tracytcamp's review
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Mental illness, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
christynhoover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I need to reread the conclusion. --Not sure it all comes together for me. I can't tie together the last part of the book with the mysterious aspect of "the missing passenger" at the beginning of the story. --Probably it's me being dense.
I have liked the author's writing style in earlier work that I've read and I like this one too although occasionally the philosophical and scientific arguments were tedious. Still, overall, I found the work thought-provoking about loss, among other things.
I have liked the author's writing style in earlier work that I've read and I like this one too although occasionally the philosophical and scientific arguments were tedious. Still, overall, I found the work thought-provoking about loss, among other things.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Suicide
unboxedjack's review
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I've been thinking on why I liked this book, as perplexing as it is to read. McCarthy's narrative is not really a narrative, from how I see it. Rather, it feels like a selection of asides we're invited to eavesdrop in on, not fully understanding the undertones of dialogue or plot. They're more like a literary academician's version of "The Moth", where not much happens, but we're still dragged along. In a sense, McCarthy is making us the passenger, leaving us with no option but to stay with the story and his characters' navigation of the events unfolding. Well, no: there is the option to DNF, but I think McCarthy reflects on that with the death of the protagonist's sister.
McCarthy's obviously meditating on the mindless and possibly meaningless minutiae of existence here. He seems to propose that we're passengers in life in general, being torn from one life event to the next without much rhyme or reason. The protagonist is thrown around from situation to situation, seemingly without any actual will. If we have no control over our lives, then what is the point? This could be a nihilistic view, but I disagree. McCarthy is offering us an opportunity to be engaged in the passenger role. We can choose to focus on the things outside of our control and despair. We can focus only on the hedonism of living only in the moment. Both those perspectives make us passive passengers in life. To be active is to embrace the dialectic that the mindlessness & meaninglessness can be both a source of pain, but brilliance, too.
McCarthy's obviously meditating on the mindless and possibly meaningless minutiae of existence here. He seems to propose that we're passengers in life in general, being torn from one life event to the next without much rhyme or reason. The protagonist is thrown around from situation to situation, seemingly without any actual will. If we have no control over our lives, then what is the point? This could be a nihilistic view, but I disagree. McCarthy is offering us an opportunity to be engaged in the passenger role. We can choose to focus on the things outside of our control and despair. We can focus only on the hedonism of living only in the moment. Both those perspectives make us passive passengers in life. To be active is to embrace the dialectic that the mindlessness & meaninglessness can be both a source of pain, but brilliance, too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Incest, Dementia, Death of parent, and Self harm
lynnenad's review
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Loved this book but I have no idea what it was about. The characters are great. The dialogue is fabulous. There are some scary events. But nowhere is there a coherent story with a beginning, a middle and an end . Does that matter? Maybe?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Suicide
emmonsannae's review
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Reading this book felt like watching a looped youtube video of an especially grisly car crash at half speed from different angles. I laughed when I realized the central setting is a place called Pass Christian. C.M. asks a lot of questions he doesn’t answer. How are the sins of the past handed down to be weighed? How should we bear up under the weight of our own sin? What does it mean for our protagonist to stumble across a great sin he doesn’t understand and does not choose, and to be consumed because of it? C.M.’s meditations on the legacies of history and self recall Flannery O’Connor’s observation that if the American South is not Christ-centered, it is certainly Christ-haunted. (And yes—there is not a quotation mark to be seen for miles and miles.)
“In their recollections dream and life acquire an oddly merging egality. And I've come to suspect that the ground we walk is less of our choosing than we imagine. And all the while a past we hardly even knew is rolled over into our lives like a dubious investment. The history of these times will be long in the sorting, Squire. But if there is a common keel to our understanding it is that we are flawed. At our core that is what we know.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death of parent, Cursing, Transphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, and Adult/minor relationship
othersociologist's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Incest
travisslater's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Suicide, Self harm, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Miscarriage
davidh12's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Passenger wasn’t at all what I expected. You are onboarded into this world with a mystery surrounding a crashed airplane and a missing passenger, but this plot is mostly abandoned over time. In its place, we follow Bobby Western as he converses with a diverse assortment of people he meets in his travels as he struggles to cope with his personal demons. By the end of his journey I can’t say I fully understood everything McCarthy was trying to say but I FELT it. There are some beautiful and haunting passages in this book I won’t soon forget
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Transphobia, Suicide, and Incest
bethbarron's review
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Woof. I will always be enamored by McCarthy's writing style. No quotations, leaving you to guess (pay attention) who is talking, no apostrophes for "not" contractions, so much vocabulary, so many references.
It's glorious.
However.
This book. It is both bizarre stream of consciousness and conversation and wonderfully heartbreaking depiction of someone struggling with heritage and mental illness (with a big ol' dose of incestuous feelings).
It's. Challenging. Interesting. Oddly compelling.
It's glorious.
However.
This book. It is both bizarre stream of consciousness and conversation and wonderfully heartbreaking depiction of someone struggling with heritage and mental illness (with a big ol' dose of incestuous feelings).
It's. Challenging. Interesting. Oddly compelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death
marywahlmeierbracciano's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, War, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Animal death, Incest, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, and Self harm
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