Thnx for watching! :)

No Country is brutally good. Many folks say the Judge in BM is the most evil character in modern fiction but I found Anton Cigur (sp)in No Country as bad-like an evil tracking droid you couldn’t escape-chills

Thanks so much! :D Yeah, I know this ranking was probably gonna raise some eyebrows, but I did hope to give sufficient reasoning. :)

Thank you for watching! Yep, showing the world that we Arkansans can in fact read, one video at a time! XD

Thank you! :)

Thnx for watching! :) I knew The Passenger was gonna be #1 after the homecoming sequence when Bobby goes back to his family's farm. That whole section was some of the most moving writing I've ever encountered. I don't think I've ever read a scene of such utter desolation as when he sits down in the woods and says, "Oh baby, I'm sorry. It's all just darkness." 😭😭😭 Blew all his other books out of the water in terms of emotion.

@@TH3F4LC0Nx Agreed 👍 Starting it again tonight. Just finished BM again-listening to Audiobook narrated by Richard Pie while reading. He gives the Kid a definite Clint Eastwood voice that’s so cool. Have much more respect for the Kid on reread. But the Passenger makes me cry just thinking about Bobby

The Passenger was confusing to me. Who was the missing passenger?

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the vid! 😄

Thnx so much! Glad you're enjoying the content! :D

Thank you! :)

Thanks so much! :D

Thnx for watching! :)

Thanks for the list. I need to reread the passenger. I think my second reading may have me agree with you.

Indeed, his was a singular mind. He will be missed. And yeah, No Country for Old Men I've read multiple times myself. Given the times we live in, I find there are certain things in it which resonate quite powerfully with me. If you haven't read The Passenger yet I would highly recommend it. :)

Thnx for watching! Glad you enjoyed it. One Razorback to another. ;)

Glad you're enjoying the content! :)

Have fun! Hope you end up liking his work as much as I did! :)

@@TH3F4LC0Nx Thank you!

Thanks for watching! I knew there would be a lot to disagree with, but I gots to calls it likes I sees it! 😁

There's one place, iirc, when Glanton kills the dogs, they're described as "...dragging themselves along the ground like seals and other things." The "other things" I think is a little silly; like, if you can't think of another thing to liken something to, then you should probably just stop the simile with "seals". 😅 But yeah, whatever quibbles I have with Blood Meridian are just little things like that. It's impeccably plotted, the writing is breathtaking, and I still think about its themes all the time. Definitely his most perfect creation I'd say. 😉

Yeah doing the review of that book right before the ranking sorta blew the surprise. 😂

Glad you found it helpful! :)

One thing I’d recommend is holding off on Falcons top two books. I agree with him that they are McCarthy’s two crowning achievements But it would make sense to build up to them by reading some of his more accessible books like the road or no country for old men or all the pretty horses so that way you can get a stylistic key for what you were about to encounter with blood Meridian. Also this may be a total strain but I’d highly highly recommend saving the passenger for when you’ve read at least three McCarthys!

@@Joe-ol5bq thanks for the tips! I was debating starting with No Country for Old Men or Blood Meridian since I'm a fan of the extreme and violent themes, so I'll probably begin my descent into McCarthy madness with No Country 🤠

Thanks! So many people do seem to respond to that book, but I just think they're overlooking some pretty grievous transgressions that it makes against the tenets of good storytelling. But if nothing else the writing is jaw dropping, so there's that. XD

Ooh, I can't wait to see how you line them up! :D I do hope I'm not the only one out here loving The Passenger this much! XD

Brilliant indeed! 🤓

You're exactly right about Child of God. Like, what even was the point of telling that story when you didn't plan on giving any greater insight into the main character than you did? But that's McCarthy's M.O. by and large; only show what the characters do and rarely if ever what they think. That's why I say character was really his weak spot, and also why No Country for Old Men and The Passenger ended up where they did, because those books were the exception to the rule. :)

Right?! It got slept on so hard, but I really do believe that he went the hardest in The Passenger, even if it occasionally stumbles in its construction. :)

Err, thnx! XD

I have 2 of Ian McEwan's books: Atonement and The Comfort of Strangers. I thought Atonement was a pretty good book, although I didn't quite understand why it's as lauded as it is. The Comfort of Strangers I found intriguing but the characters were so stupid that the tragedy was lessened.

I really need to read The Sunset Limited! But I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who didn't jive with Suttree after all! :D

Have you read Outer Dark yet? It took about 100 pages for me to start getting interested but then it just took off, I consider it one of his most underrated works

@@plaguepandemic5651 Not yet, I’m thinking it’ll be my next McCarthy read after I finish The Crossing.

Yeah I think you got more out of Child of God than I did. 😅

It really does. Not only is Judge Holden strongly, though subtly, correlated with Satan, (albeit more from Milton than from the Bible), there's also such an interesting passage about God speaking more through silence than sound, and such. Part of the reason why I've read that book so many times. 😁

I will most certainly look into it! 😂

I'm itching to read The Sunset Limited! :D

Hope you like Blood Meridian! :)

The best one is where Pip says, "It's pippin' time!" and then pips all over the place. XD

@@TH3F4LC0Nx Yes, that’s the last line in No Country for Old Pips.

I don't think you're missing too much with The Orchard Keeper. Although I must admit to not comprehending how Child of God ranks that highly. 😅

@@TH3F4LC0Nx Some people find Child of God fascinating. Now No Country for Old Men I thought was very weak. You mentioned it was originally a screenplay and I guess that shined through creating in me that sense of dissatisfaction.

@@anotherbibliophilereads Writing-wise, yes, I would concur that it's probably his weakest.

Most people probably wouldn't put The Passenger at number 1, but for me it just hit right. We're talking about Marianas Trench levels of depth, a bone-deep, aching emotional poignancy, and a clarity of character which is unusual for McCarthy. He threw in *a lot* and it kinda staggers under the weight at times, but still, to me it tops Blood Meridian. :)

@@TH3F4LC0Nx Thanks, sounds like its definitely worth the read

Nice! Although I do think The Passenger's gotta go in S tier. XD

@@TH3F4LC0Nx I'm looking forward to reading it! I've had it here for more than a year ... but for personal reasons, it's been too painful to get into it at this point, which hasn't been helped by the fact that he died. I'm going to read it, but I need to get there (again)... Otherwise, I've read pretty much everything, including the dramatic texts as well as Whales and Men. ;-)

@@patternsofdisorder1695 Hope you enjoy it! I really think it's like a capstone for his career. He went out on top, imo.

The narrator exhorts us at one point to remember that the main character is "a child of God, much like yourself perhaps." The point being that as depraved as he becomes, he's still a human being, and thus not too far removed from anyone else.

I really wanted to like it, but damn it just went over the same ground so many times, and the main character had so little depth. Felt more like a writing exercise to me, but I do understand that it has a certain grimy charm to it that I think a lot of people appreciate. :)

It really is like a catalogue of failure and heartbreak. Silly me thought it was gonna be some kind of "boy and his wolf" story, and oh how I was wrong. XD When the wolf died was rough, but for me it's the ending that really brought the devastation. :(

I can understand that. 🙂

You're not the only one, I'll wager. I wanted to like that book, but damn, it just didn't connect with me at all. But hey, to each their own. :)

I tried to balance the narrative with the subtextual elements in regards to how I lined his books up in this video. Usually though I find he didn't really sacrifice one for the other.

@TH3F4LC0Nx While I agree you're not wrong about that, it's definitely the way to attempt such an ambitious ranking. The reason I love Mcarthy so much is I want to be challenged, and the style and narratives always raise so many philosophical questions about literally everything that every single story just feels like a starting conduit into my own mind and souls unravelment that overshadows the narratives (though still always engaging)... But this was a well made awesome video bro... and I think It was the only video on KZfaq I could find to even attempt such an ambitious ranking.

@@joshua3367 Thnx! :)

Well, I suppose I can understand that position. And yes, The Passenger and Suttree do resemble each other in certain ways, but I liked The Passenger infinitely more because the story had much more weight to it, both emotionally and intellectually, I thought. I can understand not liking it - a lot of people seemed to not have - but I do think it'll have its time eventually.

Suttree last? So much more interesting than say The Road for example.

Hard agree. I might have liked Suttree more if it hadn't been so long. And since the story basically just goes over the same ground repeatedly, I'd say it for sure could have and should have been edited down.

@@TH3F4LC0Nx It did seem odd when it arrived in the mail how large it was. My edition clocked it at nearly 600 pages. For such a meandering novel, I do not see how it needed to be nearly double the length of Blood Meridian.

Yeah, I get that that's what the book was going for, but for me it was too thin. The scene you reference where he gradually worked himself up to stealing the woman's corpse was like the one real scene where I felt like I was witnessing something actually insightful. The total lack of any kind of interior look into the character's thoughts made the book just feel to me like a bunch of random crap. Like reading a well written newspaper.

@@TH3F4LC0Nx I can definitely agree with that, it was far from being my favorite McCarthy novel. At times it felt like he was seeing how far he could push it and still be published. I did love certain parts, like when he calls Lester "a child of God, much like yourself perhaps," these parts definitely hinted at a deeper meaning to the story, almost like a commentary on the common understanding of morality. But yeah, compared to his other works, it's absolutely low on the list. Personally I'd put The Orchard Keeper in last place because it felt really jumbled and confusing to me (although I loved the ending), then Suttree, then Child of God.

I can understand that perspective, but I can assure you I did not place The Passenger where I did because of recency bias. Rather I consider it his best because I think it went the hardest and reached the farthest. It's the most cerebral thing he ever wrote by a pretty good margin, the characters were actually fairly well fleshed out I thought, or at least in comparison to the majority of his previous, and its overall intellectual and emotional impact exceeded that of any of his other books to me. Admittedly it does resemble Suttree in a structural sense, no denying, but the story actually does go somewhere (even if it's not where a lot of readers might have wanted or expected), and the events actually carry real weight. Even though McCarthy is my favorite author, I didn't go into The Passenger with rose tinted glasses. I strove to evaluate it impartially, and it does have flaws, as I believe I mentioned, but I still think what it achieves is beyond any other of his works.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I liked the writing in Child of God, but the story I found rather pointlessly sordid. Its brevity saves it though for me.

I'm down with realistic descriptions, although I sort of wish he had spent more time realistically describing the characters than the scenery. XD

Yeah I knew where I put that one was gonna buck some people. XD

@@TH3F4LC0Nx I think It speaks to the desolate life Suttree lives after leaving his family. Child of God would be too horrifying if we were closer to the mind of the protagonist. Blood Meridian must be #1, without a doubt.

BTW, you did a great job on that video. Very nice!

@@jackwalter5970 Thank you! :)

Yep. I'm a instigator. ;)

Exactly! XD And this way was fine by me! :D

Loud and proud. ;)

Well, I hate that that book put you off his work, but I can definitely understand not liking that book. 😁

Lol, maybe not, but if Suttree gets kicked around by life it's only because he chose to. He voluntarily elected to go live in a houseboat and be unemployed and get beaten up in bar fights. Likewise, none of the characters he associates with make any effort to improve their own lot. Sorry, but I found it hard to sympathize with severely underdeveloped characters who in many ways invite their own misfortunes.

Nah, I don't think my economic circumstances have anything to do with my take on it. Even if I was poor it wouldn't change the fact that the characters are flat and totally opaque and the story could literally be rearranged in any order and not lose anything. Imo Suttree was just a writing exercise for McCarthy to whip out a baker's dozen thesauruses and use the most over the top prose to describe inconsequential mundanity.

Trust me, the ending is quite powerful.

Just being facetious.

@@TH3F4LC0Nx ah. Understood.