With the new Coen brothers’ film No Country for Old Men receiving great reviews, I decided to read this thick slice of Texan Gothic by Cormac McCarthy. A hunter stumbles on a drugs buy gone wrong and decides to abscond with a suitcase full of 2 million dollars. His flight is pursued by a grizzled local sheriff, (played in the movie by Tommy Lee Jones), various criminals from across the Mexican border and, most disturbingly, a hit man whose favourite method of execution is by using a cattle stun gun. Yuck!
At times it reminds me of Elmore Leonard’s Valdez is Coming and Upton Sinclair’s Oil, recently filmed with Daniel Day-Lewis as There will be Blood.
However, the typical Hollywood ending isn’t found here and it will be interesting to see if the Coen brothers have resisted pressures for a conventional finale.
14 February 2008 at 3:30 pm
I thought they pulled the ending off fairly well! Not an easy task given the weight of the book.
6 March 2008 at 7:40 am
Saw the movie and then read the book. Still can’t figure out the plot or the parties involved in the drug deal. The book gives more insight but it is still clouded. Who is Anton(hit man) working for and what was their involvment in the drug deal. The book is very poorly written – almost like a script. Can’t figure out how this author gets such praise.