I regard Child of God as a little masterpiece. It's hilarious too. A whole chapter describing the intricate working and polishing of an axe-head, concluding in this: 🤣 'He brightened the bit with a stick wrapped in emery cloth. Holding the head in the tongs he began to move it slowly back and forth over the fire. Keep her out of the fire and keep her movin. That way she’ll draw down even. Now she’s gettin yeller. That’s fine for some tools but we goin to take a blue temper on her. Now she gets brown. Watch it now. See it there? He took the axehead from the fire and laid it on the anvil. You got to watch her close and not let the temper run out on the corners first. Shape ye fire for the job always. Is that it? said Ballard. That’s it. We’ll just fit ye a handle now and sharpen her and you’ll be on your way. Ballard nodded. It’s like a lot of things, said the smith. Do the least part of it wrong and ye’d just as well to do it all wrong. He was sorting through handles standing in a barrel. Reckon you could do it now from watchin? he said. Do what, said Ballard.'

@jovanjanjic9029

Жыл бұрын

Laughed out loud. I feel the tempo does it

@beepit6697

Жыл бұрын

this singlehandedly convinced me to get this book

@zacharyzapata8559

Жыл бұрын

@@beepit6697 Me too!

@TheDive99

Жыл бұрын

"Black like a ni55ers ass". Man that cracks me up every time.

@beepit6697

Жыл бұрын

update: i read it in 2 sittings across 2 days. definitely agree with it being a masterpiece

The main character, alive in 2023, would’ve been on Soft White Underbelly 4 times now

As someone who’s lived in Tennessee their whole life, the only thing keeping me here is how beautiful it is.

McCarthy has a certain theme of super-determinism throughout this books. Lester evokes some form of sympathy, even empathy, even though none of us will ever agree with his actions. But when in one scene, Lester tucked his head between his knees when he sat squatting and began to cry, I couldn't help but feel a deep sadness for simply what he is- a creature a victim of his own self. You can't help but not think that somewhere he didn't choose what he is, he is just a victim of whatever God or biological culmination made him to be, and he can neither evoke change nor escape himself. Doomed by his own fate, in a sense.

@BryanSalyersXD

3 ай бұрын

I agree. The sherif of Sevier County is called Fate, whether as a last name or otherwise, to point out a small detail.

If Cormac McCarthy wrote the biography of Chris Chan.

@Uberdubee

Жыл бұрын

😂

@severianconciliator1862

Жыл бұрын

LOL!

@flushfries5633

Жыл бұрын

The manchild stood amongst the clutter and the absurd and pulled the glasses from his face. I want everything about my house off the internet he said. The door opened and the paternal lumberjack came into the room and looked at his son and raised his hand and pointed. Chris. Yes. Shut that goddamn thing off.

@antherthalmhersser7239

Жыл бұрын

Nice

@namenotfound34

Жыл бұрын

The Sonichu Meridian

Make sure to dive into Outer Dark as well someday. It’s perhaps the most cryptic and biblical novel of his. Prose as good as Suttree and perhaps even more of a horror than Child Of God.

@efleishermedia

Жыл бұрын

The conclusion with the child was horrific, followed immediately by a gorgeous description of a skeleton pinned to a tree.

Great review. You nailed it. The quote that sums up a lot of what McCarthy’s stories drive home: “You think people was meaner then than they are now?” the deputy said. The old man was looking out at the flooded town. “No” he said, “I don’t. I think people are the same from the day God first made one.”

Great McCarthy impression

The timing on this is CRAZY. I just finished Child of God like 3 days ago. Currently on Blood Meridian since im going thru Cormac's catalog.

One of my all time favorites. So excited to watch

Listened to an audiobook of this while driving through the Appalachians - what a book!! Great review ❤

@rishabhaniket1952

Жыл бұрын

I would have crashed my car for sure if this was on while I was driving 😅😅

Used to work in a store in the centre of the Birmingham UK city centre, the second biggest city in the country, and sometimes I'd close the cafe on one of the floors for the day and take down any food that was marked to be thrown out, because we werent allowed to keep it for more than 2 working days (even if it was fine to eat), and hand it out to a large group of homeless folk who lived on a plot of land 5 minutes away. I talked to them for quite a while sometimes and you're right about them not necessarily wanting to return to a aociety that they firnly view as looking down on them. There were alot of different cases, some ex-cons (you can argue case by case on that about whether they were driven to crime by being let down by the state/society or in some cases not), drug addicts, alcoholics, just unlucky. What i will say is that they took the attitude of bitterness toward 'normal' society in a situation in which they'd been left to rot, i like to think, or hope, that if they were offered a chance at rebuilding their life then most would take it.

I dont always watch reviews but when i do, i watch Better then Food. Stay reading my friends.

The whole book, for me at least, had a dark mockumentary vibe. The narration would interchange with a poetic-prose, past tense and present tense. Then out of nowhere (I forget the page number near the end) the narration/McCarthy would break the fourth wall and speak directly to the reader. The townsfolk interviews that were spliced in during Part 1 reminded me of the interviews of locals in The Blair Witch Project. I also liked the page layout. Brief paragraphs with evocative descriptions really set an ominous tone throughout. Finishing the book at 4am (and living in a rural area) further cemented how creepy the book is.

I still think Outer Dark is the best of McCarthy's first three novels. The harshest. My favourite of his. Child of God is a fine novel though. A short Horror novel. It's very scary to think there're people like Ballard everywhere in the world, regardless of culture. (Ha! the McCarthy impression took me by surprise, frelling funny!).

@Ernesto_the_Caffiend

Жыл бұрын

Outer Dark is superb. In my top 3 McCarthy

9:28 50 years. Cormac’s almost 90, isn’t he? Thank god he’s too tough to die.

@charmicarmicat2981

Жыл бұрын

Reading this on June 13th… I’m definitely not crying

@FisherKing9633

Жыл бұрын

@@charmicarmicat2981 yeah… I kind of dropped the ball on that comment…

@tose5566

11 ай бұрын

Dude…

@rcyadav9746

10 ай бұрын

​@@charmicarmicat2981hint 12

I just finished the book there, and while highly disturbing the amount of curveballs the book threw at me was amazing. You’d expect following Lester’s escape from the mob of men, it’d end like some ghost story where he “still roams the caves,” but nope, he turns himself in to the hospital. When he wins the three teddy’s and is described as staring at a young girl with them, I was constantly expecting some instance of him using them as a lure, but nope, he seemed to just like their company? Another part on its own that took me so off guard was the shooting of the Dump Keeper’s daughter, just right out of nowhere.

@bradley6676

Жыл бұрын

Oh, and Rest in Peace Cormac McCarthy. I look forward to finishing the rest of your works.

Your reviews never fail to make me want to check out whatever book you talk about, and this one... oh boy, this one is right down my grim, morbid alley. Thanks for your great videos, much love from Austria.

Absolutely beautiful area of Tennessee. Makes me want to write about the beauty of nature

The main character in this book reminds me of Joseph Christmas from Light In August. Also of a character from the grapes of wrath, whose name I can’t recall. He is the one who stays behind and gets to keep Tom Joad”s dogs. Will definitely give this novel a read.

The thing that you said about McCarthy's "some dumbass" reason for writing the book reminds me of what Nabokov says in his comment at the end of Lolita: "Teachers of Literature are apt to think up such problems as "What is the author's purpose?" or still worse "What is the guy trying to say?" Now, I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no other purpose than to get rid of that book and who, when asked to explain its origin and growth, has to rely on such ancient terms as Interreaction of Inspiration and Combination - which, I admit, sounds like a conjurer explaining one trick by performing another. The first little throb of Lolita went through me late in 1939 or early in 1940..."

@smoothinvestigator

Жыл бұрын

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why.” - William Faulkner

That’s a very prescient thought on the long term homeless Clifford. Your bleak reading has given you an insight into misery.

Loved all of McCarthy's dark characters. Speaking of anti-heroes, read John Fowles, The Magus, for a spellbinding example. Warning: you'll be up all night reading.

Rest in peace Cormac. Thanks for the great review. I just finished Child of God a few weeks ago and parts of it are certainly still lingering in my mind. Looking to pick up Suttree next on my journey through McCarthy's works.

Read this last year in a day or so... I love how it's so matter-of-fact about Lester Ballard's disposition and "strange lusts", but with dark humor and an unflinching look at how his alienation seems to spur whatever issues he has.

I have not read this book, but I really was a fan of the movie. I think I'm the only person on the planet that liked it. For some reason I misremembered the ending until the second time I watched it. I imagined Lester running off into the woods, looking like an inferno of green fire.

I put this on my TBR last week. Perfect timing!

As a Chattanoogan, it’s so weird to here Chattanooga brought up outside of where I live

Looking forward to that O'Connor review!!!

Saw this and instantly clicked. Thanks for the video :)

I was just reading the passenger (and aim to watch your review after I finish it), so this is a welcome surprise. Thanks for all you do. - A portuguese fan.

The McCarthy impression is ON POINT! 8:30

@azulceleste7202

Жыл бұрын

I cannot stop laughing for how good it is!

@billyparham630

Жыл бұрын

Spot on

Loved all the 'not good, for society that is'

Child of God is definitely in the top 5 of my McCarthy books. Excellent dark humor thrown into a horrifically tragic tale of an outcast of society. I highly suggest you read Outer Dark if you’re looking for that “something missing” from Child of God. Also, what’s next to the right of The Tunnel on your shelf?

A wonderful review.This was my first CMC book and I blew through it. While I agree with your criticism to a large extent, I find that the lack of development the book has doesn't bother me quite so much because the novel is quite short. Had it been a much longer read that required a larger investment from me, and had it fallen flat by the end, the disappointment would have hit me harder. But it's shorter length felt like it only promised me a slice or glimpse into the world of Ballard, without any expectation of further nuance. And I was fine with that. It helps that I am a fan of true crime, criminal psychology, etc, so can get more from the book in that way too, just as you said.

This was my first McCarthy that I read many years ago in college. Think it’s ripe time for a reread.

What a book. Excited to hear your take!

What a coincidence! Just finished reading this one a few days ago.

Great review of a great book cliff, I think Blood Meridian is the next read for me, watched your review of it but still have not got round to reading it

It came on bobbing and bearing in its perimeter a meniscus of pale brown froth, in which floated walnuts, twigs, a slender bottle, neck, erect, and tilting like a metronome .

Read this. Great novel!

Not just one of. THE best we have.

I love how this guy writes absolutely beautiful depictions of the most fucked up shit in existence and makes nearly all of it originate from TN.

50 years , 50 years for The Left Hand of Darkness.

@Bookspine5

Жыл бұрын

Oh cool, I read Perfume. Great book.

Love this book

McCarthy doesn't write for the approval of others nor to garnish his reputation. That's why he is great. Plus, his talent is miles above those of most others.

Cliff, when you've decided a book is not better than food, do you send the copy you have read to the person who wins the coffee lottery or do you send another copy? Books that I don't completely love or don't immediately think I want to read again, I have a hard time keeping around, so I'm wondering how you keep a handle on your own book collection.

Just tead this two weeks ago! Thanks for sharing. There's a pretty good article about it stating that Lester is an inversion of Christ. Much like Christ, the cadavers in the cave are supposed to be his disciples. They all rise, like him, after spending time in the dark! I liked it less than Outer Dark.

@pedrolopez8592

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, that's also an excellent point. Lester *tries* to assimilate multiple times and even the incestual father rejects him... THAT'S TOUGH!

Just noticed your copy of "The Knot." Cool stuff.

I never heard of Silkie’s, so I looked up the menu. I like the names of some of the food. Green Goddess, Main Street Hoppin John, Country Boy; it’s very charming.

Your thoughts on being homeless and having spent years as an outsider to the society were very interesting. I watch Soft White Underbelly channel quite a bit, so yeah, you do meet your line of thought there.

Excellent review Great insights One your best ... even if the book wasn't 👌

@BetterThanFoodBookReviews

Жыл бұрын

Thanks very much

Poor Lester Ballard.Humans only love the good in us.But only God has the all-encompassing compassion to love the monster in us. That's what people really want,but we seem unable to give it to each other.But that's the only thing that renders the monster a boon rather than a bane.

This is your best review.

My favorite writer, my favorite book reviewer, don't get much better than this Internet-wise. Great review of a great, horrible novel with one fantastic anti-hero.

Hey. I just want to recommend Knausgård's new trilogy. I think you would really like it. I know at least the first one in the trilogy, The Morning Star, is available in English as of now.

Please make a video on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

I think McCarthy made a point whether he meant to or not. Some people, no matter how pathetic their circumstances, aren't worth saving.

Child of God is main work of McCarthy that i wish Flannery O'Connor read from him to see the influence by her in even darker form.

is this a good book to start with? never read cormac.

Absolutely masterful book from in my opinion one of the great exponents of American Literature

Love this one and actually the film is great

At that moment, when Ballard comes across the bodies in the car, the two lovers. I feel like that’s a Kurt Vonnegut moment where he was unstuck in time, and the PTSD blocked him from the memories of things he had done. Let me know your thoughts.

First book of cm I read and classic...

Its pretty obvious that the first couple who he found died from exhaust fumes. The car is even still running.

Although this book is brilliant- Blood Meridian is the finest novel I have ever read in my life- outstanding piece of work :) have a good day reader :)

@LiteraryAtlas

Жыл бұрын

Blood Meridian also impressed me a lot! Currently reading 'The Road' by him, but I will definitely also visit Child of God and his other novels at some point.

@gerardsloan1593

Жыл бұрын

@@LiteraryAtlas I read those as well, good. I famously occupied myself with blood meridian during the worst of the pandemic lockdown and was more focused on the mastery of the novel than what was going on in world around me- a pleasant distraction lol have a good day reader..

In my audible library & intended to be listened to, probably not going to watch the James Franco flick though

One of my favorite novels.

@captain_eclectic

Жыл бұрын

Feels like a short story in many ways by McCarthy standards, which speaks volumes.

I'm here because I started this book, and I am not sure I want to go any further! HELP

Just finished this and loved it, I thought it was beautiful and horrifying.

That Church looks like the snake handlers Church. There are several docs on KZread about them.

McCarthy doesn't compromise his dark belief which is why i love reading his worldview.

Love this book Never gonna read it again

Things exist.

James Franco completely missed the humor in this book. Glad his film adaptation of William Gay’s “The Long Home” hasn’t seen the light of day.

Cliff have you read The Border Trilogy yet? The Crossing is quite widely considered his greatest novel outside of Blood Meridian.

he did come late to fame - back then the intellectual establishment didnt care for those stories, it´s "funny" what the Zeitgeist can do to the most talented ones...

Please read the border trilogy!!!

rest in peace, king of kings. cormac was the last real one

One of Cormac's most sickening books with great writing.

how timely. rip

Cormac would call you an annoying f slur if he ever had the misfortune of seeing this review

Oooh, so excited to hear what you think of this book. This book is GREAT.

First comment 🙋🏻‍♀️

Gotta say, as much as I love McCarthy, I'm not much of a fan of this book. I found it nasty, exploitative, and shallow compared to most of his other works. It's fine for what it is, but it's way down the list for me when it comes to McCarthy.

The Road is one of his worst books?!?

And with that, the greatest living American author is no longer living. Who is left who could take up this mantel?

@RasmusKarlJensen

Жыл бұрын

Looked it up and Thomas Pynchon is still with us.

This conversation presumes that conventional society is "sane". I believe that there are a lot of reasons to believe the contrary. I don't mean to suggest that Ballard is in any way "normal" but I also believe that many social conventions are equally as irrational, though certainly less bloody, than his.

Kiss kiss

James Franco has good taste of literature but awful take to be the one directing them. He should stay far away.

spoiler warning, dude…

Great again🔥

How can a serial killer be a child of God? All human beings are NOT children of God. Only those who are born again. I was an atheist prior to my new birth. Jesus changed all that. Thank God!

@marcogianesello6083

7 ай бұрын

Seems like the rebirth didn't include a test on the relevant literature, or Jesus would have had to fail you

He's the worst writer to ever trick Americans into thinking he isn't.

does he use punctuation in this book or does he not apparently he doesnt use punctuation must be so much fun to read not annoying at all I wonder what grades he got for his school assignments when his teachers would read what he had written them

@crud420

Жыл бұрын

he uses punctuation he's just anti semicolon

@rcyadav9746

10 ай бұрын

45 in close to 60 in english

RIP Cormac...