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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2914 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 16, 2025

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It's the only McCarthy book I've read from start to finish, and I remember sobbing for literally hours when I got to the end. Not sure if I could put myself through it again.

I don't know why I mentally associated Cormac Mcarthy with abstruse James-Joyce-style "literary" fiction

I've heard that this is true of Blood Meridian, but that his style became more accessible the older he got.

Blood Meridian is perfectly readable.

Suttree on the other hand...

Blood Meridian required me to re-read pages at times, but was a singularly trippy experience. At the end I was both confused and oddly disappointed that it had ended. I would warn anyone off reading it, though I've read it twice. I heard once that someone wanted to make a movie of it, and I'd be interested to see how the hell they would try. One of my most memorable reading experiences. And I'd definitely put it in my list of best reads.

I would warn anyone off reading it

Why? So they instead read lesser books?

No, because it's brutal. I don't readily wish such experiences on others. Character flaw.

I heard once that someone wanted to make a movie of it, and I'd be interested to see how the hell they would try.

I don't think anyone knows a cinematic language that can describe the violence in that book. We have "fuck yeah" violence from action movies, we have "so over the top it's no longer shocking" violence, we have violence that is designed to scare you, we have exploitation violence that throws everything it knows just to get a rise out of you. But I can't think of a director that can depict pervasive, normalized, in-your-face violence that somehow serves as the background for the story itself.

I heard once that someone wanted to make a movie of it, and I'd be interested to see how the hell they would try.

James Franco has attempted to adapt at least one of McCarthy's less cinematic works, and my understanding is that the results left a lot to be desired.

"How the hell they would try to make a movie out of this" novels are pretty much the only reason I still read literary fiction. It is an incredible feeling when you realize you are witnessing something that could only be told on paper and no other way.

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