I always find McCarthy books very difficult to review for some reason, even though each one has been powerful in their own way and a thoughtful experience. I’ve enjoyed every Cormac McCarthy book I’ve read (The Crossing being my fourth read) and feel like there are some signature McCarthy staples that a reader experiences when venturing forth into one of his novels.
The novel here is aptly named because in The Crossing we have a focus on various journeys of sorts, both literal and figurative, that are experienced namely by our protagonist, Billy Parham. Within the novel, there are a total of three literal crossings, one of which is Billy’s journey into Mexico after capturing a she-wolf that was terrorizing the father’s livestock. Along this path, Billy encounters allies, foes, dangers, and insights into the land.
One of the most notable qualities of McCarthy (alongside the lack of quotations for dialogue) is his stream of conscious dreamlike prose that seems to go in line with the mythical effect of the plot. I felt like I could literally get lost in the prose (I mean, in an effective way). And this adds to the literary experience, as in The Crossing themes such as coming of age, loss of innocence, facing the harsh realities of life. There is a constant prevailing commentary on the human existence that is focus.
This novel has less a linear styled plot but works instead more so as a series of connected episodes or parts that take us to one larger conclusion. Another notable aspect is McCarthy’s distinct ability to use the oral tradition of storytelling as part of both the literal and symbolic journey. In this way, we are given a story within a story, and I think this adds to the mythical, ponderous quality that The Crossing establishes.
This was yet another powerful reading experience from McCarthy, and I look forward to finishing with the last in the Border trilogy, Cities of the Plain.
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Starts strong, and shot through with powerful passages
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2021
"The Crossing" is the third novel I've read by Cormac McCarthy, following "Blood Meridian" and "The Road." It too could have been called the road, as the protagonist is constantly travelling through northern Mexico with some shorter sections in New Mexico.The other two books in the Border Trilogy don't interest me -- it was the story of the wolf that attracted me to this one. The 425-page book is in four parts, and the first part (3-127) is about a young man's trapping a wolf in New Mexico and trying to take it back to the mountains of Mexico. The time is the 1930s, and all the wolves in the Southwest have been killed -- the only ones left are in Mexico. We are given no good explanations for why Billy Parham sets out on this course, other than a vague sense of his sympathy with the wolf, a female, which has cleverly eluded his attempt to trap it for a good long while before he finally succeeds.That is only the first of several harebrained adventures young Billy has in Mexico, which continue through the second, third, and fourth parts. Some also involve his younger brother Boyd. I won't reveal any more of the plot, but it involves a lot of wandering here and there, some violence and the constant threat of violence, lots of horses, and a few dogs. My tone is light, but the book's tone is heavy and dark. Billy runs into several mysterious figures who share with him their bleak and realistic philosophy of life and its lack of meaning and how everything is shaped by death. There is an ejido -- a collective farm -- which is the closest the book comes to describing humans who are egalitarian and kind to one another.There are frequent exchanges between characters in Spanish, so you will need a Spanish-English translator. Thanks to the previous reviewer who mentioned the existence of a list of Spanish phrases in "The Crossing" which someone was kind enough to compile and post online.As with both of the previous McCarthy novels I read, "The Crossing" is very tactile. There is a lot of detail about how the traps work, and horses' saddles, and other details that many writers would leave out. There is also a lot of evocative description of the landscape. And there is periodically a lot of dark philosophy. There is not much in the way of interaction between men and women, though some of what there is features centrally in the plot.After losing steam, the book does finish strong. I don't consider it a masterpiece comparable to "Blood Meridian," but it is another example of McCarthy's uniquely dark American vision.
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2021
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 24, 2022
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 20, 2021
The other two books in the Border Trilogy don't interest me -- it was the story of the wolf that attracted me to this one. The 425-page book is in four parts, and the first part (3-127) is about a young man's trapping a wolf in New Mexico and trying to take it back to the mountains of Mexico. The time is the 1930s, and all the wolves in the Southwest have been killed -- the only ones left are in Mexico. We are given no good explanations for why Billy Parham sets out on this course, other than a vague sense of his sympathy with the wolf, a female, which has cleverly eluded his attempt to trap it for a good long while before he finally succeeds.
That is only the first of several harebrained adventures young Billy has in Mexico, which continue through the second, third, and fourth parts. Some also involve his younger brother Boyd. I won't reveal any more of the plot, but it involves a lot of wandering here and there, some violence and the constant threat of violence, lots of horses, and a few dogs. My tone is light, but the book's tone is heavy and dark. Billy runs into several mysterious figures who share with him their bleak and realistic philosophy of life and its lack of meaning and how everything is shaped by death. There is an ejido -- a collective farm -- which is the closest the book comes to describing humans who are egalitarian and kind to one another.
There are frequent exchanges between characters in Spanish, so you will need a Spanish-English translator. Thanks to the previous reviewer who mentioned the existence of a list of Spanish phrases in "The Crossing" which someone was kind enough to compile and post online.
As with both of the previous McCarthy novels I read, "The Crossing" is very tactile. There is a lot of detail about how the traps work, and horses' saddles, and other details that many writers would leave out. There is also a lot of evocative description of the landscape. And there is periodically a lot of dark philosophy. There is not much in the way of interaction between men and women, though some of what there is features centrally in the plot.
After losing steam, the book does finish strong. I don't consider it a masterpiece comparable to "Blood Meridian," but it is another example of McCarthy's uniquely dark American vision.
Starts strong, and shot through with powerful passages
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 20, 2021
"The Crossing" is the third novel I've read by Cormac McCarthy, following "Blood Meridian" and "The Road." It too could have been called the road, as the protagonist is constantly travelling through northern Mexico with some shorter sections in New Mexico.Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 20, 2021
The other two books in the Border Trilogy don't interest me -- it was the story of the wolf that attracted me to this one. The 425-page book is in four parts, and the first part (3-127) is about a young man's trapping a wolf in New Mexico and trying to take it back to the mountains of Mexico. The time is the 1930s, and all the wolves in the Southwest have been killed -- the only ones left are in Mexico. We are given no good explanations for why Billy Parham sets out on this course, other than a vague sense of his sympathy with the wolf, a female, which has cleverly eluded his attempt to trap it for a good long while before he finally succeeds.
That is only the first of several harebrained adventures young Billy has in Mexico, which continue through the second, third, and fourth parts. Some also involve his younger brother Boyd. I won't reveal any more of the plot, but it involves a lot of wandering here and there, some violence and the constant threat of violence, lots of horses, and a few dogs. My tone is light, but the book's tone is heavy and dark. Billy runs into several mysterious figures who share with him their bleak and realistic philosophy of life and its lack of meaning and how everything is shaped by death. There is an ejido -- a collective farm -- which is the closest the book comes to describing humans who are egalitarian and kind to one another.
There are frequent exchanges between characters in Spanish, so you will need a Spanish-English translator. Thanks to the previous reviewer who mentioned the existence of a list of Spanish phrases in "The Crossing" which someone was kind enough to compile and post online.
As with both of the previous McCarthy novels I read, "The Crossing" is very tactile. There is a lot of detail about how the traps work, and horses' saddles, and other details that many writers would leave out. There is also a lot of evocative description of the landscape. And there is periodically a lot of dark philosophy. There is not much in the way of interaction between men and women, though some of what there is features centrally in the plot.
After losing steam, the book does finish strong. I don't consider it a masterpiece comparable to "Blood Meridian," but it is another example of McCarthy's uniquely dark American vision.
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Jl Adcock
Brilliant and boring in equal measure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 31, 2018
M Harris
Sparse and elegant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 18, 2021
M Harris
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 18, 2021
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TheReader
A western epic and so much more
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 20, 2011
Scribbler
BLEAK, BEAUTIFUL AND BIBLICAL
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 16, 2012joe
Helps if you speak Spanish.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 5, 2020
