2015年3月14日 星期六

"No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy (2005)


"Anything can be an instrument, Chigurh said.  Small things.  Things you wouldn't even notice.  They pass from hand to hand.  People don't pay attention.  And then one day there's an accounting.  And after that nothing is the same.  Well you say.  It's just a coin.  For instance.  Nothing special there.  What could that be an instrument of?  You see the problem.  To separate the act from the thing.  As if the parts of some moment in history might be interchangeable with the parts of some other moment.  How could that be?  Well, it's just a coin.  Yes.  That's true.  Is it?"

I've read most of Cormac McCarthy's books, so I suppose you could describe me as a fan.  I started off with "The Road" - a book I didn't even like that much - and from there moved on to his Border Trilogy.  I think he's one of the best writers working today.

Like several other Cormac McCarthy books, "No Country for Old Men" was adapted into a film of the same name.  The film version was directed by the Coen Brothers.  It's a great movie, and quite faithful to the book.

If you haven't seen the movie, "No Country for Old Men" begins with a hunter discovering a bag full of money in Texas.  Afterward he attempts to escape the sinister individual attempting to reacquire that money.  Later on a local sheriff becomes involved, and matters become more desperate as the hunter flees across the border into Mexico.

It's an excellent book, but that's no surprise.  If you've read the Border Trilogy, and if you've seen the movie version, you probably figured that out already.

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