This book appears to be a classic adventure story; one where the hero, or good guy, is pitted against hopeless odds but is able to surpass all difficulties and come out of the conflict undefeated. Yeaaaaah no. That doesn't happen here at all. Yet this is what enticed me into this page-turner. I cheered for the main protagonist and good guy as he navigates through a blood bath, and even when things begin to go down hill, I still held onto a small piece of hope. Suddenly the antagonist of all antagonists shoots down (get it?) my dreams but I still read on. At this point the book transformed from an adventure story into the thoughts of a policeman and at this point I went back and reread all the sections with these thoughts.
The book opened my eyes to the brutality of the world and that on the border and in drug induced war torn Mexico, there is no glory and heroics. That really is no country for old men to be, men who are tired of living in such a dangerous mind set and want to be at rest. The cop in this story quits his job because he discovers that after years of experience battling evil, he can immediately be in over his head with no hope. This horror and hopelessness leaves his no other choice but to abandon his life fighting crime and to move on to greener and more peaceful pastures. I loved this book as it was drastically different from any I've read before, and once again McCarthy is brilliant in his dialogue and simple, but hugely descriptive writing. A downfall however was that a few times in the book, dialogue and sometimes scenes were very reminiscent of his previous novels. For example, when asked where they got a gun in both All The Pretty Horses and No Country For Old Men, characters both answer "the gettin place". A brilliant line, but used in the same context more then once?.. bad form in my book.
The book opened my eyes to the brutality of the world and that on the border and in drug induced war torn Mexico, there is no glory and heroics. That really is no country for old men to be, men who are tired of living in such a dangerous mind set and want to be at rest. The cop in this story quits his job because he discovers that after years of experience battling evil, he can immediately be in over his head with no hope. This horror and hopelessness leaves his no other choice but to abandon his life fighting crime and to move on to greener and more peaceful pastures. I loved this book as it was drastically different from any I've read before, and once again McCarthy is brilliant in his dialogue and simple, but hugely descriptive writing. A downfall however was that a few times in the book, dialogue and sometimes scenes were very reminiscent of his previous novels. For example, when asked where they got a gun in both All The Pretty Horses and No Country For Old Men, characters both answer "the gettin place". A brilliant line, but used in the same context more then once?.. bad form in my book.
