"No Country for Old Men"

by Cormac McCarthy, AF, 2005, Playaway audio, narrated by Tom Stechschulte, 7.5hrs, rating=5

"Llewelyn Moss is hunting antelope near the Texas-Mexico border when he stumbles upon several dead men, a big stash of heroin, and more than two million dollars in cash. He takes off with the money, and the hunter becomes the haunted. A drug cartel hires a former Special Forces agent to track down the loot, and a ruthless killer joins the chase as well. Also looking for Moss is the aging Sheriff Bell, a World War II veteran who may be Moss' only hope for survival."

This was an intense book ... very violent.  I can't believe I finished it.  I'm speechless and seriously unsure what to rate it (at this very moment, the rating is empty ...figuring I'd commit to one by the end of this review).  The writing and story telling was what I believe of McCarthy style (having only read one other of his books, The Road)...tell it like it is, sweet and simple (yet at the same time, confuse the heck outta you!), and throw in some bleakness for good measure.  No doubt this book will leave you with some sort of emotional mulling.  So many angles you can get out of this.  Like:  good vs evil; God vs playing god;  the bad side to integrity; the past vs the present; life driven by guilt; human psyche; patronage; and on and on and on!  I tell ya, my head is ready to explode! 

The main cast of characters was a doozy.  Chigurh (sounded sorta like "sugar" on audio), the ruthless killer, scared me.  I certainly don't want to "inconvenience" him or play coin toss with him.  Oddly enough, he's a psycho with integrity that proved to be particularly unfavorable for one of his victims (ok, to all his victims, but if you've read the book, you'll understand which particular victim I speak of).  Then, there was Llewelyn (sounded like "Luellen", a girl's name so my mind had to do some gender fixing) the hunter turned huntee who was generally good but temptation got the best of him.  Furthermore, there was Sheriff Bell, driven to do redemptive good and old enough to witness his country/people change for the complex. 

An intensifying story.  It's etched in my brain now and hoping that a Mr. Clean Eraser can rub it off ...just not liking this eerie feeling.

All right, I've settled to give this book 5 stars.  Not necessarily because I loved it or highly recommend it, but because it was amazing in its own right.  Shook me to a high level of hypnotic awe! ...or confusion.  :)

If you decide to read it or have read it, I'd appreciate to hear your take on it.

"The Road"

by Cormac McCarthy, 2006, 241p, rating=4

Duh, just noticed the book cover is dark... appropriately so since the world that the man and boy lived now was dark and dreary! This is because this is a post apocalyptic novel so the road ahead is unknown and scary. Your survival skills had to been challenged here. Consequently, this book touched upon human's awakening of it's ultimate capabilities in face of the world's end. Would it be better to live or die? Is the fight to live worth it at this point? Is God around? Does having hope make a difference? These are a few of the questions that this book had it's characters pondering. Deep.

I believe a seasoned reader would find this book extraordinary. The author was skilled in describing everything in detail and much in symbolism that I suspect some I missed. Being that I am a striving reader, I saw the details more cumbersome. I was eager to find out what's at the end of the road. It was however the journey getting there that was more important to the author to get across. Surely it was, because when you're at that point of existence ... you don't know for sure who's the good guy or who's going to eat you! Yes, I said EAT. When you're starving and your scavenged food is gone, what else is there that some may turn to but cannibalism? Really, this book is intense in human desperation and tenacity.

Oh, oh, oh, the ending!! All the bleakness that you've been reading comes to a conclusion and you will be exhausted along with the man and boy's journey and you will weep, wail, ... howl!!

Excellent book. Now I've got to find the movie and see the novel in film ... should be interesting.

**My quotables:

"You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget." pg 10.

"If you break little promises you'll break big ones." pg 29.