No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy · first published 1900
45% recommend50% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Tense, spare crime thriller with vivid prose and Sheriff Bell's reflective monologues; seen as one of McCarthy's more approachable novels and a good entry point, with the book richer than the faithful film.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In his blistering new novel, Cormac McCarthy returns to the Texas-Mexico border, setting of his famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones. One day, a good old boy named Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law--in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell--can contain. As Moss tries to evade
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…and better written. You could also read the last book first ("The Wind Through the Keyhole"); it’s separate from the main story and set somewhere in between, but it’s the final book. > Cormac McCarthy No country for old men? Its probably in my top 5 of all the books (and movies) that I read. A masterpiece. Edit: i realized i mixed the names up. Its not black, its "The Gunslinger". Its translated as black in the german series…
on “Show HN: Opening lines of famous literary works” ↗Hugo and Nebula award winner Ancillary Justice is pretty good, though perhaps not great. Before that I reread No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy is definitely great and I enjoyed it far more this time than when I read it nine years ago. Right now I am rereading Dune for the first time in at least twenty and possibly thirty years…
on “Ask HN: Great nontech book that you read recently?” ↗…been keeping reading lists since ~2015) are mostly important because they have contributed to my inspiration and style as a writer. * The Road - Cormac McCarthy * Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy * No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy * On Writing - Stephen King * 11/22/63 - Stephen King * The Stand - Stephen King * Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson * East of Eden - John Steinbeck * Slouching Towards Bethlehem…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗Highly recommend The Border Trilogy as well as No Country for Old Men. The Coen Brothers did a fantastic job adapting the latter, but it just can't compare to the book.
on “Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper (2019)” ↗I haven't read All the Pretty Horse but No Country for Old Men is in my top 5 favorite books of all time. The movie is great but couldn't really do the book justice. The opening monologue from Sherriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones's character) is just one of many in the…
on “Cormac McCarthy Loves a Good Diner” ↗…students, who were widely smeared. Maybe the real rot of social media is how it erases in peoples' minds the idea that anything could have happened without social media. Here's a quote from the end of No Country for Old Men, because why not it's a great book & film: What you got ain’t nothing new. This country is hard on people. You can’t stop what’s comin’. Ain’t all waitin’ on you. That’s vanity.
on “I Violated a Code of Conduct” ↗…with "The Road" and "Child of God", they are quite accessible and highly thrilling (I also strongly suspect that Patrick Süskind read "Child of God" before he wrote "Perfume: Story of a Murderer"). "No Country For Old Men" is also a great book. A bit more challenging, but a beautiful read: "All the Pretty Horses". "Blood Meridian" is simply in another league and one of the best novels of the past century. It also contains…
on “Early Cormac McCarthy Interviews Rediscovered” ↗…needed to lie down after reading it. Again his detachment from the events happening make it bearable. Worth it IMO. Assuming you haven't read them, I'd recommend digging into All The Pretty Horses or No Country For Old Men. Both are incredible stories that have the same scenes of elemental good vs evil that crops up in McCarthys work over and over again but are less... intense.
on “Cormac McCarthy Explains the Unconscious” ↗McCarthy's "No Country For Old Men" is one of the only books I've ever read, as an adult, that actually made me jump in my chair because a scene was so tense: >He was half way back up the caldera to his truck when something made him stop.…
on “Cormac McCarthy Explains the Unconscious” ↗I came across his work far too late and am catching up, having only read The Road Blood Meridian, and No Country for Old Men so far. I've never read an author who can paint such a vivid picture in my mind with so few words. I wasn't much of a fiction reader prior to picking up his work, and it's certainly reignited a love of…
on “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89” ↗…century. Dickens used historical books as reference, but recreated the mood entirely from imagination. A better primer than anything in the news about Anglo-French relations, learning trust, and sacrifice. No Country for Old Men - Want to understand the current fear of the Mexican border that has so bolstered Trump's popularity, as well as the ramifications of having a country full of veterans who don't have any medical support…
on “Ask HN: What good books have you read in 2016?” ↗I agree. My favorite scene from "No Country for Old Men" is when Sheriff Ed Tom Bell figures out how the killer executes his victim, in the middle of a restaurant conversation with the wife of the hero ("My mind wanders" scene). It struck me as the exact way…
on “Think Less, Think Better” ↗If I were doing a guided intro to McCarthy for someone who hasn't read anything, I'd suggest: 1) Watch "No Country for Old Men" (and optionally read it - it's a very faithful adaptation but you'll get additional character motivation/backstory from the book) 2) All the Pretty Horses - bildungsroman of two teenage boys chasing…
on “Subterranean Treasures: Cormac McCarthy’s late style” ↗No Country for Old Men is both worth watching and reading, it's a rare example where both the movie and the book are near perfect.
on “Subterranean Treasures: Cormac McCarthy’s late style” ↗Read The Border Trilogy first (a coming-of-age story set on the US-Mexico border): * All the Pretty Horses * The Crossing * Cities of the Plain Then Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men.
on “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89” ↗