Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?

No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. This is a fast-paced, bloody thriller set in the modern Southwest. It's a very quick read - McCarthy's novel makes for a compelling page-turner - and it's a gritty, violent tale that contains several broad themes.

Llewelyn Moss is a Texan nobody out hunting antelope when he comes across several shot-up trucks out in the middle of nowhere, deserted except for numerous bodies, a big pile of heroin and several million dollars. Moss takes the money and runs; he knows someone will be coming after the lost drugs and money but he doesn't know who, and he doesn't want to find out the hard way.

Anton Chigurh is the ruthless, efficient, psychopathic killer who hunts Moss and leaves countless bodies in his wake. Guilty and innocent alike are dispatched as Chigurh pursues Moss, who while resourceful and determined, is in way over his head.

Sheriff Bell is tasked with finding the man producing all the bodies, the man he knows is after Moss. He is an aging lawman and a genuine good soul - a good husband who praises his own wife and looks out for Moss's, who is in denial about what awaits her and her renegade husband.

It's extremely violent, bloody, disturbing and there is a thematic element throughout of the moral degradation of the present day - Bell constantly reflects on how things used to be in the "good old days," on how he simply cannot cope with the new unrepentant violence and moral corruption that threaten to overrun decent society - there is a thematic trend toward an inevitable approach to apocalypse that goes beyond the plot of the novel.

It's a great read, and I look forward to seeing the new Cohen brothers film version of the book. My only complaint is that McCarthy doesn't use quotation marks. I find this extremely annoying, as I find it adds nothing from either a structural or artistic perspective, actively detracts from the aesthetics of the work, and occasionally causes confusion. I'm sure many will disagree, but I just don't get it. Feels sloppy and affected.

A relatively minor complaint and a matter of personal preference, I suppose. I definitely recommend No Country for Old Men.