Rating: 
Summary: toil under the sun
Review: Prior to reading Cormac McCarthy's "SUTTREE" (1979), my only experience with the author was with his highly touted work, "BLOOD MERIDIAN" (1985). Although the latter work is a unique masterpiece ( utilizing a lightning pace and truly spectacular language ) the breadth and easy flow of "SUTTREE" is completely true to its own quirky nature. Oddly enough, given the stomach churning violence and ( apparent ) triumph of evil portrayed in "BLOOD MERIDIAN", McCarthy's earlier novel is actually the more profoundly sad ( and certainly more humorous ) of the two. It is fair to speculate that this work was special to McCarthy since he was drawing a portrait of the town and era in which he grew up ( Knoxville, Tennessee in the 1950's ). Others, who are familiar with the work of William Faulkner ( as I am not ) will be better equipped to discuss whether this "southern" novel bears any major resemblance to the late master from Mississippi. My "take" on "SUTTREE" can only come ( as is natural ) from past literary experiences and, perhaps more importantly, a particular "world view". Although stronger and more learned readers will undoubtedly shed more light on the work, I hope nonetheless that the following thoughts will help others reflect on "SUTTREE" and decide for themselves what it's "all about". After a short and soaring descriptive prelude ( a wasteland grotesquerie ), the novel's namesake Cornelius Suttree is introduced. Appropriately enough, this first glimpse takes place alongside the silent and abused Tennessee River, a Styx-like emblem of eternity running through the mid 20th century "Hades" of Knoxville, where Suttree lives on a rundown houseboat. Suttree's desultory "neutrality" towards existence is mixed with hallucinogenic dreams and flashbacks ( a key "vision" in the wilderness is reminiscent of "Snow" from Thomas Mann's "THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN" ). Seemingly carefree, going about his life in moment-to-moment fashion amidst his derelict companions, Suttree in fact lives completely in his past, haunted by ( among other things ) the memory of his patrician upbringing, failed marriage and a mysteriously significant "other". At times he seems an Old Testament prophet, full of insight and sublimated rage ( a contemporary Qoheleth ), his thoughts and actions reflecting the weary ruminations of a man trapped in hopelessness. Suttree's spiritual quandary is in recognizing that while others in his Knoxville circle seem damned by dint of fate, he himself chooses to live in a kind of purgatory, with the possibility of transcending his lot. As opposed to the mythological archetypes displayed in "BLOOD MERIDIAN", the quirky and entertaining lost souls so sympathetically rendered in "SUTTREE" are all too human. There are several laugh out loud scenes in the book, many focusing on Suttree's oddball friend Gene Harrogate. Though the humor is intertwined with immense sadness, this aspect of McCarthy's style is a delightful surprise. "SUTTREE" is a hard but compassionate glimpse at the tragedy and triumph underlying the human drama (a "story" in which we all play a part). On the basis of the two works with which I'm familiar, Cormac McCarthy writes with both purpose and artistry; surely he deserves his reputation as a modern literary master.
Rating:
Summary: enigmatic and addictive
Review: Suttree has a quiet temperament and a profound sense of gratitude for the world around him. It is a sorrowful book with a tinge of dark humor intertwined within it. It is a book that I will come back to throughout my life, constantly discovering new themes and ideas hidden in the eloquent prose of McCarthy. I am still consumed with the ending.
There are many mystical elements that are left wide open for interpretation. I like that. I do not want to know everything in a book; I want my imagination to run wild with ideas and images. That is a common injustice in our culture, our media\entertainment gives everything to us with no room left to our imagination. I felt that I did not do the author justice by finishing the book in 2 weeks, but I became consumed with the story. The book is very life like. The only struggle for Suttree is to stay afloat in life, there is not an underlying plot line but instead, a life being lived the best way he knows how.
Each sentence is constructed in the best possible way with a fluent rhythm evoking the lifestyle ingrained within Suttree, like colors in an impressionistic painting. It is an amazing journey that McCarthy takes the reader on, as long as the reader is willing to undergo the journey with the meloncholics that Suttree surrounds himself with. Unbelievable! I cannot recommend this book enough.
Rating:
Summary: enigmatic and addictive
Review: Suttree has a quiet temperament and a profound sense of gratitude for the world around him. It is a sorrowful book with a tinge of dark humor intertwined within it. It is a book that I will come back to throughout my life, constantly discovering new themes and ideas hidden in the eloquent prose of McCarthy. I am still consumed with the ending.
There are many mystical elements that are left wide open for interpretation. I like that. I do not want to know everything in a book; I want my imagination to run wild with ideas and images. That is a common injustice in our culture, our media\entertainment gives everything to us with no room left to our imagination. I felt that I did not do the author justice by finishing the book in 2 weeks, but I became consumed with the story. The book is very life like. The only struggle for Suttree is to stay afloat in life, there is not an underlying plot line but instead, a life being lived the best way he knows how.
Each sentence is constructed in the best possible way with a fluent rhythm evoking the lifestyle ingrained within Suttree, like colors in an impressionistic painting. It is an amazing journey that McCarthy takes the reader on, as long as the reader is willing to undergo the journey with the meloncholics that Suttree surrounds himself with. Unbelievable! I cannot recommend this book enough.
Rating:
Summary: Colorful tribute to the strength of human spirit
Review: SUTTREE is an extraordinary book, certainly among Cormac McCarthy's best. McCarthy has a special talent for capturing exactly the right colloquial tone and cadence of dialogue to convince the reader that the story being told is as authentic as the evening news. For me that talent is especially apparent in SUTTREE.Through a series of encounters with the best and worst of desperate people -- kindly, foolish, selfish, and mean, the reader gradually learns more of the events that shaped the life of the principal character- Suttree, along with the emotions that compel him and the values that sustain him. While the story begins and ends with Suttree, McCarthy treats the reader along the way to a highly entertaining tapestry of life set along the raw edge of a working river and rural Tennessee. I found the book passionate, compassionate, laugh-out-loud funny, sobering, violent, and ultimately uplifting. SUTTREE is classic McCarthy and a wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Ugliness
Review: This is a most extraordinary novel, densely packed with dark and dire images, by turns brutal and tender. It is elegant, down and dirty, occasionally shocking and surprisingly funny. I don't know when I have read more beautiful prose describing more debased circumstances than in Suttree. I was introduced to this novel by a close friend who was so slammed by the impact of the first page that she had to put it down for a week just to let it sink in. I have to admit, I re-read the first 3 pages about a dozen times throughout my reading of the novel. They do pack a wallop. Actually, there are several passages in the book that so floored me I had to go back and re-read them. The language of this tale is incredible, carefully wrought, full of fantastic words (keep a dictionary close by.) At times laconic, at times incredibly detailed. And at times so unrelentingly down and out you just have to laugh. Harold Pinter once praised Samuel Beckett saying that he 'leaves no stone unturned, no maggot lonely.' I'd say the same for McCarthy in this novel. Who else could generate so much sympathy for a melon-humping hayseed dork like Gene Harrogate? Or any other of the motley assemblage with whom Suttree inexplicably chooses to fraternize. I don't want to ruin any surprises, so I'll just assure you that Suttree's immersion in debauchery and desolation is not for its own sake. The book has a heart. The book has soul to burn. This is just the best damned novel I've read in years. Maybe ever. Relish it.
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