Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Okay, our REAL book for April is Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

A woman bears her brother's child, a boy. The brother leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Brother and sister wander through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying strangers, toward an apocalyptic resolution.




I've heard of Cormac McCarthy but I don't know much about him.
I've started reading and I'm liking it so far.
The language isn't that difficult once you get into it but it might be hard if you're not American. The part that's much harder for me is that he doesn't use quotation marks for the dialogue.

Book Nerd Cormac is known for his Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his graphic depictions and his unique writing style, recognizable by a sparse use of punctuation!

He is well know for:
Blood Meridan
All the Pretty Horses
No Country for Old Men
The Road

Culla has lied to Rinthy and the Tinker has found the child in the forest. Rinthy all along believes the Tinker has him and is following him. Her brother is trying to find her.

Rinthy so far is finding nothing but goodness. Culla on the otherhand?

Anyone thinking about this one?

Author Fact:

Originally named Charles (after his father), he renamed himself Cormac after the Irish King (another source says that McCarthy’s family was responsible for legally changing his name to the Gaelic equivalent of “son of Charles”).

Cormac went on a trip with the intentions to visit the home of his Irish ancestors (a King Cormac McCarthy built Blarney Castle). On the trip, he met Anne DeLisle, a young English singer/dancer working on the ship; they were married in England in 1966 and after touring southern England, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. Then they settled on the island of Ibiza, which was a kind of artist’s colony at the time, where he finished Outer Dark. Eventually moving to Tennessee and a year later Outer Dark was published.

Lesle wrote: "Culla has lied to Rinthy and the Tinker has found the child in the forest. Rinthy all along believes the Tinker has him and is following him. Her brother is trying to find her.

Rinthy so far is f..."

I'll be reading this one - and I received a note yesterday that its ready to be collected from the library next week.

Great John!

At first I thought the situation was weird, which it is, but the journey they both take seems to be totally different!

Sorry, I'm way behind on these threads.

I finished the book. I didn't love it but it was an interesting read. The short quick dialogue made me hear their words really deadpan for some reason if that makes any sense.
I know it's full of biblical allegory but the first part that was really familiar to me was when the pigs were all driven into the water. Then Culla was blamed for it though it wasn't his fault. Probably that's his punishment for impregnating his sister and then abandoning the baby.

Lesle wrote: "Rinthy so far is finding nothing but goodness. Culla on the otherhand?"
Yeah, that's interesting. Everybody's helping her while he just suffers. It's not actually said that she's a victim but maybe it's implied.

Lesle wrote: "Book Nerd Cormac is known for his Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his graphic depictions and his unique writing style, recognizable by a sparse use of punctuation!

He is well know for:
Blood Meridan
All the Pretty Horses
No Country for Old Men
The Road"
Those all look pretty interesting. I'll read The Road sometime.

John wrote: "I'll be reading this one - and I received a note yesterday that its ready to be collected from the library next week."
Great, Enjoy.

I finished Outer Dark today - and it is indeed dark, but difficult to put down despite that.

Yeah, it was interesting but I didn't love it overall.

I am in total agreement. Very black. Almost like a Gothic Greek tale.

Does one pay in a dark and gloomy way for the deeds one chooses to do?
Found it hard to keep reading at times and left picturing my own thoughts in different areas.

Yes, the section at the end with the baby was disturbing. Although that was almost at the very end, I had to stop reading for a while.

I finally read Wikipedia about the book and found this:

The name of the novel is derived from the Gospel of Matthew, specifically the meeting between the Roman centurion and Jesus,

Ethical considerations do not seem to exist in the world of Outer Dark, while the fates of characters are not determined by the morality of their lives. The world of Outer Dark appears to be devoid of meaning, which can be seen in both the opening and closing scenes of the novel. In the beginning of the novel.

Both statements help with where my mind was going.