Wow. This was the most violent and disturbing fiction book I've ever read. I've read violent books before but nothing like this. Human depravity was tWow. This was the most violent and disturbing fiction book I've ever read. I've read violent books before but nothing like this. Human depravity was the constant thread in this book, and it was all described so thoroughly and completely with McCarthy's fantastic prose that it was hard for me to not look away (or hit the "stop" button) despite it being so often dark and disgusting.
Set in the 1840s in Texas, Mexico, the American Southwest, and California, the story follows the main character, a fourteen year-old boy referred to as the "Kid" who flees his troubled life in Tennessee and ends up with joining some bounty hunters in Texas who collect Indian scalps. Basically, they ride through the desert and ruthlessly slaughter anyone they come across - Indians, settlers, other wanderers. Scalps are collected and ears are collected and displayed on necklaces. Villages are burned. Scalps are turned in for money in towns, and the group enjoys a drunken (often violent visit) for a few days in these towns before setting off again. On their rides no life is spared - innocent men, women and children and butchered without a second thought, and animals are stolen or killed to be eaten, or sometimes tortured or just shot and left to die. There was even a scene where one of the gang grabbed two babies and violently killed them in a disgusting fashion. And all of this is described in great detail. It was shocking. I almost drove off the road a few times.
The antagonist (the worst of the antagonists I should say) is a fellow named the Judge. Described as giant bald hulk, this guy is a psychotic murderer and rapist; however, he is also highly educated and extremely intelligent and teaches the gang of knuckle-draggers about the Bible, astronomy, evolution, the natural world, and general philosophy. He takes notes and draws things he finds interesting in a notebook. While he and the Kid often separate and go their own ways, sometimes fleeing from Indian attacks, he always seems to find his way back to the kid and in the middle of the plot.
Also described in great detail were the Mexican and American Southwestern settings and the brutal climate, and these seemed like characters themselves. There was never enough water and day-to-day survival was sometimes difficult especially after suffering wounds during attacks or being attacked by Indians.
There is a lot of Spanish spoken in this novel and I think I missed out on a lot because I didn't understand any of it.
This is certainly a Western, but spends it's time on the dark side of life in the West. The gang is ruthless, viscous, and covered in dust and dried blood most of the time, and on the verge of starvation and dehydration regularly. All the dark facets of humanity are display in this well-written but disturbing novel.
I'm going to give this four stars. It's like nothing I've ever read and is so well written that it will live in your head but at times too over the top for me. There is a part at the end about a family and their pet dancing bear that almost did me in.
I've got some more McCarthy on my shelves and I can't wait to read it....more
Wow. I thought Stella Maris was excellent and it retroactively deepened my understanding and enjoyment of its companion novel, The Passenger. I'm goinWow. I thought Stella Maris was excellent and it retroactively deepened my understanding and enjoyment of its companion novel, The Passenger. I'm going to go back and bump up my rating of The Passenger one star. I now want to go back and listen to it again.
Stella Maris conists entirely of dialogue between Alicia Western from The Passenger and her psychiatrist ,Dr. Cohen, at the Stella Maris mental hospital in Black River Falls WI. There is a very short preamble (one minute in the Audible book) read by the doctor describing the circumstances of her arrival at Stella Maris, and the rest is just the uncut conversations from seven counseling sessions between of Alicia and the doctor. I read bits of the book on Kindle as well, and McCarthy wrote it with no punctuation or quotations marks, just purely the words of the two charachters. The audiobook was narrated by Julia Whelan, also Alicia in The Passenger, and Edoardo Ballerini as Dr. Cohen. It was a fantastic narration, with Whelan perfectly capturing the many (mostly sad) moods of Alicia.
The novel really fleshed out Alicia's side of the story. I have a much better understanding of her life, struggles, and motivations now. Bobby Western got most of the attention in The Passenger and this novel is 100% about Alicia's perspective. There are deep dives in to her parents' history, math, physics, her struggles growing up a genius, and her complicated relationship with Bobby. It's a very sad novel. Alicia's story in The Passenger was complicated and gloomy, but hearing her describe her life experiences in her own words and knowing her ultimate fate from the prior novel was somewhat distressing.
I believe this is an important companion to The Passenger and would 100% recommend reading both together, they really compliment each other. This is a much shorter book, only five hours in audio. After finishing I wondered if McCarthy could've somehow incorporated this look in to Alicia's mind and life in to The Passenger to have it make more sense, but they really work so well as companion works that I guess he knew what he was doing. But I'm guessing a lot of people may not move on to Stella Maris if they were left a bit confused or unsatisfied with The Passenger.
I enjoyed The Passenger but I wish I would've read it with an English teacher as I'm not sure I caught the gist of the novel. Perhaps more will be revI enjoyed The Passenger but I wish I would've read it with an English teacher as I'm not sure I caught the gist of the novel. Perhaps more will be revealed in its companion novel Stella Maris? I hope so, I will definitely be reading or listening to it. The novel is set in the late 1960s starts out by introducing the two main characters and respective mysteries - a young lady, Alicia Western, who lives in a mental institution, is found frozen to death in a Wisconsin field; and her brother and primary character, Robert "Bobby" Western, a sea diver, discovers a sunken plane off the coast of New Orleans and it is later revealed that a passenger and the black box is missing from the dead passengers and crew. The book goes off on a completely different tangent than I expected. The novel goes back and forth between the two Westerns hinting at but never really revealing the strange history of their family and how they both ended up in their respective predicaments.
There was a lot to like here - it was wonderfully dark and melancholic in tone. Bobby Western is as interesting as a character could be and has a lot of colorful friends, and they have some great conversations about a myriad of topics ranging from car racing to physics. Alicia is a genius but is haunted by mental illness and hallucinations and has a short and difficult life. The two of them were very close and Bobby never gets over the grief from her death, and he relives past memories of her during the entirety of the book.
At its conclusion, though I felt a bit unfulfilled. There were a lot of unanswered questions. Why was the government interested in Bobby? What was going on with the plane? What was the meaning behind Alicia's hallucinations? What was the story with the Western family - all super bright people apparently?
There was a ton of philosophy talk between Bobby and his friends, much of which was interesting but what did it mean in regards to the big picture? Anything? One part that caused me to glaze over for a spell was and extensive rehashing of the JFK assassination by Bobby and friend. I've heard all of the conspiracy theories over the last 50 years and I'm frankly sick of it and this was the last thing I wanted to listen to again. On and on they went.
I think a mind better steeped in literature than mine might get more from this novel. I liked the strange journey this book took me on but feel like I missed something along the way.
The Audible audiobook was a hoot to listen to as I thought the narrators, Julia Whelan and MacLeod Andrews, were excellent. Andrews sounded just like Matthew McConaughey to me which added to the character of Bobby Western.
January 14, 2023: I'm updating my rating to four stars as I thought the companion novel Stella Maris was excellent and it retroactively deepened my understanding and enjoyment of this novel. I now want to go back and listen to this one again....more
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