I have read two other novels since finishing No Country For Old Men, and still it haunts me. What started as an incidental read, intended to pass the time while sitting in a fabric store, turned into an experience of discovery that deepened with each turn of a page. The words read themselves, and the story they told transpired with a clarity that etched itself in memory. A ghost was born in the telling, and at the final page, it seeped through pore and sensory organ, into the very marrow of bone.
There is a lot that happens within the pages of No Country For Old Men. Its plot can be described in a single sentence, yet there is much more at work than noteworthy events worth telling. Behind all the words and craft that make this a novel - as opposed to a play, or poem, or 300+ page grocery list - is the guiding hand of an incredibly powerful storyteller. It is Cormac McCarthy’s talent that binds every element of the novel together, creating a work of art that far surpasses the mere sum of its parts.
Simply put, this novel is great, because its author is Cormac McCarthy.
If fiction can be employed to approximate life through its dead prose, then McCarthy’s word-craft presents one of the more precise fits in the English language. His spare wording, lengthy sentences, and quotation-free dialogue encompass a story that happens in a way that could describe something taking place right outside the front door. There is no deception or trickery in No Country For Old Men, nor any “plot twists” that wrench the narrative in a peculiar manner so as to sustain the reader’s attentions. Everything that McCarthy has to tell is on display, in full light of the sun on a hot day.
No Country For Old Men contains violent conflict; deranged criminal activity; honest, if limited, police work; and seasoned insights into where America has come from, and what it has become. There are quite a few shoot-outs in the novel, and combined with McCarthy’s direct prose, they stand out as incredible scenes of action that put those found in other thrillers to shame. The characters are well-realized, and become as real as such constructs can be in a work of art. In particular, McCarthy has created a memorable antagonist in Anton Chigurh, whose methodology is so creepy as to mesmerize.
Counter-balancing the brutal elements in the novel are Sheriff Bell, his fellow law enforcers, and his loving wife. These characters provide a critical counterpoint to the bloody gauntlet of killings, bringing the story back to the warm cups of coffee, the well-lit kitchens, that define most of our lives. They also illustrate that, despite even the most honest of efforts to live a good life, and care for society, the world changes beyond anyone’s control. Even those few individuals who feel they lay claim to great power are, ultimately, powerless to prevent change that will leave them wide-eyed and lost in a world not of their making.
In this respect, a strong sense of Fate pervades No Country For Old Men, and, with the exception of McCarthy’s sure touch, the story occurs outside of the control of any character. No one calls the shots - literally, or figuratively, as it were - or sees all the angles, and outsmarts the rest of the cast. The dominant perspective is switched between major characters in-between breaks in the narrative, and no single character commands the entire story. Rather than play the part as creators of the drama that entangles them, the characters are mere participants, subject to forces beyond their conception.
Still, the actions of the characters are not futile, and even as some of them linger at Death’s threshold, the compulsion to hope for their rescue is unavoidable. Whether or not this penchant for happier endings is a product of reading hundreds of sugar-coated plotlines, or the real attachment to each of McCarthy’s characters, it is hard to say. McCarthy breathes vitality into his characters, and gives them voice that rings true to the ardent listener. These people could be real; they could even be your neighbors. At the same time, McCarthy does not flinch from letting the story run its full course, and destroys that which he created without provocation. It is an irresistible mixture of Life and Death.
It is worth mentioning that McCarthy does respect his characters, and allows for a few moments of mercy in his novel, small as they may be. One of these acts involves a narrative shift that may throw off some readers, and leave them wondering why they were not privy to a major scene. To them I offer this explanation: McCarthy had just revealed a softer side of a major character, and wasn’t about to blot out that memory with another blood-drenched scene. So, too, does McCarthy avoid any gory exposition in the death of another character's death, opting for a strict record of the fact, only.
No Country For Old Men is not a neat or tidy novel. The story does not offer the usual host of characters, draw the customary lines of conflict, and bring the male and female together for the inevitable soft-core romance. It has its beginning, and it does reach its end, but beyond that its structure is unrecognizable. Nor does it fit into a single category, or genre. The most direct evidence of this comes from the publisher: the jacket of the Knopf hardcover does not bear a single, genre label - not even the word “fiction.” If anything, the novel is distinctly “American,” in that it originates from this country, and ponders its vitality, and that of its people. These connections are incidental to the novel’s origins, however, and do not weigh down the narrative, or hinder its purpose.
It is hard to say how many more novels I will have to read before I can shake the memory of No Country for Old Men, and read another author’s prose without feeling its weight on my shoulder. It is a masterpiece of story-telling, bent and shaped into a novel that is so unique, the medium can barely contain it. It is also, quite plainly, a great read. Even if you pick it up, and do not experience the same degree of revelation as described here, you will not regret having read such a wonderful, well-written novel.
