No Country For Old Men (2005) By Cormac McCarthy

"This country will kill you in a heartbeat and still people love it. You understand what im sayin?

I came into reading this as one who has watched, studied, and greatly enjoyed the highly acclaimed Cohen brothers film adaptation from 2007. I assumed that this book would be similar stylistically to the film, but I wasn't sure how it would be written. My expectations were fairly high, regardless of that fact.

"You think when you wake up in the mornin yesterday don't count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? Your life is made out of the days it’s made out of. Nothin else."

The book was written very much in the colloquial style of the characters in the story, although, I must confess, the author's lack of commas became intensely irritating to me. Some of his sentences read like a schoolboy's. The content was good, I enjoyed it, but the grammar was not to my taste. Whether it was done for effect or not, I personally didn't like it.

"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."

The narrative, it will not surprise anyone to read, trod much the same path as its big screen adaptation. Indeed, it was near identical, aside from a few small details that, in truth, were more of a garnish than anything of true note. I digress, it was an excellent story - one that I found to be extremely engrossing, at times.

"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?"

I loved the more contemplative sections of the book. It allowed the reader to see a more personal side of the protagonist, and humanised him brilliantly. Tonally, the book was masterful - it could certainly not be questioned for consistency or thematic integrity. It was gritty, it was quintessentially western, and, in no uncertain terms, it was dark.

"Ever step you take is forever. You cant make it go away. None of it. You understand what I'm sayin?"

Overall, despite my annoyance at the writing style, I still found myself enjoying this book far more than not. The gritty and grounded nature of it, as well as the believability of the characters, made this an enthralling read. Its realism was plain to see, and the somewhat anticlimactic ending felt emotionally crushing, without being unsatisfactory.

"I think if you were Satan and you were settin around tryin to think up somethin that would just bring the human race to its knees what you would probably come up with is narcotics."