No Country for Old Men

How do you justify killing an individual and then walk away without an iota of remorse, without breaking a sweat?Moss has led a decent normal life up until the point he comes across several dead bodies while he on his hunting trip in the desert.Drug deals gone awry, lot of dead bodies and a brief case full of money. If you have witnessed this, then by default you are in trouble. There's no other way.Chigurh is a serial killer on the run. One of the most gruesome characters in literature I've read lately.The book is not just about the murders but also about the declining morals in the country, failure to uphold the laws.

Review for No Country For Old Men; ISBN: 978-0330454537; Publisher: Picador; Film Tie-In Edition.This is a very satisfactory paperback edition put out by the publishers, Picador. It has very legible typeface the quality of the paper used is excellent with an excellent spine that is not likely to fall apart in a hurry. So that’s that about the physical book.The Review:There are some books that you would not read or even be interested in if they hadn’t been adapted into movies and award winning ones no less. I remember watching the Coen Brothers adaptation over 7 years ago and I remember most of the plot beats and twists in the narrative. While reading the book, I often wondered what kind of effect certain sections would have had on me if I hadn’t already seen the movie and knew what was around the corner. Would I be impressed by the writing more? These were the questions going through my head as I read this book. But this is what happens when you watch the movie first and read the book second. It also doesn’t help that movie was excellent with Javier Bardem creating one of the most frightening villains ever put on film.Okay enough about the (excellent) movie now. My first Cormac McCarthy novel and I suppose this book was as good a place as any to start. Let’s begin with the prose first. There is a complete lack of punctuations (even quotation symbols are deemed superfluous by McCarthy). The characters speak in a vernacular that is particular to the states of Texas and others in its vicinity. If you’ve seen enough movies about cowboys, you won’t have any trouble knowing what I mean. And McCarthy does seem to have a knack for that particular lingo. The lingo seems to combine its own brand of philosophy and wisdom to deal with life that I find very fascinating. The dominant character in the story is old Sheriff Ed Tom Bell who is on the verge of retiring. Upending his plans of an uneventful plan is a massacre in the desert involving Mexican drug cartel members among many others and a whole lot of cash. Involved among all of this is Llewelyn Moss who happens to come across the scene of bloodshed and makes off with the money. This kicks the narrative into motion with various interested parties pursuing Moss in order to retrieve the funds in his possessions. The dominant theme in this book is how the only happy people are the ones that die young while the old have to endure a lifetime of hardship and yet the outcomes of their lives remain uncertain to them. It is mostly about old Sheriff Bell grappling with the changing social landscape around him where people no longer seem to possess scruples or decency. There are some heady issues that McCarthy tackles, some of them are: ethics, morals, scruples, decency and the inability to come to terms with the things that we deny.

This is an extraordinary book about the circumstances around a drug deal gone wrong and how it affects naive players who get sucked into it. The way McCarthy has written this book is awe inspiring. The book is so fast paced and you cannot put it down even for a minute. The language is little different and it would take some effort for non-native speakers to get involved initially.Once the story starts, you would get connected with every character and would not want the sad ending that the book takes you through. I would recommend this to every connoisseur of great fiction writing. You will never forget these characters for a long time to come.

Honestly, I first heard about the movie based on this book. After hearing praises of the movie I did a little research and found out that there's a book upon which the movie is based. So I decided to read the book first and watch the movie after.The only thing I disliked was the way it was packaged by the seller.

Great communication. You get to see the world as one individual sees it. And hear it in that individual's language. It was a rare experience.

No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthyI came across the movie with the same name and I watched it. It was so cool. Then I found out that it was based on a book. I found the book on amazon.in and got it. Before giving my review, let me just copy the notes from the back of the book.“Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, stumbles upon a transaction gone horribly wrong. Finding bullet-ridden bodies, several kilos of heroin, and a caseload of cash, he faces a choice – leave the scene as he found it, or cut the money and run. Choosing the latter, he knows, will change everything. And so begins a terrifying chain of events, in which each participant seems determined to answer the question that one asks another: how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?”It is a western thriller based on a small town in Southern Texas. There are likable and unique characters – Moss described above, his wife – sweet and smart girl, Bell – the Sheriff of the town, Chirugh – the psychopathic killer (I can’t say he is “likable”, but he has a unique style and dialog) and others. The writing style is very unique – There are dialogues, but no punctuation marks. I think it is very pleasant to the eyes. The main story is in the standard font. But Sheriff Bell’s (played by Tommy Lee Jones in the movie) thinking and internal dialog (usually separate chapters interspersed) are in italics. Also, the language is Southern drawl. He writes as people talk in the South (e.g. I aint making no promises, he said. That’s how you get hurt). The title of the novel has some philosophical overtones. He is talking about that in today’s world, with the drug problem, the law and order situation has completely changed. He is getting older and is about to retire. Some excerpts from the book:….this country has not had a unsolved homicide in forty-one years. Now we got nine of em in one week. Will they be solved? I don’t know. …..Of course here a while back in San Antonio they shot a federal judge. I guess he concerned em. Add to that that there’s peace officers along this border getting rich off of narcotics……A crooked peace officer is just a dammned abomination. … He is ten times worse than the criminal. And this aint goin away…….I am giving the book 4.5 stars (****1/2). The movie won four Academy Awards.

Great story. Cormac McCarthy is one of the best writers ever. The characters in this book are so good, and the writing sticks with you, to the point where you are trying to never forget some of the lines. Fantastic read!

The road já chegou num pico do espetáculo, esta obra segue o mesmo nível, senão o transcende

Ein Drogendeal, der in einem Blutbad endet. Eine Tasche mit zweieinhalb Millionen Dollar, die unerwartet den Besitzer wechselt und damit eine Orgie der Gewalt auslöst. Mitten drin: der alternde Sheriff Bell, der das Ganze reflektiert. Oder ist die Handlung selber nur ein verstecktes Symbol für tiefere philosophische Überlegungen?Cormac McCarthy dringt in diesem Roman in ein Gebiet vor, das bisher nur Größen wie William Faulkner und John Steinbeck vorenthalten war. Nichts ist, wie es scheint. Das offene Ende wirkt auf den ersten Blick enttäuschend (wir erfahren nicht, wie es mit Anton Chigurh weitergeht) weist aber darauf hin, dass dieser Aspekt möglicherweise nicht der wichtigste im Roman ist. Hier ist der Leser gefordert. Fünf Punkte für ein ungewöhnliches Buch-auf den Film bin ich gespannt.

'No Country For Old Men' is a gripping tale of fate, morality, and the relentless march of time. The narrative is taut and suspenseful, with McCarthy's characteristic sparse prose heightening the tension. The characters are complex and well-drawn, each struggling with their own moral dilemmas. McCarthy's exploration of the themes of justice, fate, and the nature of evil makes this book a compelling read.

Un par de cineastas tan geniales como los hermanos Coen no pudieron encontrar cómo mejorar la narrativa y grabaron la adaptación casi cuadro por cuadro, con el diálogo casi sin alterar, eso habla mucho de la calidad de éste libro.