- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Picador; 6 edition (3 Aug 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330341219
- ISBN-13: 978-0330341219
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 231,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Crossing
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
“The evocative prose and bilingual dialogue used by Cormac McCarthy pose a major challenge to any reader – and Brad Pitt, of all people, passes with flying colours, giving a measured, sombre performance”
Irish Times 3/5/97
Product Description
A young boy comes of age in the desolate mountains of the Mexican border
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is impossible to read a single paragraph of Cormac McCarthy's without being struck by the extraordinary power of his authorial voice. He writes with the rhythms of the King James Bible and with same alternate plainness and power. There is a weight to his words that is seldom seen, a heft behind each sentence. It as if his prose were carved in stone.
Into these sentences and paragraphs, onto these words, these stones, McCarthy scatters a cast of men (and fewer women) good and bad. Prophets, kindly, diligent doctors, wise women, sneering, jeering ruffians, petty officials, simple lunatics - all are to be found in these pages. Many of these figures come laden with tales, prophetic or otherwise, of broken churches and broken men, of lost wanderers, of lost heroes.
And McCarthy has heroes of his own, of course, both human and otherwise. The latter heroes are the landscapes of Mexico and the southernmost United States - harshly beautiful, uncompromising, demanding - and the animals that dot them: the she-wolf Billy Parham stalks at the opening of the tale, the horse he rides, the horses belonging to their father that Billy and younger brother Boyd seek to recover from across the border.
Lastly there come Boyd and Billy himself. The former young, impatient, is perhaps the more obviously heroic, a figure who becomes easily worked into song a into legend. The latter, loyal to a fault and beyond, dogged, determined to prove something - if not to the world then to himself - is the river that winds through the novel's stone-graven landscape, sometimes meandering, sometimes threatening to peter out but somehow always passing forward to his unknown, uncomprehended destinations.
Great stuff.
Into these sentences and paragraphs, onto these words, these stones, McCarthy scatters a cast of men (and fewer women) good and bad. Prophets, kindly, diligent doctors, wise women, sneering, jeering ruffians, petty officials, simple lunatics - all are to be found in these pages. Many of these figures come laden with tales, prophetic or otherwise, of broken churches and broken men, of lost wanderers, of lost heroes.
And McCarthy has heroes of his own, of course, both human and otherwise. The latter heroes are the landscapes of Mexico and the southernmost United States - harshly beautiful, uncompromising, demanding - and the animals that dot them: the she-wolf Billy Parham stalks at the opening of the tale, the horse he rides, the horses belonging to their father that Billy and younger brother Boyd seek to recover from across the border.
Lastly there come Boyd and Billy himself. The former young, impatient, is perhaps the more obviously heroic, a figure who becomes easily worked into song a into legend. The latter, loyal to a fault and beyond, dogged, determined to prove something - if not to the world then to himself - is the river that winds through the novel's stone-graven landscape, sometimes meandering, sometimes threatening to peter out but somehow always passing forward to his unknown, uncomprehended destinations.
Great stuff.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Once again Cormac McCarthy has written a novel that defines its time. Where All the Pretty Horses described the West in the years immediately after WW2, The Crossing travels back to the pre-war period where the Old West is in its death throes. The story of Billy Parnham, and the trials visited on him, is breathtaking and moving, climaxing in a violent manner that no-one can predict. The only drawback in the Border Trilogy novels is McCarthy's over use of Spanish dialogue. For non-speakers this can detract from what is otherwise a superlative read. I can't wait to read the last instalment Cities of the Plain. With the first two books of the trilogy McCarthy has taken his place alongside Hemingway as one of the great writers of the American Novel.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Really great book. It's amazing how such spare prose can be so powerful. The absence of artifice makes it really feel as if McCarthy really experienced all the things that he writes about. Tremendous. Must read the next one.
One tiny whinge - my spanish is not good enough to understand all the dialogue that is in Spanish. Couldn't it be translated somehow without ruining the flow?
One tiny whinge - my spanish is not good enough to understand all the dialogue that is in Spanish. Couldn't it be translated somehow without ruining the flow?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
South-Western U.S. language with Spanish words
This is a review of "The Crossing", "Picador Edition", by Cormac McCarthy. My book has a picture of a wolf drinking water on the front cover. Read more
Published 3 months ago by oggy
Gave up halfway through
Boring, got too bogged down, gave it up after what felt like a lifetime getting to about halfway though. Shame as I loved the 1st of the trilogy.
Published 7 months ago by PJ Sturdee
harder, tougher yet brilliant
Much harder going then All the Pretty Horses yet it features some of the best scenes. vistas and sentences you will ever get in fiction. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Daniel Bowman
A western epic and so much more
After reading All The Pretty Horses I was keen to read the next part in the border trilogy. I have to say that McCarthy certainly did not disappoint and I enjoyed reading The... Read more
Published 8 months ago by TheReader
THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN
I thought about that title long and hard before I wrote it. But it is true. The Crossing is the best book ever written. Take my word for it. I'm not even going to talk about it. Read more
Published 12 months ago by paul caven
The Crossing
The Crossing is the 2nd book in Cormac McCarthy's `Border Trilogy' (`All The Pretty Horses' being the 1st & `Cities Of The Plains' being the 3rd), but you don't need to have read... Read more
Published 14 months ago by nebuchanezer
Great Book
A great book. I've read all his books and I'm rereading some of them for the second time. I would have given this purchase five stars however it's
one of several purchased... Read more
one of several purchased... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Christopher J. Rose
Absorbing
Set just before the Second World War, sixteen year old Billy Parham is living with his parents and younger brother on a ranch in New Mexico. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Benjamin
Unlucky Bill's Mexican Adventures
Second of the Border Trilogy, and again with a serious horsey theme. In essence, it's three traumatic trips into Mexico, each followed by a lengthy philosophical monologue from... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by M. Dale
Great writing
This is a bleak but wonderfully written piece of work that draws you into the trials and travels of Billy Parnham. Read more
Published on 21 May 2009 by R. Elliott
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
