Loved the first section, with the wolf. Loved when the brothers were together, great dialogue. Couldn't really be bothered to think through the mysticLoved the first section, with the wolf. Loved when the brothers were together, great dialogue. Couldn't really be bothered to think through the mystic mumbo jumbo except on the most basic, surface level. Sorry Mr McCarthy, not really my thing. Love the stoic deadpan and the action and all the free tortillas....more
Blood Money is really cinematic, surprised this hasn't been adapted into a movie yet. It feels like a spaghetti western. The Longest Day of His Life lBlood Money is really cinematic, surprised this hasn't been adapted into a movie yet. It feels like a spaghetti western. The Longest Day of His Life likewise, though to a lesser extent. Saint with a Six Gun has such a great twist ending, I loved it. Man with the Iron Arm and The Last Shot are both pretty good stories and pro-Union, which I'd always assumed was rare considering the country music penchant for all things Confederate.
Apache Medicine and Red Hell Hits Diablo Cannon I kinda struggled with. Red Hell has some great action and really evocative imagery, but it ends up being a story just about drinking a bunch of Natives under the table. Apache Medicine likewise revolves around tricking a Native. And yet, it's also clear these stories are pushing back against an older form of Western, the cowboys and indians attitude of a John Wayne film. The Apaches are as human and complex as the cavalry officers and outlaws (which is to say, 'somewhat'), and the white heroes in the stories succeed by attempting to understand the differences between their cultures and the Apache's. So I dunno....more
Loved the film of No Country for Old Men and The Counsellor but hated The Road (book and film). Put off further exploring McCarthy for years because oLoved the film of No Country for Old Men and The Counsellor but hated The Road (book and film). Put off further exploring McCarthy for years because of his reputation for being bleak. This is bleak at times but it's also so much more. Glad I read it. The billfold stuff is great comedy, especially how they come back to it once you think it's over. Up there with Tolkien and KSR for using plot as means to trick you into reading about landscape....more
One of the few books I've listened to as an audiobook. It was okay but I don't remember much and I still dislike the concept of audiobooks.One of the few books I've listened to as an audiobook. It was okay but I don't remember much and I still dislike the concept of audiobooks....more
Another from the Dimestore Dostoyevsky about a sheriff who does terrible things in order to stay at his job without having to work, but then near the Another from the Dimestore Dostoyevsky about a sheriff who does terrible things in order to stay at his job without having to work, but then near the end it starts to hit you how just how far he's fallen.
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."...more
Oh hell yes. A forgotten pulp story resurrected in a way that reminds us what was fun about those stories in the first place. Self-contained, which isOh hell yes. A forgotten pulp story resurrected in a way that reminds us what was fun about those stories in the first place. Self-contained, which is something I normally value in a comic but kind of a shame here because every page hints at so many other directions this story could veer off into. Alas.
It's a passion project from Spurrier who resurrected the character from a now public domain series of pulp stories by an unknown author. I was kind of pissed that at least one other studio rushed their own Six-Gun Gorilla into print to take advantage of the name confusion and the character now being in the public domain, but the more I think about it, the more fitting it seems. Feels like that's just part of the pulp spirit. Although it's probably also keeping Spurrier from returning to the character....more
Tracked this down when everyone was on about the comic remake. Incredible concept, but that stilted boy's own style really takes its toll on you afterTracked this down when everyone was on about the comic remake. Incredible concept, but that stilted boy's own style really takes its toll on you after a while....more
The first half of the book is about parents in Montana who try to provide by robbing a bank, and end up in jail. The book quickly shifts to Saskatche The first half of the book is about parents in Montana who try to provide by robbing a bank, and end up in jail. The book quickly shifts to Saskatchewan, where their son has gone to avoid being taken in by the state. He works at a motel for a shady American and there's the sense of looming violence. I love how Ford captures the weird, rundown prairie town, I can't help but recall his descriptions whenever I go on a long drive out here in Alberta. ...more
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