The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy

In my last blog post I reviewed Book One of the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy, and I said that his writing stayed in my mind long after reading the books. Well, now I'm on Book Two, I'm starting to think that these books will not only stay in my mind, but will possibly alter it. I feel that McCarthy knows things about humanity that can only be conveyed through story telling. If fiction writing was described as churches, then these books would be cathedrals.

Time has to be set aside to read these books because McCarthy will not be rushed. There are long, long, monologues where a character is allowed to express their innermost thoughts on such heavy topics as the nature of God, life and the possibility of justice in the world. There are also many lines in Spanish, and once again, McCarthy is not interrupting the flow of his thoughts to translate all that for you. You either understand it or you don't, but it's surprising how quickly I was starting to pick up enough of the language to make some sense out of it.

As I started the book I expected to meet up again with young John Grady from Book 1, and at first I was a bit disappointed to find that he was nowhere to be seen. I liked John Grady as he was honest and brave, and I had been looking forward to seeing where he went as his character matured. However, young Billy from Book Two quickly captured my imagination as he is a another teen boy who takes off from home while the rest of the house is sleeping. There are similarities to Book One as Billy leaves home on horseback and finds himself riding over rough terrain to Mexico with very little money and no food. The biggest difference is that Billy is accompanied by a she wolf he has captured after she became caught in a trap, and he is set on taking her back to the mountains in Mexico so she can live a life of freedom.

I don't think this book will be for everyone because of the amount of effort required to read it, but the underlying story is so strong it seems a shame to miss out on it. Six of McCarthy's books have been made into film versions, and Book One of this trilogy is already on screen, so I expect the rest will follow. I have seen The Road and No Country for Old Men, and thankfully the film makers have not cranked down any of the drama or psychology in those, so I hope it will be the same for the later films. If you don't want to read the books it would be worth taking a look at the films.

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