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No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

By Diana Mican | Posted Under Book Reviews | Comments (25)

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I know I’ve seen the movie, but I don’t remember much of anything except Javier Bardem and that hair. You just don’t expect a Ramona Quimby hairstyle on your sociopathic killer. Maybe I should, but I don’t.

Hitman Anton Chigurh is after some drug money that Llewelyn Moss, a welder and veteran, unwittingly came across in an open field. He knows he’s in trouble, and he hits the road with the Chirgurh on his heels. One of the many following Chigurh’s bloody trail is Sheriff Bell, the last of his kind and about to retire. He knows Moss is in deep shit, and he wants to find him before Chigurh does.

The novel follows Bell, Chigurh, and Moss through a third-person narration with regular italicized first-person interjections of Bell’s thoughts on the changing times and his judgments of the crimes and criminals. We follow the characters as they trek throughout Texas and Mexico - McCarthy’s territory.

The entire novel is a one long cat-and-mouse game. As a small-town sheriff, Bell constantly struggles with the enormity of the situation. He compares the old ways of keeping law in the land with his current predicament. He knows sheriffs who don’t even carry a weapon. A sheriff who knows the phone numbers of all his citizens.

Chigurh is a new breed. He is not the sort of criminal Bell can understand. The code has changed.

“I used to say they were the same ones we’ve always had to deal with. Same ones my grandaddy had to deal with. Back then they was rustlin cattle. Now they’re runnin dope. But I don’t know as that’s true no more. I’m like you. I aint sure we’ve seen these people before. Their kind. I don’t know what to do about em even. If you killed em all they’d have to build an annex on to hell.”

And Bell just can’t keep up.

“Finally I just said: Loretta, I cant do it no more. And she smiled and she said: You aim to quit while you’re ahead? And I said no mam I just aim to quit. I ain’t ahead by a damn sight. I never will be.”

The book ends just as the title suggests. It’s sad. It feels unfair. Bell is out. Chigurh is free. You know it has to be this way. The old lawmen don’t stand a chance against Chigurh. It will take a new breed who can understand and predict his actions to stop him.

I will never look at a coin toss the same way again.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. For more of Diana’s reviews, check out her blog, Badinage.









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Comments

So is this written in McCarthy’s usual style? i.e. descriptive enough to give you a headache?

This has to be one of the shortest reviews I've read...and it doesn't really cover much of the novel itself.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at May 4, 2010 10:23 AM

I've had it with these Canonball Read reviews. They don't belong on this site and I don't even care if that sounds snobby. Who picks these things and why???

Posted by: AM at May 4, 2010 11:04 AM

The only McCarthy novel I've read is The Road. While trying to come to grips with liking the style but disliking the novel itself, I realized that the best way to interpret his writing is to treat it as extended poetry rather than as prose.

If you look at the novel as a long poem, it becomes clear that McCarthy's intent is to evoke a mood rather than to tell a solid story. He creates powerful characters, but these characters exist solely as archetypes of the central themes. The story goes places, but never reaches a coherent resolution with all the loose bits neatly tied up.

Movie audiences don't like loose ends which is probably why the cinematic version of No Country feels like a solid three-act play. However I expect the novel gives no such satisfaction, because that's not this author's Way.

Posted by: Neodiogenes at May 4, 2010 11:06 AM

I've read Blood Meridian and The Road. If you think The Road is a long poem Neodiogenes I would advise against reading anything else by McCarthy. The Road took me one day to read...Blood Meridian took me almost two weeks.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at May 4, 2010 11:20 AM

I found this book easier to get through than The Road. I really like the interplay between Llewelyn and Chigurh. From the beginning, Llewelyn realizes he's on the run for his life and he doesn't ever try to talk Chigurh out of his actions like others do ("You don't have to do this"), he's just trying to outsmart him and get safe. There's a lot of emphasis on the coin toss in this book and Llewelyn and Chigurh really are like two sides of the same coin. It's my favorite of McCarthy's work so far (although to be fair I've only read a few), but I just love this story.

Posted by: Even Stevens at May 4, 2010 11:46 AM

One of my favorite McCarthy stylings is how he doesn't usually describe scenes in the traditional way, but rather uses the dialog to flesh out who/what/where, and let the reader put everything together.

I found I at first hated his no puncutation, lower-case writing style, but after I got used to it, it flowed pretty well and was pretty easy to imagine the situations.

As for the shortness of the review, I suspect it's because if you've seen the movie, you've more or less read the book. The movie is amazingly faithful to the novel, leaving out only a few scenes and characters.

Posted by: Jacktrade at May 4, 2010 12:01 PM

McCarthy's utter lack of punctuation drives me batty. I've tried to read this book for ages now and I can't get past it. It's just annoying. I know he's a great writer and I'll get badgered for this, but I can't get past the writing style.

Posted by: Melody at May 4, 2010 12:23 PM

No, the code hasn't changed. That's what the episode between Bell and the old man is about. The old man tells him there have always been sociopathic/sadistic people out there. He just can't comprehend this one.

Bell is inept and in over his head. That's why he chooses not to have a grand "showdown" with Chigurh.

Posted by: Recondite at May 4, 2010 12:27 PM

And yes, these reviews should be called The ADD Read, because no one seems to give them the time of day.

Oh yeah, "reading is hard".

Posted by: Recondite at May 4, 2010 12:30 PM

I don't think CBR is meant to be a straight-up review, but more like an extended reaction to what impression the book left.

Ironically, The Road is the only McCarthy novel where I've felt the author manufacture a happy ending. Most of his other works end exactly as you think they're going to end -- brutally bad.

Posted by: Fredo at May 4, 2010 1:01 PM

AM - Then feel free to not read them. And if you wanted to know who runs the CBR and why, there's a handy link at the top of the page that would give you this information. But I know, that would involve MORE READING. You poor thing....

Posted by: Sara at May 4, 2010 1:20 PM

I'm with Recondite on this one. The point was that there never was a "good old days", that the impassively violent, the sociopathic, have always been with us. Another point of the book, one I think makes folks even more uncomfortable, is the role of happenstance in people's lives. For all his wits and skill, Chigurh doesn't kill Moss; a bunch of inept Mexican hit men with a radio interceptor do. For all his cool-headedness and kindness, Moss gets himself and the hitch-hiker killed by both picking her up and calling his wife, and his wife, by trying to help the sheriff, contributes as well. For all his carefulness, Chigruh can't avoid his car crash). There is no fate, no plan, no set course of actions one can follow to success (a point Chigurh makes frequently and sadistically to his victims); just people choosing their actions without knowledge of the choices others make or the conditions in which they themselves are acting, and the collisions those asymmetries produce.

I think it is as an attempt to avoid acknowledging this that Bell spins his tales of the "old code", and I think it is ultimately admitting it to himself, as a truth he can't tell the world, that really breaks him.

Posted by: Heron at May 4, 2010 1:22 PM

FWIW, I like the book reviews...but then again, I'm a reader. This review was short and to the point. It should have made it easier for the non-readers.

Posted by: MissNev at May 4, 2010 2:55 PM

I can't not read them, I read everything on this site. I'll read your f-ing face off, Sara. I know what the CBR is, I just don't think these lame reviews are worth taking up space on this site. I won't stop complaining about the quality of them because the quality of the site in general is so high that these things are an embarassment in comparison.

Posted by: AM at May 4, 2010 3:29 PM

Posted by: Heron at May 4, 2010 1:22 PM
---
I'm kind of on board with this, the idea that nobody sees it coming, not even Death his ownself.

Posted by: , at May 4, 2010 5:03 PM

I also enjoy the CBRs, just for the record. I've picked up at least 5-6 books because of them.

Posted by: Lindsay at May 4, 2010 5:15 PM

AM,
I like it when people actually have the balls to voice a dissenting opinion on this sight. Well done

Posted by: Jack Random at May 4, 2010 7:58 PM

AM,
personally, I enjoy the reviews and it's not just because I'm a participant - I like being introduced to books I otherwise would not have considered, and often the comments help elaborate on the reviews and help others, including possibly the reviewer, see the book in a different light. Also, I love the fact that Pajiba is willing to use its readers' articles as page content.

As far as the quality, well, you can always participate next year, and maybe with your reviews added to the mix, it will improve the overall quality. Or perhaps you would like to take over Nicole and Dustin's job of choosing?

Posted by: Jen K at May 4, 2010 8:55 PM

I will concede that often the comments shed way more light on the books than the reviews do. I love that about Pajiba. I mean, people will actually get out their copies of these books and quote passages. Hell yes.

And yes, I think I would like to participate next year, although I do not have my own blog so maybe I need to start one.

Posted by: AM at May 4, 2010 10:09 PM

So is this written in McCarthy’s usual style? i.e. descriptive enough to give you a headache?
This has to be one of the shortest reviews I've read...and it doesn't really cover much of the novel itself.
Posted by: DeistBrawler

I assume you mean in comparison to Blood Meridian, which is overwrought and highly challenging, not The Road, which is simple and starkly minimalistic.

In the middle, but closer to The Road, I think.

Posted by: Brenton at May 7, 2010 7:33 PM

I know what the CBR is, I just don't think these lame reviews are worth taking up space on this site.

You do realize that it's not real space, right? It's "virtual" space. Maybe watch The Lawnmower Man for some background. That shit is dope.

Posted by: Brenton at May 7, 2010 7:36 PM

ie9? Should Microsoft just consider the browser and let Firefox and Chrome run the show, since they are doing much better job?

Posted by: txp50vt20b at September 21, 2010 9:40 AM

I've used this mower for about a month now. So far I'm very pleased with it's performance. I've tried it in both mulching and bagging mode and it works well in both modes.

Posted by: Gregory B. Despain at September 24, 2010 11:22 PM

I can't believe that this retailed for $400. I got it for about $115 so I'm okay but it's not the greatest cookware set ever. I went to Costco the other day

Posted by: Andrew C. Pelt at September 25, 2010 11:10 AM

Hey there! I could have sworn I've been to this blog before but after reading through some of the post I realized it's new to me. Anyhow, I'm definitely delighted I found it and I'll be bookmarking and checking back often!

Posted by: Fletcher Bienek at March 15, 2011 3:27 AM