Reading McCarthy's The Passenger

[Orrex]

I’m a huge Cormac McCarthy fan. I’ve read all of his novels multiple times and can quote whole passages from memory, so I was excited to pick up my copy of The Passenger this week.

Cool story, with a salvage diver discovering an anomalous plane wreck. Colorful characters and solid writing as always.

But…

I’m about 103 pages in, and I’d estimate that it’s been about 97 pages of dialogue so far. Good dialogue, to be sure, but for me the real joy of McCarthy’s writing is his epic prose beyond the dialogue, with sweeping action and majestic imagery.

I think I’ve just reached a turning point in the book, so maybe this’ll change, but it’s really not what I was anticipating.

Still, he’s a hell of a writer.

[cilla4progress]

1. Cormac McCarthy?

...

[Orrex]

2. Yes, sorry. Edited to fix.

[cilla4progress]

3. NP -

thanks!

The Road. Ugh. More prescriptive than descriptive/fiction? Seems like could go that way...

[MLAA]

4. One of my favorite writers along with Ernest Gaines.

[Orrex]

5. Ok, I've been a little skeptical up to this point

As noted above, the text seemed too dialogue-heavy and frankly lacking in McCarthy's signature grand style.

Well, a major plot event just occurred, and almost immediately after that I ran into some of the best writing I've ever seen. I was halfway through the segment before I came up for air and said "yeah, that's why I bought it."


Whew. I'm sorry to have doubted the writing!