Reviews

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

camillegourdet's review

5.0

WOW. Brilliant, stunning. Wow

jasonlaw77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jfjordan's review

1.0

This is absolutely the weirdest book I have ever read! It's hard to read because the author's style of writing is to not use quotation marks around dialogue, only minimum other punctuation, including apostrophes (with a few exceptions), and a running dialogue between just two characters, one supposedly insane, and the other a psychiatrist delving into the female protag's sometimes inane thoughts and her life. I continued to read this book until the end thinking that something would explain the reason for the book. But no! Because of the lack of standard English punctuation, the book was only 190 pages, thank goodness!

At least half of the book dwelled on obscure mathematics, which is way beyond almost any layman's understanding (including the psychiatrist in this book), and the author seems to love throwing in obscure words, perhaps to try and prove his intellect. It became annoying.

Cormac McCarthy receives stellar kudos and reviews from some big, important news media outlets, one proclaiming that McCarthy is "nothing less than our greatest living writer." (Give me a good ol' Nora Roberts' mainstream romance/fantasy novel any day!) Anyway, these overrated reviews lead me to believe that the writers of the reviews must've been high on some drug, and not actually high on McCarthy's "talent."

nzagalo's review against another edition

5.0

"Stella Maris" é o segundo volume da obra que Cormac McCarthy lançou em 2022, 16 anos depois do seu último livro, agora com 89 anos. Se no primeiro volume, "O Passageiro", nos introduziu a um mundo denso e complexo de ações humanas para as quais não parecia possuir uma ideia concreta a transmitir, "Stella Maris" é todo o contrário, quase vazio de ação, completamente focado naquilo que tem para dizer, ainda que o faça por meio de alguém em quem não podemos confiar totalmente, pelo diagnóstico de loucura a que está votada. É uma viagem científica realizada por meio de um vertiginoso diálogo entre um terapeuta e uma paciente, 20 anos, que desistiu de fazer o seu doutoramento em matemática para se auto-internar no hospital pisquiátrico Stella Maris.

Texto completo publicado no Virtual Illusion: "O não-consciente de Cormac McCarthy", https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com/2023/03/o-nao-consciente-de-cormac-mccarthy.html

raindye's review against another edition

3.0

The lesson I will take from this is that when you (or Bobby) go to dark places looking for answers, you won’t find them. You may even end up with more questions.

annahf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

lievenvg's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

123erty456's review

challenging informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

adventuring_librarian's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

testinmd's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

1.0

People I wish had died sooner:
Alicia Western, so this book would be shorter.
Cormac McCarthy, so he would not have gotten the chance to write this garbage.