A Nice Cup Of Tea And A Book: No Country For Old Men
Posted on | January 18, 2010 | 3 Comments
OK, so I’m the suggestible type. I read The Road last week and was taken by McCarthy’s slightly unusual prose style. I decided I’d like to read some more McCarthy and No Country For Old Men seemed like an easy next step.
Oddly enough, I’ve actually failed to catch the film yet so I went into the book with no preconceptions. I’m told that the film is a pretty faithful adaptation though. It’s on the DVD list. Will get to it soon.
As for the book, the prose is not quite so stark as The Road but it’s certainly been honed to within an inch of its life. It’s tight, yet rich, and it’s always gripping. McCarthy’s sparse punctuation quickly seeps into your brain and it’s only when you see an occasional contraction complete with its apostrophe that you remember their absence. It all makes for a quick read.
It also makes for a splendidly engaging, often disturbing read. You’ll have heard about the violence, I’m sure, and there is plenty of that. Mostly cold and considered violence and always chillingly rendered. Brilliant. It’s probably fair to say that I’m a McCarthy convert.
Incidentally, because I’m a book-snob I normally hate to read a book that has the movie-poster as its cover. The fact is, this one was almost two quid less than the non-film-cover version and there’s a recession.
Comments
Gerry Hayes
I mostly sit around all day and drink tea. Occasionally, I write stuff and send it to strangers so they can humiliate me and deride my efforts. Other than the self-harm to dull the shame of failure, it's not a bad life. Like I say, there's tea.
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This books has been on my reading list for a long while. Enough time has passed since I saw the film to now attempt the book.
Off you pop then. We’ll wait.
[…] the violence… While there was plenty of violence in my last read, No Country For Old Men, it was more distant; slightly more stylised. Peace’s violence is in your face (and your hair […]