THE PASSENGER / STELLA MARIS (McCarthy, 2022)

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While I preferred STELLA MARIS to THE PASSENGER – not saying much, but both characters were far more interesting than those featured in THE PASSENGER, one of them far more interesting than they were in the latter – I couldn't shake my disconnect to, well, everything throughout: I don't mind being lost – in fact, I've always loved being lost in the winding paths of McCarthy's mindpages – but this wasn't that: this was something... less. One of my notes read, "... first time reading McCarthy that I feel like I'm reading his interpretation of someone else's work.”

While both PASSENGER and STELLA showed glimmers of McCarthy at his best, those glimmers were few and far between: I want to believe that I'm wrong about all of the above and that a re-read of both would change my mind and perhaps it would – but I'd prefer to not give it more time than I already have; a stinging disappointment that the return of one of my biggest inspirations was so uninspir/ed/ing.

My complete reading list, from 2013 to the present, lives here.