No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

My previous outing with McCarthy was with "The Road" - a kind of an doomsday novel, where for all the backdrop of hopelessness which runs throughout the novel, "the boy" finds someone to turn to - at least where the reader is concerned - by its end. Not so, with my second outing, "No Country for Old Men". Enter Anton Chigurh, the main antagonist, the very truthful, cold eyed psychopathic assassin ( played by Jarvier Bardem in the movie - for which he won an Academy award ), and he leaves all who crosses his paths, dead. One escapes calling Heads on a toss of a coin, in which he had everything to lose; the second toss caller wasn't so lucky, and had to die only because as per Chigurh's fatalistic ideology her fate was decided. Chigurh is precise, gives new meaning to ruthlessness and will probably be in mind for ever ( and then when I think that this man, Javier Bardem,  is pretty Penelope Cruz's husband ? )  as a testament to the unparalleled evil there is in the world. His matter of fact explanation, imagined to have been delivered g in a clear, unhurried, convincing manner makes the reader almost, patiently await her fate. Here's how:

“He shook his head. 'You're asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do. I have only one way to live. It doesn't allow for special cases. A coin toss perhaps. In this case to small purpose. Most people don't believe that there can be such a person. You see what a problem that must be for them. How to prevail over that which you refuse to acknowledge the existence of. Do you understand? When I came into your life your life was over. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the end. You can say that things could have turned out differently. That there could have been some other way. But what does that mean? They are not some other way. They are this way. You're asking that I second say the world. Do you see?'



'Yes', she said sobbing. 'I do. I truly do.'
'Good', he said. 'That's good. Then he shot her.'”

Yet, this isn't a book about Chigurh, although he makes the most impact. It is about a man, a law officer, a man who's happy to not enforce law unless he has to, found wanting in his trade, accepting defeat, conceding his failure, in a time that he can no longer comprehend. An old man now, he finds the county that he spent his whole life in (except during WWII ), being out of reach and feels that the ground has slipped through his feet. An old man, and it is no longer his country!



The writing style of McCarthy is sparse in emotion, and economical with words, almost given a twist with the Texan patois. Often compared with Hemingway for his style, at least in this novel, he probably surpasses Hemingway for the thriftiness he shows  in using words. It goes in hand in hand with the barren land, where most of these gory incidents takes place.

 In essence these are the two streams in the novel, which made the most impact on me. One, horrific, consistent and disturbing, and the other defeated, hopeless and out of solutions. The book ends on a note where the defeated sheriff retires, with debt to his name - Chigurh, injured but very much alive and undefeated. Hence this is a book bleaker than the "The Road". And while The road suggested some respite at its end, even in an  doomed world, "No Country for Old Men" winds up, leaving the reader with the notion, that the world is too far gone to turn back. And our collective lot is so bad, that we may even be at the mercy of a random coin! But, hey it could be your lucky coin! Don't put it in your pocket with the others, even though its just a coin.