what's up. I agree whole heartedly that Western N.C., while not "southern" in the same spirit as Deep South, certainly feels good to my Tennessee roots. Interesting read at http://www.ohiomagazine.com/main/arti... that sure mentions enough about the region to intrigue me more than the typical "Ohio" I have painted in my slanted Tennessee brain (mostly a result of the "Ohio" population which makes its way to Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, TN every summer......not Southerners).

[Lexy]

I would venture to say there is not a right or wrong answer but it's all in how each of us have been raised and live. I live in the eastern panhandle of WV. I am two minutes from I81. If I travel south 15 mile, I am in Virginia. Going north, 10 mile, I am in Maryland and another 5 miles, Pennsylvania. I must confess that I have never felt "southern", although my fellow employees, where I work in Maryland, affectionately, sometimes, call me "hillbilly". They tell me my dialect is southern, although I don't feel my accent is any different from theirs, other than a few mispronunciations, which a few of them also share. Technically, the only thing that separates us is the Potomac River.

[Larry]

There are some wonderful posts here, and I am enjoying them tremendously. Thank you, all. I spent the first half of my life in Michigan and have just recently been adjusting to life in the Bible Belt. The weather is nice here after many Michigan winters.

[Larry]

Martin wrote: "I ... descend from hillbillies..."

That must be part of what makes you so lively...

[Larry]

Diane wrote: "But be warned: Once you start you have to finish, it's just that kind of book."

OK, I have finished it. I thought "Part One: Sacrifice" was all I could take, but I am glad I made it beyond that.

[Larry]

Mike wrote: "As I recall you were once a Child Protective Services Worker. Surely you did not deny the violence and exploitation in our society. However, were you ever able to find a satisfactory answer to why these cases occurred?"

Mike, you made some excellent observations on the other TDatT thread based on your long experience as a prosecuting attorney. I think there are many evil people in the world and we have both run into some of them!

I hope others reading this book will eventually read the other thread as well as this one. Since I am not concerned with spoilers, I am reading both threads as I read the book. i am grasping for whatever help I can get!