The story of Cormac McCarthy is, in many ways, reflective of the American experience and the nation on which he wrote. An indifferent student, McCarthy did not become an avid reader until he served in the U.S. Air Force while stationed in Alaska in 1953. He discovered a talent for writing when he returned to college in 1957, winning two awards for his first short stories. This pushed him to drop out and devote himself to writing full-time, living on a number of grants and fellowships as he traveled the world.
It took some time for Cormac McCarthy to find success and recognition. While his first novel was published in 1965, it was not until the early 1990s that he became sought after. He went on to write two plays, five screenplays and had many of his works adapted into short movies and feature-length films. Despite this, success did not change McCarthy. Indeed, he spent the final years of his life as a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute; a scientific think-tank, where he wrote an exploratory essay on the origins of language, The Kekulé Problem. This was typical of his unconventional nature and the innovation that defined his work.
Best Cormac McCarthy Novels of all time
With Cormac McCarthy having passed in 2023, if is now possible to definitively assess the whole of his oeuvre. Few would dispute his standing as one of the greatest American novelists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. However, there is still considerable debate as to which of his twelve novels might be considered the best.
No Country for Old Men (2005)
On the border between Texas and Mexico, Llewelyn Moss stumbles across the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong. He also comes across a satchel containing $2.4 million dollars. When he takes the money and runs, it sets off a manhunt with the local sheriff and several bounty hunters in pursuit. Foremost among these is a psychopath named Anton Chigurh, who is not so much an antagonist as he is a force of nature.
The novel No Country for Old Men quickly became overshadowed by the 2007 film adaptation by the Coen Brothers. This is understandable, as the movie is widely regarded as their greatest work. It earned multiple awards, including Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. However, while largely faithful to the source material, the movie did make some significant changes from Cormac McCarthy’s novel.
Chief among these is the novel’s focus, with most of the events seen through the eyes of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. The novel also does not develop the character of Anton Chigurh as deeply as the movie. This was reportedly due to the Coen Brothers having a hard time getting a handle on the character as presented in the text. Despite, or perhaps because of this, fans of the novel still consider the nihilistic Anton Chigurh to be the greatest villain Cormac McCarthy ever created.
Suttree (1979)
Written over the course of two decades, Suttree is probably the closest Cormac McCarthy came to writing an autobiographical story. It is notable for being much longer than most of his later novels. Indeed, it is longer than his first three novels combined. It also has a more rambling pacing, which stands out in contrast to his more pointed later novels.
The story, spanning the course of four years in the 1950s, follows Cornelius Suttree. A fisherman who trawls the Tennessee River, Suttree reportedly gave up a life of privilege and abandoned his wife and child for a simpler existence. This involves a series of misadventures and unfortunate romances.
Suttree has been likened to both Joyce’s Ulysses for its structure and Steinbeck’s Cannery Row for its examination of life in lower-class America. However, it also solidified the examination of morality that defined Cormac McCarthy and his work. It is also considered his most humorous work, despite also being grim even by his standards.
The Border Trilogy (1992-1998)
Consisting of All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain, The Border Trilogy comprises a full third of Cormac McCarthy’s novels. The events of the novels take place along the border between the United States and Mexico in the late 1940s and early 1950s. However, their stories do not converge until the final novel.
All the Pretty Horses centers around two friends, John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins. They ride from Texas into Mexico to become cowboys after the death of Grady’s rancher grandfather. The two find work, but are soon accused of wrong-doing, as Grady enters into a doomed romance with their employer’s daughter.
The Crossing centers around hunter Billy Parham and the three crossings he makes across the Mexico/New Mexico border. The reasons for these crossings range from escorting a pregnant wolf to the wild, to finding lost horses and his missing brother. Cities of the Plains finds Billy and Grady working on the same ranch in El Paso. However, they face an uncertain future, even as Grady tries to secure a better life for himself and his new love.
By its very nature, the Border Trilogy has to be considered as a whole. Unfortunately, the general consensus is that Cities of the Plains drags down the first two books . The conclusion largely negates what little hope existed in All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing. Despite this, the first two books are often numbered among the best novels Cormac McCarthy wrote. If nothing else, All the Pretty Horses is notable as the first of his novels to be adapted for film.
The Road (2006)
The story that became The Road was born of two separate brainstorms. During a visit to El Paso with his young son, Cormac McCarthy wondered about the future of the city over the course of a century. He returned to that idea years later, after a conversation with his brother regarding apocalypse scenarios and how quickly most people would turn to cannibalism.
Set somewhere in the United States, The Road centers around a man and a boy after an extinction-level event. The father is suffering from some kind of illness and fears his days are numbered. Despite this, the man still tries to get his son somewhere safe. However, as they journey southward ahead of the cold, it becomes apparent that society as he knew it is collapsing.
The Road is another Cormac McCarthy novel that became overshadowed by a well-received film adaption. Despite this, it is still regarded as one of the best works of post-apocalyptic fiction ever written. Even by the standards of the genre, The Room is bleak, reflecting McCarthy’s generally dim view of humanity. However, The Road also epitomizes McCarthy’s recurring theme of adhering to morality in an immoral world.
Blood Meridian (1985)
Opening in 1847 Tennessee, Blood Meridian centers around a character known only as “The kid.” Running away from home at age 14, the kid heads westward from Tennessee. The novel follows him as he bears witness to multiple atrocities. Most of these are committed by the Glanton gang, who kill innocent farmers and scalp Native Americans. The worst of them, however, is a hairless giant known only as The Judge.
The novel has been described as an anti-Western, presenting an unflinchingly realistic view of life in the Old West. This is no John Wayne movie, with white hatted heroes or saloon girls with hearts of gold. An almost uncountable number of people die horribly over the course of Blood Meridian. Worse yet, they often die for no reason other than to amuse the villains.
What makes this truly horrifying, however, is that McCarthy based the novel on historic record. Indeed, The Judge is inspired by the legendary outlaw Judge Holden. Even without that knowledge, Blood Meridian is easily the most disturbing novel Cormac McCarthy ever wrote.
Blood Meridian was largely overlooked upon its release. However, it was rediscovered after Cormac McCarthy found fame with his later novels. Today, it is widely considered to be his magnum opus and the novel that best expressed his world view.
How we chose the best Cormac McCarthy novels
This feature was formulated based on an analysis of book reviews and literary consensus. However, the popularity of the novels among fans of Cormac McCarthy was also considered. So was whether or not the work had been adapted for other media.
