The Western
has changed. Louis L’amour and Zane Grey’s rugged heroes have aged, becoming
cynical old men and questionable moral figures. Instead of overcoming wild
unknowns, the modern Western is often more about the wild unknown in the hearts
of men. No one represents this modern trend better than Cormac McCarthy and his
novel No Country for Old Men.
No Country for Old Men doesn’t take
place in the days of the Wild West, but in the 1980s. It follows an average
man, Llewelyn Moss, who discovers a stash of millions of dollars in the bloody
aftermath of a drug-related shootout. Taking the money ends up making Moss the
target for a hauntingly amoral hitman.
No Country for Old Men is a
devastatingly somber story about normal men and human darkness. McCarthy’s
minimal style of narration combined with the apocalyptic tone of the story as a
whole makes for an incredibly engrossing (and demanding) read. It’s the sort of
book that belongs alongside Heart of Darkness
or All Quiet on the Western Front,
instead of Riders of the Purple Sage.
Once you put it down, it still follows you, making you question, wonder, and doubt
what you know about humanity. Including your own.
At the
heart of No Country for Old Men is a
simple story of one man struggling against a titanic force of darkness. But
this struggle takes the characters and the reader to the very edge of
hopelessness. Whether the characters tumble over that edge or not is for the
reader to decide. Just know that, if you do plan to read No Country for Old Men, be ready. It may not be long, but it is
heavy. It’s as heavy as can be.
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