I'd be curios to know how well someone like McCarthy (and specifically his new releases) sells these days.
Similarly, another one of my all-time favorites, Delilo, has released several novels following the success of his opus Underworld but it doesn't seem like many of them are finding much of an audience anymore.
I don't see anything out of some of that 80s-90s literature style, the stuff that got me into "reading for fun," making many best seller / best of the year lists anymore.
Suppose it comes naturally as audience, culture, and taste all shift, but it's also a little sad for a fan like myself.
The reason you don’t see that style anymore is, more or less, because publishers stopped marketing it in favor of novels that appeal to the lowest common denominator and every passing fad. The English-speaking book world is controlled by four or five massive publishers who are inherently profit-seeking, and only incidentally art-seeking.
Generally speaking, I'd say the novel of ideas is in retreat. Try to imagine W.G. Sebald's "The Rings of Saturn" getting published today. Or basically anything by Thomas Bernhard, one of the great literary weirdos. I can't quite put my finger on why this is though.
I just read McCarthy for the first time - Sunset Limited - and it blew my mind. Beautiful, insightful, unique, playful, tragic. Fantastic way to spend time!
Is this series a good next step, or am I better off reading something from his back catalog first?
If I were doing a guided intro to McCarthy for someone who hasn't read anything, I'd suggest:
1) Watch "No Country for Old Men" (and optionally read it - it's a very faithful adaptation but you'll get additional character motivation/backstory from the book)
2) All the Pretty Horses - bildungsroman of two teenage boys chasing a way of life that no longer exists. One of his more accessible works, and the one that made him famous outside of literary circles.
3) Child of God - a light, quick read with a sympathetic portrait of a necrophiliac cannibal.
4) The Road - This will hit especially hard if you're a parent. A beautiful novel about not giving into despair no matter how dire the circumstances.
5) Suttree - in some ways the mirror of All the Pretty Horses - a young man leaves his way of life when it becomes clear that said way of life is vanishing. Based on McCarthy's real-life experiences growing up in Knoxville. Easily his funniest book. Probably the most compelling description of a specific milieu (1950s Knoxville underclass) I've ever read - simultaneously accessible - there are people who lived that life who are still alive - and yet impossibly remote.
6) Blood Meridian - Hard to describe. I wouldn't read Blood Meridian first because it's quite difficult, and because it has a way of making everything else (like...everything else, not just his other work) seem not as good.
I just finished the Passenger - I would definitely not recommend it as an earlier book to read of his. When reading it, I remember thinking during certain sections that if I wasn't already a McCarthy fan, I might just abandon it. Suttree is my favorite of his, and I recommend it to everyone, but I think All The Pretty Horses is part of a Trilogy of books that might be a good place to start.
Blood Meridian! Surprised I haven't seen this recommendation yet, since it's considered his masterwork and one of the greatest works of the 20th century.
Stella Maris, volume 2 of his most recent two volume novel, and The Road, have blown my mind. SM in particular focuses on a math prodigy committed to a mental asylum. I think it would speak to many people here.
I'm actually thinking of reading his entire collection, I've been so impressed by him. I just got No Country for Old Men.
I'm a McCarthy fan and I liked The Passenger/Stella Maris. Usually with McCarthy it takes ~50 pages for me to get into his writing. That wasn't the case this time around, both books are quick, easy reads.
McCarthy is at his best when he's describing characters doing things. The few moments in The Passenger when the protagonist is doing things are captivating but 85% of the novel is dialogue (compared to 100% of Stella Maris). The dialogue is great -- it's strange, clever, often funny -- but I found myself wishing there was more characters-doing-things.
On the negative side, the math/physics stuff eventually became grating. Also, misattributing "only the dead have seen the end of war" to Plato took me out of the novel.
[+] [-] sharkweek|3 years ago|reply
Similarly, another one of my all-time favorites, Delilo, has released several novels following the success of his opus Underworld but it doesn't seem like many of them are finding much of an audience anymore.
I don't see anything out of some of that 80s-90s literature style, the stuff that got me into "reading for fun," making many best seller / best of the year lists anymore.
Suppose it comes naturally as audience, culture, and taste all shift, but it's also a little sad for a fan like myself.
[+] [-] thebooktocome|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cgh|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] focusedone|3 years ago|reply
Is this series a good next step, or am I better off reading something from his back catalog first?
[+] [-] defen|3 years ago|reply
1) Watch "No Country for Old Men" (and optionally read it - it's a very faithful adaptation but you'll get additional character motivation/backstory from the book)
2) All the Pretty Horses - bildungsroman of two teenage boys chasing a way of life that no longer exists. One of his more accessible works, and the one that made him famous outside of literary circles.
3) Child of God - a light, quick read with a sympathetic portrait of a necrophiliac cannibal.
4) The Road - This will hit especially hard if you're a parent. A beautiful novel about not giving into despair no matter how dire the circumstances.
5) Suttree - in some ways the mirror of All the Pretty Horses - a young man leaves his way of life when it becomes clear that said way of life is vanishing. Based on McCarthy's real-life experiences growing up in Knoxville. Easily his funniest book. Probably the most compelling description of a specific milieu (1950s Knoxville underclass) I've ever read - simultaneously accessible - there are people who lived that life who are still alive - and yet impossibly remote.
6) Blood Meridian - Hard to describe. I wouldn't read Blood Meridian first because it's quite difficult, and because it has a way of making everything else (like...everything else, not just his other work) seem not as good.
[+] [-] kamranjon|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crabkin|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fluxic|3 years ago|reply
If you like his bleak, Hemingway-inflected style I'd suggest trying the short stories of Joy Williams ("Visiting Privilege").
[+] [-] mpnagle|3 years ago|reply
I'm actually thinking of reading his entire collection, I've been so impressed by him. I just got No Country for Old Men.
Cool to hear the rec for Sunset Limited!
[+] [-] slibhb|3 years ago|reply
McCarthy is at his best when he's describing characters doing things. The few moments in The Passenger when the protagonist is doing things are captivating but 85% of the novel is dialogue (compared to 100% of Stella Maris). The dialogue is great -- it's strange, clever, often funny -- but I found myself wishing there was more characters-doing-things.
On the negative side, the math/physics stuff eventually became grating. Also, misattributing "only the dead have seen the end of war" to Plato took me out of the novel.