Your Next (First?) Cormac McCarthy Novel

Reading the mailbag responses from Friday’s issue, I was surprised that some readers had never read anything by McCarthy and asked me for suggestions.

It’s difficult to do that because of how varied his books are in terms of complexity, literary style, and plot points.

Usually, I recommend The Road to readers that have never read McCarthy because the plot is straightforward, the characters are limited, and the size of the book is relatively small. For me, The Road is to McCarthy readers what The Old Man and the Sea is to Hemingway readers.

In any case, if you haven’t read McCarthy, and want to try one of his books, I found this “cheat sheet” by Sophia Nguyen in The Washington Post. Click here.