Child of God

I just finished Child of God by Cormac McCarthy - it's a pretty slim book, almost more of a novella.

It was actually written in 1973, I'm not sure exactly where that fits into the overall timeline of McCarthy's writing, but its obviously early. It's not as clear of a narrative, like No Country, it's kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The feeling of dread that builds throughout the book is excruciating - similar to the way I felt about Chigurh.

The writing style is very sparse - the descriptions of nature are poetic, in contrast to the ugliness of some of the action. I don't want to say too much about what happens, but it is truly shocking. The story starts out with the town auctioning off Lester Ballard's property - he has defaulted on payment and the whole town has come out to see it sold, like a carnival. The town is excited and are basically eating up the entertainment of the auctioneer while this man's livelihood is being taken away and he is now homeless.

The bottomless pit of loneliness that this man, Ballard, lives in is deeply sad and hopeless. His desperate attempts to have some kind of connection with other human beings ultimately drives him insane. The cruelty displayed toward him is thoughtless, and you can actually see what drives him to do what he does.

There are some amusing asides that remind me of the stories that the sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones character) tells in No Country - little nuggets of life in a nothing little town - that are great.

Overall, I think this is a great book - it made me feel an immense amount of compassion for this man - some might think he is a monster, but you see how everything played out, you see what was driving him to that point in his life.