The Orchard Keeper
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Product Description
Product Description
‘There isn’t anyone remotely like him in contemporary American literature’ New York Times
Book Description
Set in a small, remote community in rural Tennessee in the years between the two world wars, The Orchard Keeper is an early classic from one of America’s finest and most celebrated authors. It tells of John Wesley Rattner, a young boy, and Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger who, unbeknownst to either of them, has killed the boy’s father. Cormac McCarthy’s debut novel is a magnificent evocation of an American landscape, and of a lost American time. ‘The feeling for the land and seasons is so intense as to be part of the story and there are scenes one will never forget . . . A complicated and evocative exposition of the transience of life’ Harper’s ‘A true American original’ Newsweek
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
McCarthy's first novel addresses themes returned to in later works. Man's relation to nature is a key theme in this work, in which hunting (of animals and of men) is a recurring image, as is the weather. There is also a constant struggle between choice and chance in shaping the lives of the characters in this novel.
The dialogue, humour, beauty, and brutality usually displayed in McCarthy's work is evident here. Not as dense or horrific as something like Blood Meridian but not the best McCarthy novel to start with either, I'd suggest All the Pretty Horses or No Country for Old Men.
The dialogue, humour, beauty, and brutality usually displayed in McCarthy's work is evident here. Not as dense or horrific as something like Blood Meridian but not the best McCarthy novel to start with either, I'd suggest All the Pretty Horses or No Country for Old Men.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This first novel by Cormac McCarthy hooked me with its striking, poetical prose - reminding me of Dylan Thomas but much darker and more uncompromising. Although I have never visited Tennessee, the author conjures it in vivid images of the remote, mountainous landscape, the weather, wildlife and local people living close to the breadline but capable of unexpected acts of kindness. He also captures the rhythm and wry humour of their dialect.
The mainly short scenes shift backwards and forwards in time so that it is often hard to work out who the subjects are, what is happening and why. McCarthy has a gift for creating tension: when the bootlegger Sylder is driving an unwelcome hitch-hiker back to Knoxville you know that it will end in violence. But for the most part the plot is thin, and the author seems mainly interested in describing in minute detail incidents of daily life which he must have observed - the sensation of driving along roads "ferruling through dark forests of owl trees, bat caverns, witch covens"; a boy laying his first traps; an old man's relationship with his dog. On a more dramatic note are the memorable descriptions of the balcony of the Green Fly Inn cracking under the weight of drinkers to crash into the canyon below, or later the old man under gun attack in his shack, for reasons yet to be revealed to the rearder.
The story is very male-dominated - focus on sleazy bars, hunting, seeking vengeance through violence, plus the at times corny rapport between tough men and the young boys they teach to track coons with dogs, and seek to guide with homely wisdom.
Some initial scenes of the sex-or-is-it-rape-in-a-church variety were so distasteful to me that I nearly gave up, but I am glad that I persevered. This book requires the investment of time, the rereading of some of the more original poetic passages, the suspension of any expectations. I came to understand that what happens to the petty criminal Sylder, the boy, John Wesley, who unbeknown to both of them is the son of the man he was forced to kill, and the ancient recluse Alan Ownby who happens to observe some of Sylder's activities, matters less than the power of nature around them.
In short, I would recommend this not for the plot, but as an exercise in astonishing writing.
The mainly short scenes shift backwards and forwards in time so that it is often hard to work out who the subjects are, what is happening and why. McCarthy has a gift for creating tension: when the bootlegger Sylder is driving an unwelcome hitch-hiker back to Knoxville you know that it will end in violence. But for the most part the plot is thin, and the author seems mainly interested in describing in minute detail incidents of daily life which he must have observed - the sensation of driving along roads "ferruling through dark forests of owl trees, bat caverns, witch covens"; a boy laying his first traps; an old man's relationship with his dog. On a more dramatic note are the memorable descriptions of the balcony of the Green Fly Inn cracking under the weight of drinkers to crash into the canyon below, or later the old man under gun attack in his shack, for reasons yet to be revealed to the rearder.
The story is very male-dominated - focus on sleazy bars, hunting, seeking vengeance through violence, plus the at times corny rapport between tough men and the young boys they teach to track coons with dogs, and seek to guide with homely wisdom.
Some initial scenes of the sex-or-is-it-rape-in-a-church variety were so distasteful to me that I nearly gave up, but I am glad that I persevered. This book requires the investment of time, the rereading of some of the more original poetic passages, the suspension of any expectations. I came to understand that what happens to the petty criminal Sylder, the boy, John Wesley, who unbeknown to both of them is the son of the man he was forced to kill, and the ancient recluse Alan Ownby who happens to observe some of Sylder's activities, matters less than the power of nature around them.
In short, I would recommend this not for the plot, but as an exercise in astonishing writing.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I would like to start by commending E, Weech's review above and only write to more or less concur. This is not a good starting point if you are uninitiated to Cormac McCarthy as being his first novel he was still mastering his craft, which is why I am only giving 4 stars as his later work is increasingly brilliant. He writes evocatively of a time in America that although harsh he clearly views with admiration and affection. He is almost poetic in the way he describes places, people and events. He also encompasses the full range of feelings and emotions from love to hate and warmth to utter dejection.
This book reminded me slightly of 'Sutree'(which is allegedly autobiographical)in that it is a sort of conglomerate of tales that are interwoven more by location than any clever or contrived plot twists. I found it utterly absorbing, moving and wonderfully written but one to read after you have been converted. It is fairly short too and I devoured it in a few sittings.
This book reminded me slightly of 'Sutree'(which is allegedly autobiographical)in that it is a sort of conglomerate of tales that are interwoven more by location than any clever or contrived plot twists. I found it utterly absorbing, moving and wonderfully written but one to read after you have been converted. It is fairly short too and I devoured it in a few sittings.
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