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.
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.'
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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!).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Whenever I randomly pick up a book from a secondhand store and want a review on it you’ve covered it, Cliff! You’ve been my booktube inspiration since the beginning of my reading career- thanks so much for your work!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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..."
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Too bad you aren't continuing your Film Review Channel, would love to hear your thoughts on Elem Klimov's masterpiece "Come And See"; a film I often compare to McCarthy's writing.
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 :)
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.
@@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..
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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!
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
