No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (2005) I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get through Blood Meridian (1985), as good as it’s supposed to be. It’s difficult and brutal. I keep saying I’m going to stop watching movie violence (and reading it, as well), but it’s everywhere. I don’t need to be reminded of the that side of humans. Still, I have a weakness for it, and this book is very entertaining along with being upsetting. I kind of wish I’d read it before seeing the movie adaptation (2007), for obvious reasons. I read, somewhere, that this book started as a screenplay—and knowing that, it seems obvious, because a lot of (main character) Sheriff Bell’s part is told through what is essentially voiceover—so you also get his background and philosophy. Besides that, it’s a highly entertaining action story—which doesn’t mean it’s not brutal, upsetting, and unforgiving. Another odd observation I had was that I found the principal men characters oddly compelling, in spite of my differences with them as far as morals, codes, politics, backgrounds, and probably every cultural preference besides a love of coffee. I guess it’s interesting to watch how each of these men go through life—which is not easy for any of us. I suppose you can learn something from just about anyone—though maybe this just amounts to a kind of “able-guy” porn. What I got here is the wisdom of going about both everyday tasks and life changing misadventures equally, treating everything with equal weight, and performing each activity with deliberate calm and careful movements—rather than jumping ahead with a herky-jerky nervousness, which often leads to ill-advised choices and accidents. Besides that, there’s also some poetry, especially near the end—which is a nice way to end such a book. An odd part that stood out to me was Bell’s brief story about a stone water trough that someone had carved with a hammer and chisel—the impression that made on him as a kind of promise. But it’s hard not to think of it as the idea of making something that might last—whether or not there is any reward—in the face of what otherwise might seem like hopelessness and defeat.

5.19.24