A review by jackson_tarheel
Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

2.0

This reads like a play - each chapter is a scene between the protagonist and her therapist, within the confines of the titular Stella Maris psychiatric hospital. The entirety of the text is dialogue back and forth, but with no character names nor colons, which at times had me slowing down / rereading just to understand which of the characters was speaking a particular line. There is much discussion of the Manhattan Project, of a slew of great mathematicians I’ve never heard of. There is vivid description of suicide. It’s pretty writing, but also V heady.

I think it might be more interesting to see staged than on the page. This was very much on my To-Read list (as a fan of the Road, also of No Country for Old Men)! But it’s not my favorite McCarthy.