Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, fascinating, not for everybody.
Review: "Child of God" is the story of Lester Ballard, outcast, necrophiliac, and psychopath in the Tennessee mountains. I'm sure some people would find this subject matter repellent, but I think the book has just enough of a lyrical quality to keep it from being too distasteful. In the hands of a less talented writer, it could have degenerated into a silly Stephen King-type horror story. In about two hundred pages, Cormac McCarthy creates a powerful and vivid portrait of a twisted individual, one I don't think I'll ever forget. This book is a perfect companion piece to his earlier novel "Outer Dark." (Both of these books would make great movies.)
Rating:
Summary: Not Faulkner Lite
Review: Cormac McCarthy is one of the most accessible of modern authors. This in no way diminishes his accomplishments, as he is adept at so many facets of the writer's art. His prose blends perfectly the spare and the lyrical. His pacing is flawless. The reader is swept up into his cadences, secure in the knowledge that he/she will be expertly guided through the thickets and brambles to the clearing ahead, also assured that there would be no needless detours along the way. We are never overburdened with needless detail. Characters are believable and delineated concretely. The reader's senses are awakened to sensory impressions that are visceral. We "remember" what he describes. <Child of God> is a great example of this master storyteller's art. It is a novel without any hint at artifice. It can be read by virtually anyone. What distinguishes it from equally "accessible" works is that it can be read on so many levels. In other words, it is a work that naturally has broad appeal. It will appeal to those who enjoy reading about disturbed murderers and psychopaths. On the other hand it will hold enormous interest to readers who are thoroughly familiar with the Southern Gothic fiction of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Not to denigrate McCarthy, but on the surface, this work might even be called "Faulkner Lite." McCarthy's acknowledgment to Faulkner in fact occurs in the opening sentence of the novel (which also happens to be the work's longest sentence) < They came like a caravan of carnival folk up through the swales of broomstraw and across the hill in the morning sun, the truck rocking and pitching in the ruts and the musicians on chairs in the truckbed teetering and tuning their instruments, the fat man with the guitar grinning and gesturing to others in a car behind and bending to give a note to the fiddler who turned a fiddlepeg and listened with a wrinkled face. > This alliterative run-on is clearly McCarthy's way of paying homage to the master. Like Faulkner and O'Connor, this novelist peoples his fiction with grotesque, or at the least, exaggerated characters. The Cornelius Suttree of the novel <Suttree > could just as easily be a member of the Sutpen family in Faulkner. And the main character in this work, Lester Ballad, is every bit as amoral and unconcerned with human life as is "The Misfit" in "A Good Man is Hard to Find." In fact, if one were looking for a literary model for Lester Ballad, one should turn to O'Connor before going to Hannibal Lecter. Ballard is a kind of amalgam of The Misfit and Harper Lee's Boo Radley, the "child of God" sequestered away in <To Kill A Mockingbird >. The difference being that whereas Boo Radley was only a scarecrow, Ballard is something far more sinister and malignant. Malignancy, in fact, is what this novel is about essentially. Lester Ballard is a tumor that has been growing and festering within the body of the community. He is a case of "out of sight, out of mind." Because he has been repeatedly shunted off by the insular southern town that McCarthy depicts, he is free in his isolation to let his psychotic mind's tendrils expand and propagate unchecked. McCarthy's underlying message may be that the more we neglect those on the periphery of society, the more we invite evil into our lives. The very title of the book seems to beg the question. It recalls in some respects Christ's warning/appeal that "as you do unto the least of these (God's children), so you do unto me." So in a very large sense, Lester Ballard represents every street-person you pass in San Francisco or New York or wherever you happen to be a member of a larger community. Ballard is in this sense more avenging angel than irredeemable villain. The malignancy is growing in our collective communities, for the most part unseen, but festering, nevertheless. The greater our neglect, the greater the chance for evil rebounding upon us. If you have not read McCarthy, this is a great place to start. You can read this novel in one or two sittings, as it flows so smoothly and uninterruptedly that you will not even notice that he is planting these seeds of inquiry as you are rolling along. Yet after you put the book down, you will no doubt take away a lot more than you noticed in passing.
Rating: 
Summary: SEVIERVILLE in Child of God
Review: I cannot speak to the literary points in the novel though I can say I enjoyed it. In fact, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. However, I think it an interesting setting considering it is set in my hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee! Strangely, the author refers accurately to several persons and events that I've known forever. Mr. Wade's children still live in Sevierville, so do the Whaley and Ogle families. The 1964 flood was over the parking meters and the White Caps were stopped by a real life Clint Eastwood of a Sevier County Sheriff! The opening scene with the auctioner can be based on no other than C.B. McCarter whose trademark saying was "WE SELL THE EARTH." C.B., my grandfather, has never told me of any run-ins with Lester Ballard, the novels main character! THANK GOODNESS! As it turns out Ballard is a murdering necrophiliac. This is where McCarthy takes over and writes his story instead of mirroring persons of the actual community.
Rating:
Summary: Stretches the subject matter of fiction to its limits
Review: I have read sevral of McCarthy's other novels. His best ones stretch something to the limit. In <Blood Meridian> it was violence. Here it is simple depravity and lack of concern for other human beings. Lester Ballard is the ultimate user. Other people exist for him only to meet his needs, even if they are dead. I have never before read a book about necrophilia, and yes, as many of the other reviewers point out, reading this book takes a strong stomach. Yet McCarthy achieves something only the greatest writers can pull off, which is making an unsympathetic character sympathetic. Totally in spite of myself, I found myself cheering Ballard on when he outwits the lynch mob and gets away. The only thing I can imagine more outrageous than this book is a sympathetic portrayal of a child molester. Yet, I believe that this is ultimately a spiritual book. I don't think the title is meant to be ironic. I think we are meant to see that even Lester Ballard really is a child of God.
Rating:
Summary: Stretches the subject matter of fiction to its limits
Review: I have read sevral of McCarthy's other novels. His best ones stretch something to the limit. In it was violence. Here it is simple depravity and lack of concern for other human beings. Lester Ballard is the ultimate user. Other people exist for him only to meet his needs, even if they are dead. I have never before read a book about necrophilia, and yes, as many of the other reviewers point out, reading this book takes a strong stomach. Yet McCarthy achieves something only the greatest writers can pull off, which is making an unsympathetic character sympathetic. Totally in spite of myself, I found myself cheering Ballard on when he outwits the lynch mob and gets away. The only thing I can imagine more outrageous than this book is a sympathetic portrayal of a child molester. Yet, I believe that this is ultimately a spiritual book. I don't think the title is meant to be ironic. I think we are meant to see that even Lester Ballard really is a child of God.
Rating:
Summary: Chicken Soup For The Necrophiliac?s Soul
Review: I read McCarthy's "Blood Meridian", loved it and decided to check out some of his other works. So I picked this up with huge expectations. In the end, I was not disappointed. Now, on with the review:McCarthy seems to have taken bits of the life of Wisconsin killer, Ed Gein, combined them with bit of local (Tennessee) legend and created a very entertaining (albeit twisted) tale. While this work is a little rough-around-the-edges (after about 30 pages that becomes part of its charm), it moves at a very lively pace, and is packed with some of the most disturbing (often done in an oddly humorous way) scenes ever put down on paper. McCarthy has a great sense for rural America. Not that cute, Lake Wobegonish ruralism. This is closer to Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood". It may not be politically correct but Hillbillies are creepy and Lester Ballard, the novel's protagonist, is the creepiest Hillbilly. The great thing about Lester is that he isn't blatantly good or evil, he's just lives from day-to-day not unlike an animal. Animals need to eat, sleep, and mate. Lester eats what he can shoot, sleeps in a shack on an old mattress and mates...well, that's were Lester's problems really manifest themselves. Let's just say that to every problem, there's a solution. My only complaint is that a promising narrative device (using the locals to fill in Lester's past) is dropped early in the book. The final chapters (and, believe me, they are priceless) more than make up for this flaw. So, if you're still wondering rather this book is worth purchasing, let me just quote Lester Ballard and say "Any time you get to feelin' froggy - jump."
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS NOW!
Review: I've noticed that some people don't like CHILD OF GOD as well as the books of McCarthy's Border Trilogy. This is not surprising. McCarthy readers, those who have read all the books, not just the Trilogy, know there is a huge difference in thses works. Without a doubt, BLOOD MERIDIAN is his masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, I like the Border Trilogy books a whole lot, but they are, in actuality, pretty much straight-forward adventure stories. Not so CHILD OF GOD. If more people knew of this book it would have been controversial. It has it all, folks. Murder. Insanity. Necrophilia, even. I dare anyone to say they actually like Ballard. He's twisted and evil and, I'll admit, that's what makes this book so great! McCarthy is able to send many more chills down your spine than any horror writer. Although this may not be the best place to start for the uninitiated, it's not the most unadvisable either. I'd say read the books of the Border Trilogy only after you have consumed all of McCarthy's previous works. Maybe the best place to start would be SUTREE, which I think most would agree is McCarthy's other masterpiece. But, should you not feel like cracking one of those thick volumes, well, just grab hold of CHILD OF GOD and jump on in.
Rating: 
Summary: Peter Smith hardcover WARNING!!!
Review: If you're considering buying the Peter Smith "edition" of this book, note that it is NOT a new "edition" in hardcover but the Vintage International edition rebound in red cloth, with the cover of said trade paperback glued onto the front. It looks like it's been rebound for libraries, is the type of thing that's usually not for sale to the general public (. . .) The book is WELL-REBOUND, and may still be worth it to you Cormac McCarthy diehards out there -- it is for me, and ultimately I'm just gonna keep the copy of it I bought, but it's still quite disappointing. Thought you deserved a warning, hope it came in time. McCarthy's a great writer, of course -- feel a little guilty about the one-star, but it's an issue of the edition, not the book.
Rating:
Summary: the bond of depravity
Review: McCarthy has taken not just the grotesque, but the disgusting, and worked wonders. He points us to our own human depravity through the example of the grendel-like character of Lester Ballard, and by making us care for so lost and lonely a soul. I was horrified not just by Lester and the other characters in the book, but by the realization McCarthy created in me that the line between me and Lester is a thin one, and it may not even exist. If you have a strong stomach I encourage you to read this book, and if you don't, you might want to think about making the sacrifice for the sake of seeing something beautiful and profound in the filth of humanity and reality. -sc
Rating:
Summary: why random violence exists in the world
Review: No one finishes Child of God with an indifferent impression. Usually I'm sad to finish a good book, but I was happy when this one was over. Child of God is not a modern day morality tale but a complex book that produces a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. The pleasure is derived from the beautiful language, language especially effective when used to describe a character. It's the subject matter which made my mind uncomfortable. The details are too real, the subject too macabre for a moral human to enjoy. At times Lester Ballard seems closer to the "sympathetic apes" in the story than to a man with a conscience. The first sentence and last twenty pages alone are worth the purchase price of the book; what comes in between will race your pulse and curdle your stomach. Don't read this on a camping trip in the woods, but read it.
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