Reviews of Cormac McCarthy's Books
Reviewed by WILLIAM KENNEDY
Cormac McCarthy’s subject in his new novel is as big as it gets: the end of the civilized world, the dying of life on the planet and the spectacle of it all.
'No Country for Old Men' (2005)
Reviewed by WALTER KIRN
McCarthy plays a nasty variation on the orthodox crime novel.
'Cities of the Plain' (1998)
Reviewed by SARA MOSLE
In the conclusion to the "Border Trilogy," the romance takes up a greater portion of the plot, and one begins to miss the simple evocation of cowboy life.
'The Crossing' (1994)
Reviewed by ROBERT HASS
Following his protagonist on three quixotic quests across the Mexican border, McCarthy immerses the reader in his inconsolable landscapes.
'All the Pretty Horses' (1992)
Reviewed by MADISON SMARTT BELL
This novel's protagonist is, for McCarthy, unusually sympathetic, but human activity still seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
Reviewed by JEROME CHARYN
Set on the Tennessee River, McCarthy's novel gives us a sense of river life that reads like a doomed "Huckleberry Finn."
'Child of God' (1974)
Reviewed by RICHARD P. BRICKNER
McCarthy's child of God, Lester Ballard, is so flattened by fate before he crawls into our view that he exists beneath the reach of tragedy.
'Outer Dark' (1968)
Reviewed by GUY DAVENPORT
In McCarthy's dark Appalachian novel, the world is an allegory and no violence however sickening is ever quite unexpected in the course of a day.
'The Orchard Keeper' (1965)
Reviewed by ORVILLE PRESCOTT
McCarthy shows his debt to Faulkner, but his novel is impressive in generating an emotional climate.