One of McCarthy's earlier novels, classic dark, brooding. ( )

By finishing this, I have now read every Cormac McCarthy novel and I confess to feeling a sense of relief. For the most part, I have not enjoyed his books and often feel like I need to take a shower after reading them.

What kept me going over the years was his incredible ability to make the readers see the world he is describing. In that, he has an amazing gift that will guarantee his immortality.

Most of his books seem to be more a series of vignettes that meander about rather than follow a set road leading to a predetermined conclusion. In this book, I was reminded somewhat of the movie "Oh God, Where Art Thou" in that it uses disjointed, almost dreamlike encounters that draw on revered sources to send a message.

Those who have read many of his books will find similarities between the books. One scene in [book:The Road|6288] reminds me very much of scenes in this book. ( )

McCarthy's second novel and the second one in a row that I found underwhelming.

I understand the undercurrent of sin and judgement here. It's quite palpable in McCarthy's prose. But what I can't get past is how thin the story is. We're treated to scene after scene after scene of Culla arriving somewhere, looking for work, having a relatively lengthy and meaningless conversation with someone who eventually points him to the person who can give him work. That conversation is the same one over and over again...where you from? What are you running from? Are you married? It's the same conversation.

Culla's sister Rinthy isn't treated much better, going through her own mostly meaningless meetings with various people on her journey.

Honestly, if any of these meetings served to advance the plot rather than take up space, I would have appreciated them more. Yes, at least some of Culla's previous characters come back around, but still, this novel could have been half the length and still deliver the same message.

Is McCarthy a good writer? Absolutely. His word choice, his phrasing, his eye for detail is incredible. But I'd really like to read something that doesn't have a paper-thin plot that requires page after page of prettily-worded filler to bulk it out. ( )

I largely prefer [[Cormac McCarthy]]'s work set in the desert Southwest to that set in the South, but reading him is a delight, even in the darkest of stories. And [Outer Dark] is solidly dark - a man impregnates his sister and abandons the baby in the woods; the child is picked up by a local tradesman, who takes it and gives it over to someone else; the mother goes on a Odyssean quest to find her baby when she discovers her brothers deception; and her brother follows on his own quest to find her; all the while, a chorus of violent wraiths is stalking them. There is more than a minor reflection of McCarthy's later novel, [The Road], but it's only the seed and this book doesn't suffer by comparison.

4 bones!!!! ( )

McCarthy gives the reader a fascinating glimpse into the lives and minds of people who have lived in the back woods of Appalachia for generations - people whose lives seem aimless and with little or no opportunity to question the authority that governs them and which keeps them in their perpetual state of ignorance and poverty. McCarthy’s masterful prose is poignant, at times hilarious, at times breathtaking and heartfelt in its depiction of what some must endure. ( )