NP - The Leftovers

[Mark Thibodeau]

McCarthy is in my top three living writers of fiction (Pynchon,
Delillo, McCarthy) and Blood Meridian is a staggering work, the
denouement of which left me quite literally breathless and weeping at
the sheer power and sweep of the brilliance on display. It really is
close to being on par with Moby Dick in so many ways, and utterly
American in every sense of the word.

But I can understand those who don't like enjoy it. It isn't really an
enjoyable work, per se. For those seeking an enjoyable read, I suggest
Child of God, The Road, and Outer Dark, all of which, while grim and
occasionally beastly, also have great gleaming slices of hilarity and
humanity.

There's a passage in Child of God where the necromantic serial killer
Lester gets an axe repaired by a blacksmith. The smith performs the
task for Lester, right in front of him, explaining what he's doing
every step of the way. The passage lasts for nearly two pages, going
into great detail about how to repair a busted axe head. At the end of
his demonstration, upon handing Lester his axe back, the smith asks:
"Now, think you can do that for y'self next time?" And Lester looks up
at him and asks: "Do what?" Of course, I can't adequately convey the
effect of the passage out of context, but the simple, generous
kindness of the blacksmith, and the pathetic dimness of Lester, mingle
beautifully into something that is somehow tragic and human and true
and filled with grace, all at the same time.

McCarthy? I like him.

As for that show, I never seen it.

J

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 7:21 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've read Blood Meridian & Sutree. Both very different.  Blood Meridian is
> big, grand. I preferred it, but enjoyed both.
>
> Davi Morris
>
>
> On Thursday, December 17, 2015, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I've never wanted to read him either. Too much of a good thing (evil)
>> sounds like.  But what do I know?  Now I gotta read him. But it won't happen
>> probably.
>>
>> P
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 5:46 PM, Perry Noid <coolwithdoc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> You'll have no invective from me. I'm actually surprised it took this
>>> long for someone to say something critical about Mccarthy.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 10:28 AM, <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I've been following the discussion on Cormac McCarthy - and have to
>>>> weigh in as not being a fan. Admittedly, I've only read Blood Meridian and
>>>> seen the movie version of No Country For Old Men, which may not be a
>>>> representative sampling. But I read his primary theme as Evil, and Man's
>>>> need to reckon with or otherwise atone for or own up to it. Yes, the
>>>> language is poetic, but it doesn't send my brain into thought-provoking
>>>> areas. If the Judge is a representation of the Evil That Men Do, well, at
>>>> the end of it all, so what? [Pause, to get pelted with invective]
>>>>
>>>> I recently binge-watched the first two seasons (a third and final one is
>>>> in the offing) of the HBO series, The Leftovers. And in some ways, it does a
>>>> more interesting job of setting up a metaphor for Man reckoning with Death.
>>>> The premise of the show is that, one day, 2% of the wor'd's population
>>>> randomly disappears, and those left behind must make sense of it. Is it the
>>>> Rapture, a punishment, a conspiracy or just a random, meaningless event? The
>>>> point of the show is that there will never be an answer. A strange cult that
>>>> arises seems (to me) to be a stand-in for organized religion.
>>>>
>>>> Anyone seen it?
>>>>
>>>> Laura
>>>> -
>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>
>>>
>>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l