No Country for Old Men

Finished No Country for Old Men--strangely dissatisfied with the ending. It felt disconnected. I love the book so much, but I felt that McCarthy's ending was slightly tacked on. In itself, the ending is brilliant and suddenly puts the title of the book into perspective but in relation to the rest of the book, it feels weak and powerless, and like it has lost its heart.

This answers my previous question on why the need for the monologue of the sheriff, it gave the book a kind of balance in the beginning and served as the emotional foundation--but by the end it just felt like ranting of a sad nostalgic old man--nostalgic for a past--perhaps simpler and more decent. It's not that the longing for the decent past was not apparent in the beginning, but it served as a balance to the kind of violence and the high action plot that was unfolding.

When the violence and the plot is gone--all we are left with is the sad old narrator--it actually diminishes its meaning and its impact. Frankly it felt a little too indulgent to me, given how lean the rest of the book has been. It was just unforgiving all the way through the story until it suddenly became a sentimental remonstration on the state of the country--and the sadness of the older generation.

I feel that a whole chunk of that could have been taken and the book would still have been great--but what do I know--afterall, I do not feel the sadness of McCarthy's generation--perhaps the end would have brought tears to my eyes if I was of his time, but who knows. Afterall, I can only read as who I am and McCarthy writes as who he is. But one can't help but see some truth in McCarthy's coments--this is indeed no country for old men, but I don't know if there ever is one anywhere in this world.