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ShareNot that you need us to. Funny how everything falls by the wayside when you find yourself trapped in a good book? I picked up Cormac McCarthy’s book last night in preparation for an upcoming viewing of the movie, and so far I’ve bypassed breakfast, lunch, a shower, a dog-walk, and very nearly today’s blog update, just to get the thing finished.
It’s enthralling. I’m jumping, sweating, freaking out ... the tension built is out of this world, and the characters are something else again. These are the kinds of people you long to get to know, to understand, to watch how their choices direct them. Every character in this thing carries a distinct fascination, from the weary Sheriff to the sadistic killer right on down to the recovering night clerks at the local motel.
I’m about a hundred pages from the end, and my current thought is—if this is what I’ve dealt with two-thirds of the way in, I don’t know if I can handle the final third. I realise, too, I’m a little behind on this one. The book was praised up and down upon release two years ago, and the film is all over the place,t opping best-of lists the world over. Still, better late than never, I guess.
The word on Cormac McCarthy and No Country for Old Men:
From Business Wire: “No Country for Old Men” Writers Take USC Libraries Scripter, New Prize Honors Steven Zaillian”
From Time Out London, an interview with the Cohens about the film: The Cohen Brothers Interview.
Read a bio of the author that looks at McCarthy’s Roman Catholic upbringing through to his reclusive life today.
New York mag tells here of McCarthy’s ill-fated Oprah appearance discussing his book, The Road.
This Entertainment Weekly interview with Tommy Lee Jones (the star of the film) makes many comparisons between the book and the film. Says Tommy Lee Jones: “I think it comes from the book. I think the book is very funny. You either think it’s funny or you don’t. Ed Tom’s got a pretty good sense of humor. It may be what some people call gallows humor, but it is funny. And he does nothing in the movie that’s not derived directly and faithfully from the book.”
