The Child of God (Picador Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
‘McCarthy is a master stylist, perhaps without equal in American letters’ Village Voice
Book Description
By the author of the critically acclaimed Border Trilogy, Child of God is a taut, chilling novel that plumbs the depths of human degradation. Lester Ballard, a violent, solitary and introverted young backwoodsman dispossessed on his ancestral land, is released from jail and allowed to haunt the hill country of East Tennessee, preying on the population with his strange lusts. McCarthy transforms commonplace brushes with humanity - in homesteads, stores and in the woods - into stunning scenes of the comic and the grotesque, and as the story hurtles toward its unforgettable conclusion, depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humour, and characteristic lyrical brilliance. ‘A powerful and talented writer, able to elicit compassion for his protagonist however terrible his action’ Sunday Times ‘A reading experience so impressive, so “new”, so clearly well made that it seems almost to defy the easy aesthetic categories . . . Accomplished in rare, spare, precise yet poetic prose’ New Republic ‘McCarthy charts the terrible decline of Lester Ballard with passion, tenderness, eloquence, and a humour which, at its best, is attuned perfectly to the bitter wryness of the South’ Times Literary Supplement
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Inured to the ever-promised and never-delivered 'brilliance' and 'shockingly compelling' blurbs of UK crime fiction, I thought I would go in a completely different direction. I read four books by McCarthy, this one, 'Outer Dark', also 'The Orchard Keeper and 'Blood Meridian'. What a revelation! Entirely different and refreshing. Dark, brutal, unforgiving, actually compelling (such an over-used word, and so often applied to books that are about as 'compelling' as the proverbial paint-watching exercise), this was gripping and unputdownable from the very start. It takes a special kind of writer to not only deliver a great story, but also deliver it in language that is very much his/her own, and that makes you stop and view things differently. Can't recommend it highly enough!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There were points in this novel when I felt something akin to sympathy for McCarthys' antagonist - which is a fine achievement by the author considering Ballards' many heinous crimes.
Despite the subject matter - which is hardly light, we're in Ed Gein territory - as the other reviewers have alluded to this is a very easy novel to read as a result of McCarthys' writing.
I came to this novel via some of McCarthys' later work - "No Country for Old Men" and "The Road" - and the clarity of his writing stands up perfectly well in comparison to these two novels.
Despite the subject matter - which is hardly light, we're in Ed Gein territory - as the other reviewers have alluded to this is a very easy novel to read as a result of McCarthys' writing.
I came to this novel via some of McCarthys' later work - "No Country for Old Men" and "The Road" - and the clarity of his writing stands up perfectly well in comparison to these two novels.
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Lester Ballard, the main character in McCarthy's ominous Child of God, is not the most likable guy. He's an antisocial psychopath who lurks around the backwoods scaring and killing innocent people. We are drawn in, however, because despite his horrifying lifestyle we start to walk in his shoes. McCarthy's striking descriptions and perpetually foreboding tone lead us into a tangled world where loneliness leads to murderous extremes, and the woods become the playing ground for our demonical hero. At the end we feel unsettled: we like him.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
McCARTHY hits the spots -if it's your cup of tea!
A story written some 30 years ago by Cormac McCarthy
which includes some graphic and very unpleasant scenes,
hits the spots for those who seem him as a great writer on... Read more
which includes some graphic and very unpleasant scenes,
hits the spots for those who seem him as a great writer on... Read more
Published 6 days ago by Highmark Ltd
An Excellent Book
Typical McArthy - you canno stop reading this - I read it in one session. Very disturbing as are all his books but brilliantly written as always.
Published 2 months ago by D. R. Andrew
McCarthy again
Another thoroughly engaging book from McCarthy. Short, disturbing and challenging. A little lighter than The Road. Read more
Published 18 months ago by D. Bury
Not a paticularly great read
I don't really know how people can say this a great read. Yes, great if mean Cormac's fluent style and descriptions of the scenary and characters. But if anything. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Saul
Short and not very sweet
This is a very short book - at 200 pages it's more in novella territory than anything. Having said that, it tells its story sparsely, with no words wasted. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. OSHAUGHNESSY
Amazing prose, good characters, undecided
Child of God seems more intent on shocking than building a character. Its effectively a third person diary from the protagonist, this isnt a bad thing though, its very easy to... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Oliver Noel Duffy
Drawn to the Rocks.
Cormac McCarthy's stock has risen so much in recent years that he is almost untouchable and any criticism of his work is bound to ruffle a few feathers. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by Bob Salter
a sculpture of words
A sculpture of words about a little sad monster, a horror story that moves the readers beyond any expectation and shows what can happen to people lost beyond the boundaries of... Read more
Published on 24 May 2010 by Rizzo Loris
a fast read
This book is so short and therefore I read it very quickly. I enjoyed the story line so much better than "All the pretty horses". Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2010 by fhiona
Uncomfortable but enthralling
After reading McCarthy's The Road I knew that I wouldn't enjoy any other subject matter he touched on as much but I was still eager to see if his writing style appealed to me. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2010 by M. Emerson
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