Scan barcode
ethaninglis72's review against another edition
5.0
As someone who has had The Border Trilogy by Cormac at the top of my favorite stories in the written word ever told: this may have just topped it. I’ve heard it described as a Southern Gothic take on Joyce’s Ulysses but cannot as of yet personally agree or disagree.
All I can say is that pretty much every plotless section you’re sitting there thinking that CM can’t top his prose or the power in that vignette, but then he does. Every time. As far as I’m concerned this is probably his masterpiece. (Need to re-read his Western trilogy and Blood Meridian itself as well as start and finish his swan song duology to be certain.)
Savored the first two thirds over the course of weeks and then devoured the last third in the past two days. Give me some time to sleep and ponder and maybe I’ll wax even further on this and tell you a favorite section if I can. Maybe the closest someone’s come to depicting real life through just words on the page but also with the most hilarious, most depressing, most beautiful, and most grotesque combination of language and scenes ever collected.
All I can say is that pretty much every plotless section you’re sitting there thinking that CM can’t top his prose or the power in that vignette, but then he does. Every time. As far as I’m concerned this is probably his masterpiece. (Need to re-read his Western trilogy and Blood Meridian itself as well as start and finish his swan song duology to be certain.)
Savored the first two thirds over the course of weeks and then devoured the last third in the past two days. Give me some time to sleep and ponder and maybe I’ll wax even further on this and tell you a favorite section if I can. Maybe the closest someone’s come to depicting real life through just words on the page but also with the most hilarious, most depressing, most beautiful, and most grotesque combination of language and scenes ever collected.
yccd's review against another edition
5.0
A prosa antiquada de McCarthy traz um poder imaginativo bastante eficiente para a descrição de uma aparente banalidade cotidiana da trajetória da personagem central, Cornelius Suttree, o homem que abandonou uma vida de regalos para viver à margem (literalmente), em meio a uma série de personagens desafortunados. O livro se estrutura como uma série de pequenos contos rotineiros, sem um começo e sem um final, que evocam a melancolia, a tristeza e a comicidade da simplicidade sufocante do viver com o mínimo de dignidade.
gregorygolz's review against another edition
3.0
I'll say that this was one of the most vocabulary heavy books that I have read. McCarthy has a real talent with words. However, I can't say that I enjoyed reading this book. It was a very real feeling novel about a man living his life. Not planning to recommend this, but still like McCarthy for his other books.
sixnelizabeth's review against another edition
dark
slow-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
4.0
tmackell's review against another edition
5.0
I remember struggling to get into this the first time I tried to read it like last year because it does start off pretty heavy with the poetic and esoteric language, but it really is a beautiful way to insert you into this story of almost wild and kind of random mundanity. or at least the core habits and features of this life Suttree has chosen may be mundane but the pacing and the encounters and situations he gets himself into are constantly entertaining and funny and tragic and beautiful often all at the same time. the workhouse section towards the beginning is so good and it just doesn't stop being entertaining from there. there are some dips and lulls between set pieces but I love the picaresque sort of form that the story takes and its reflection of the life choices we all make and the meaning of them and the darkness of alcoholism and apathy and how a truly beautiful soul can break through all of that..... sometimes. maybe picaresque is a pretentious and overused word nowadays but it really is such a goated form. for me, Suttree captures a universal aspect of being in your late twenties that transcends the time and place. I'm completely sold that this is his best work next to Blood Meridian and probably even better than that
abbbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
В 2024 году не нужно никому объяснять, почему однажды человек может собрать всю свою жизнь в чемодан, мешок, бросить всё – родной дом, работу, семью, имущество... и уйти в неизвестном направлении.
Как же всё должно заипать, чтобы бросить всё и однажды стать рыбаком и жить в плавучем доме, общаться с бродягами, преступниками, в общем, с людьми, ведущими опасный образ жизни?
Жить не от зарплаты до зарплаты даже, а от улова до улова и от милости торговца рыбой до милости официантки, которая накормит бесплатно?
Именно так поступает главный герой книги, Корнелиус Саттри, в одноимённом романе, который похож то ли на красивую медитацию о жизни на реке среди отбросов, то ли на мрачную и молчаливую долгую мужскую истерику.
На этом пути у Саттри появляется странный и опасный друг Джин Хэррогейт, напоминающий одновременно американского психопата и героя Джима Керри из «Тупой и ещё тупее». Пожалуй, это мой любимый персонаж в книге, несмотря на его явные проблемы с башкой и всем остальным.
Забавно, что у Хэррогейта был реальный прототип, друг самого Кормака Маккарти, Джон Шеддан, который в двух других его романах «Пассажир» и «Стелла Марис», упоминается под своим же именем. И промышляет непонятными и опасными делишками, что в книгах, что в жизни. Городской мыш, что с него взять.
В одной из социальных сетей какой-то мужчина мне написал, что ему «не зашёл» роман «Саттри». Но это и не та литература, что должна «заходить».
Это жизнь на бумаге, такая, какая она есть. Жесткая, нелепая, временами радостная.
Как же всё должно заипать, чтобы бросить всё и однажды стать рыбаком и жить в плавучем доме, общаться с бродягами, преступниками, в общем, с людьми, ведущими опасный образ жизни?
Жить не от зарплаты до зарплаты даже, а от улова до улова и от милости торговца рыбой до милости официантки, которая накормит бесплатно?
Именно так поступает главный герой книги, Корнелиус Саттри, в одноимённом романе, который похож то ли на красивую медитацию о жизни на реке среди отбросов, то ли на мрачную и молчаливую долгую мужскую истерику.
На этом пути у Саттри появляется странный и опасный друг Джин Хэррогейт, напоминающий одновременно американского психопата и героя Джима Керри из «Тупой и ещё тупее». Пожалуй, это мой любимый персонаж в книге, несмотря на его явные проблемы с башкой и всем остальным.
Забавно, что у Хэррогейта был реальный прототип, друг самого Кормака Маккарти, Джон Шеддан, который в двух других его романах «Пассажир» и «Стелла Марис», упоминается под своим же именем. И промышляет непонятными и опасными делишками, что в книгах, что в жизни. Городской мыш, что с него взять.
В одной из социальных сетей какой-то мужчина мне написал, что ему «не зашёл» роман «Саттри». Но это и не та литература, что должна «заходить».
Это жизнь на бумаге, такая, какая она есть. Жесткая, нелепая, временами радостная.
caseyewillis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
ktymick's review against another edition
3.0
3.5? It's Cormac McCarthy, without the dire themes present in his more well-known works. The narrative progression of Cornelius Suttree is as ramshackled as the life he leads, sordid and meandering and inexplicable. Beautiful prose, but I found it hard to connect with.
brandonpytel's review against another edition
4.0
Reluctantly read this as part of a book club but ended up really vibing it. Cormac McCarthy has that signature style that if you can get past the first 50 pages and really get into, you’re nearly always in for a treat (a treat, of course, being a stretch for any McCarthy novel, but you get the point).
Cornelius Suttree is a wanderer in or outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, exiled from his past – of which is only vaguely alluded to in the form of a funeral, one or two references of a wife, and a conversation or two between him and his family members. He finds “home” with the criminals, outcasts, and homeless of rural Tennessee. This uncovered past is part of the mystery of the novel as much as it leads to the reader’s frustration – we can only make guesses as to why Suttree ditched his previous life for one of hoboing and wandering.
But still, as much as Suttree’s good-natured personality gets him in with this lower-tier crowd, so does it make him stand out: something about Suttree is presented different than the rest – he’s attractive, smart, independent – he doesn’t belong there yet he fits in.
In that way, Suttree is given much more agency than his fellow drifters. Whereas those rural bodies sneak by through crime, drinking, comradery, and questionable business ventures, Suttree seems to have the means, if he wished to, to dish the life he’s carved out for himself. Instead, he sinks further into the hauntedness and stagnancy of the place, always returning and living off occasionally selling fish, receiving inheritances, or falling in with the “right” people.
McCarthy doesn’t use a plot to tell this story but rather muses on overarching themes of masculinity, roots and familial ties, home, race, and friendships, the last of which is embodied in the hilarious relationship between Suttree and Harrogate, also referred to as the city mouse, whose notable ventures include poisoning bats, jerry rigging boats out of car hoods, stealing change from phones, and exploring the underground tunnels (very Tom Sawyer-esque, yet strangely doesn’t become much of a plot-point).
Suttree chooses this life, this self-destructive path that he cannot avoid as much as we want him to ascent from, that by the time the novel ends, we can only assume he will revert back to that place he’s not from and only barely belongs, for reasons we will never quite understand. And still, he’s a sympathetic enough character, living around funny enough people, juxtaposed by that gothic, sometimes hellish, Southern prose that is so McCarthy, that the book is worth reading for both entertainment and curiosity, having us root for Suttree while concerned for his wellbeing, regardless of how much of that wellbeing, and descent, is of his own doing.
Cornelius Suttree is a wanderer in or outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, exiled from his past – of which is only vaguely alluded to in the form of a funeral, one or two references of a wife, and a conversation or two between him and his family members. He finds “home” with the criminals, outcasts, and homeless of rural Tennessee. This uncovered past is part of the mystery of the novel as much as it leads to the reader’s frustration – we can only make guesses as to why Suttree ditched his previous life for one of hoboing and wandering.
But still, as much as Suttree’s good-natured personality gets him in with this lower-tier crowd, so does it make him stand out: something about Suttree is presented different than the rest – he’s attractive, smart, independent – he doesn’t belong there yet he fits in.
In that way, Suttree is given much more agency than his fellow drifters. Whereas those rural bodies sneak by through crime, drinking, comradery, and questionable business ventures, Suttree seems to have the means, if he wished to, to dish the life he’s carved out for himself. Instead, he sinks further into the hauntedness and stagnancy of the place, always returning and living off occasionally selling fish, receiving inheritances, or falling in with the “right” people.
McCarthy doesn’t use a plot to tell this story but rather muses on overarching themes of masculinity, roots and familial ties, home, race, and friendships, the last of which is embodied in the hilarious relationship between Suttree and Harrogate, also referred to as the city mouse, whose notable ventures include poisoning bats, jerry rigging boats out of car hoods, stealing change from phones, and exploring the underground tunnels (very Tom Sawyer-esque, yet strangely doesn’t become much of a plot-point).
Suttree chooses this life, this self-destructive path that he cannot avoid as much as we want him to ascent from, that by the time the novel ends, we can only assume he will revert back to that place he’s not from and only barely belongs, for reasons we will never quite understand. And still, he’s a sympathetic enough character, living around funny enough people, juxtaposed by that gothic, sometimes hellish, Southern prose that is so McCarthy, that the book is worth reading for both entertainment and curiosity, having us root for Suttree while concerned for his wellbeing, regardless of how much of that wellbeing, and descent, is of his own doing.