No Country for Old Men book review

I remember watching the movie, No Country for Old Men almost 20 years ago. Above all, I remember how completely absorbed I became in the bleak, inhospitable story and dramatic characters. So, I finally decided to read Cormac McCarthy’s inspiration for the movie—his brilliant novel, No Country for Old Men. Here is our No Country for Old Men book review.

While out hunting, a hunter finds a lot of dead guys, and their briefcase full of cash. He takes it, in the hopes of providing a better life for him and his young wife in southwestern Texas.

However, those guys were drug dealers, and their boss wants the money back. He hires a hitman to find the cash, and bring it back.

And, that’s all I am going to reveal about the plot. Fortunately, this story is so engrossing, with lots of chilling moments of psychological interplays, that you will quickly find yourself drawn into the story.

The characters are believable and relatable. And, the bad guys are believable, too. Not surprisingly, this story could give you nightmares, but in a good sense!

So far, all the novels I have read by Cormac McCarthy, including No Country for Old Men, have been built on dramatically bleak, but reality based outlooks. McCarthy’s novels are not stories that will make you sigh with relief as you reflect on the beauty and wonderfulness of life.

Despite his novels’ harshly inhospitable and bleak outlooks on life, I really enjoy reading all of his novels. And, that’s because his stories reflect real life—the life we all experience every day.

Because of the author’s minimalistic style of narration, the plot in his novels can be difficult to follow. But eventually, the story reveals itself, usually with a dramatic intensity.

The first book I read by Cormac McCarthy was No Country for Old Men. After watching the film adaptation, which had engrossing dialogue and compelling emotions, I was surprised that he had used a minimalistic style of writing.

For instance, the author used no quotation marks. The reader experiences the dialogue in quick, direct bursts of revelations.

Not surprisingly, it took me some time to get used to that direct style of conveying conversations. But, I soon found myself immersed in the characters and what they were feeling at that moment, and what they had experienced in the past.

Ironically, at least for me, this style made the book difficult to read at first. But, as I continued to flow with the text, it then became very easy to read. It’s hard for me to explain my feelings about McCarthy’s unique writing style.

Here’s an example of a conversation between Sheriff Bell and Carla Jean Moss (one of my favorite characters). This conversation takes place in a local diner, after Carla’s husband had disappeared:

It’s not me he’s in trouble with.

Who’s he in trouble with then?

Some pretty bad people.

Llewelyn can take care of hisself.

Do you care if I call you Carla?

I go by Carla Jean.

And the conversation goes on. Of course, I saw the movie a few times already, so I kind-of imagined the characters in the movie speaking in my head, one more time.

In the movie, the conversations, including this one, were word-for-word out of the book. This conversation in the movie was so good, and it was so very very good in the novel.

In other conversations and other paragraphs, the author uses minimal punctuation marks. For instance, in the conversation above, he did use contractions, but other times he didn’t. And many times, he avoided using commas.

But, as I became familiar with the author’s style, the lack of punctuation wasn’t a problem. In fact, it intensified the conversations and descriptions.

One of the surprising beauties of the author’s narrative style is its poetic sensibility. As I read some of the sentences from this book, I got a tingly feeling, just like I do when I hear a song I like, or even read a poem, like in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, or something like that.

Here’s an example of McCarthy’s poetical prose. This is what I’m talking about. It’s Sheriff Bell thinking about life in general, and his life specifically.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends over these last few years. Not all of em older than me neither. One of the things you realize about gettin older is that not everybody is goin to get older with you.” —Sheriff Bell

And the story flows on-and-on, so beautifully. Sheriff Bell’s thoughts are sometimes biblical, in that they get us to not only understand the character, but also to understand where we fit in the bigger scheme of things, like in the universe.

In most of his books, the author’s narrative style is so simple, and so beautiful. That’s how it is in No Country for Old Men, too.

In this book, the characters speak without quotation marks, and that’s how they think, too. So, each character conveys their thoughts without an editor, and for the reader, we become immersed in their story.

Other authors who have used a similar style of stream-of-consciousness include Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and even Stephen Chbosky in his unique novel, The Perks of being a Wallflower. For me, that style is, initially, a little more difficult to read, but it’s also very rewarding.

Such a good book, and such a good movie. I love them both!

Cormac McCarthy created an intriguing, ensemble cast of characters for his novel, No Country for Old Men. I could empathize with each one, even if I couldn’t identify with them.

Some characters were bad, with serious psychological issues, but I could empathize with them. Others, like Sheriff Bell, were trying to do the right thing, but in a very chaotic set of circumstances. Either way, I empathized with them and their circumstances.

As a veteran sheriff in Terrell County, Texas, Sheriff Bell takes his job as a public servant very seriously. He wants to do the right thing, in all cases.

In fact, it bothers him when he has to arrest a young person who could have had a good life, but instead, who chooses to break the law and harm another citizen. But, that’s the kind-of guy this sheriff is.

He’s the guy who you need and want on your side when a bad guy is doing something wrong. And, he’s the guy you can count on to pursue justice, even when his pursuit puts his life in jeopardy.

Unfortunately, just like us all, Sheriff Bell is not a perfect human being. When he was young, he served our country.

He even won an award for bravery. But, Sheriff Bell knew that he did something that he wasn’t proud of. In fact, he felt a sense of shame that haunted him throughout his adult life.

And, his shameful act still haunts him, even while he works on the case in this novel. Sheriff Bell is an honest guy, and he demands a lot of himself. I really liked this character.

In fact, Sheriff Bell feels that his beautiful western Texas countryside might not be his home any more. This countryside is the countryside in No Country for Old Men, and he is one of the old men.

One of the bad guys who Sheriff Bell is concerned about is Anton Chigurh. He is a freelance hitman, and just like Sheriff Bell, he also considers his word to be his honor. If Anton promises to do something, he will do it, without fail.

Chigurh is able to remain comfortable in almost any circumstance. He is able to detach or separate himself from his surroundings, almost as if he has no emotions. Because of that characteristic, this bad guy is very chilling.

Every time that Chigurh accepts a job, he treats it like a mission-from-god type of job. In other words, Chigurh has a reputation for completing his mission, no matter who gets in the way.

While Anton Chigurh did some horrendous things in this book, there was something about his personality that I found so intriguing. I think it was the way he was able to detach himself emotionally from any circumstance.

The characteristic made him such a chilling criminal and hitman. If you were a criminal, or were working on the wrong side of the law, you did not want to come face-to-face with this guy. He is bad news!

As a Vietnam veteran, this 36-year-old welder and law-abiding citizen is familiar with combat situations. Unfortunately, he will need those survival skills to stay alive after he makes a very bad decision.

While hunting antelope in the beautiful hills of Big Bend country, Terrell County, Texas, he discovers a number of men who were slaughtered. Everyone is dead.

Now, if it were me, and I found a number of guys who were brutally slaughtered, I’d get the heck out of there and call the sheriff. But, Moss snoops around and finds a briefcase stuffed with millions of dollars.

Realizing that his briefcase could change his life for the better, he takes it and takes off. And, that’s where things quickly go downhill for this otherwise law-abiding citizen.

I really liked this character, and I could understand his motivations for taking the money. The only thing that bothered me about this story, and this character, was that he initially had left the scene, but then he went back. I don’t understand that at all—I did not understand why he went back and why he didn’t call the sheriff!

But, when Moss would eventually run into the hitman, Chigurh, it was so nail-biting and suspenseful. They would cross paths a few times, but never really meet in person, and it was all so chilling. This was such a good aspect of this story!

This young, 19-year-old woman was married to Llewelyn. Despite her young age, I thought this character was very wise. She was able to be realistic about life, and accepted her position in the big, chaotic, unloving universe.

Unfortunately for Carla Jean, she becomes an innocent target of the hitman. And, it was all because her husband had made a spur-of-the-moment decision to do something foolish.

However, Carla Jean had faith in her older husband. She knew he was tough, and she knew he was able to handle himself in difficult, even life-threatening situations.

Yes, I really liked the Carla Jean Moss character. She just had a simple, honorable philosophy about life. And, she was a strong person, in an otherwise tough, unforgiving world.

This guy was a former Special Forces officer. He was cocky, but an experienced hitman, similar to Chigurh. And, he was hired to recover the cash before Chigurh recovered the cash.

While he did the same type of work as Chigurh, he was a very different person. He was not a detached person like Chigurh. In fact, he was very afraid of Chigurh, and did not want to come face-to-face with him.

Carson Wells, like many of the other characters in this story, was an honest guy. In other words, he was realistic, and told the truth, even though he did some bad, dishonest things, too. In other words, Wells would bend the rules.

Because of his freelance experience as a hitman, Wells respected Chigurh. But, he was also terrified of the guy, too.

While I didn’t like the character of Carson Wells, I could empathize and understand his motivations. In fact, he did try to help Moss out of his jam, but he wanted to be financially rewarded, too.

Wells was a very interesting character, and an integral part of the spine-chilling, psychological interplay with the other characters. Once again, such a good character!

Carson Wells giving life-saving advice to Llewelyn Moss. There were so many good scenes just like this. Wow, I can’t say enough about this book and this movie.

FINAL VERDICT:

Without a doubt, I loved Cormac McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men. There were believable characters who I really liked and could empathize with. I could even understand the bad guys, and their motivations.

The author’s unique, minimalistic style of writing really helped to heighten and build the tension. And, I especially enjoyed the philosophical musings of Sheriff Bell and the hitman, Anton Chigurh. Wow—such good literature!

Thanks for reading our No Country for Old Men book review. If you’ve read the book, or have seen the movie, please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Content and photos by Doug Martin and Our Book Banter