Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Book 39: No Country for Old Man

I got this from the library 2 weeks ago,
but haven't gotten around to read it.

Then it was the Oscars...
& they got the BIG script awards / Best pictures!
So i figured, this book can't be too bad, right?



Title: No Country for Old Man

Who wrote it: Cormac McCarthy

Whom I borrowed it from: Queens Library (Forest Hills)

What is it about:
A combination of crime / drug dealing /
police investigation / cunning & brutal murders /
$$$ = this fictional but realistic story!

What went through my mind:
- Although the whole story evolves around
the crime concerning a missing bag of $$
after an incomplete drug deal,
i feel that the core of the story is a
"coming of age" story of the investigator.

He receives the most in-depth character
development, even more than Moss,
who took the $$$, and Chigurh, the psycho killer.

- Indeed, the self-confession like essays
preceding every chapter of the story
portray a bigger picture than the crime story plot
itself. It demonstrates how it's not the ongoing
events that make life meaningful,
but our memories and reflections upon the past,
which enable us to realize who we are.

- I'm not the kind of reader/writer that enjoy
a lot of exposition / detailed descriptions,
so McCarthy's style bugged me a bit...
But at the same time, i felt like i was really
watching a movie, since he describes every
single move of each character in precise details.
Can't say it's bad at all... it's just not my preference.

- In order to create various persona for the characters,
McCarthy used very distinguishable 'language'
when each of them speak.
I'd say it's successful, except the ones
with a very heavy Southern Accent
(goin' -> going; nothin' -> nothing; set -> sit...)
bothered me from time to time,
because it's unclear at times,
esp. to an ESL NYC person like me '_'

Favorite Quotes:
- "It takes very little to govern good people...
And bad people cant be governed at all." (Pg. 64)

- "People complain about the bad things
that happen to em that they dont deserve
but they seldom mention the good.
About what they done to deserve them things.
I dont recall that I ever give the good Lord
all that much cause to smile on me.
But he did.
" (Pg. 91)

- "One of the things you realize
about gettin older is that
not everybody is goin to
get older with you.
" (Pg. 216)

- "...there was nothin to set a man's
mind at ease like wakin up in the morning
and not havin to decide who you were.
And
if you done somethin wrong
just stand up and say you done it
and say you're sorry and get on with it.
Dont haul stuff around with you
." (Pg. 249)

- "Every moment in your life is a turning
and every one a choosing.
Somewhere you made a choice.
" (Pg. 259)

- "All the time you spend tryin to
get back what's been took from you
there's more goin out the door.
" (Pg. 267)

- "... sometimes people would rather have
a bad answer about things than
no answer at all.
" (Pg. 282)

- "It's a life's work to see yourself for
what you really are and even then
you might be wrong." (Pg. 295)
** My favorite quote!


What came out of this:
*Goal: Watch the movie : )

Why Should you read it, too?
If you liked the movie / are curious like me : b

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