Cities of the Plain

The book is a fitting end to the trilogy. McCarthy constantly surprises. In the final battle, the end would have been mean-spirited and dystopian, but with this author somehow you get what you wanted even when it wasn't what you wanted. It isn't L'amour but it isn't an exercise in depravity either. The thing that always saves a McCarthy novel is the fact that it never crosses into depravity - which is strange because Blood Meridian - but even there you don't lose the sense of realism that excludes the contrived depravity that permeates lesser contemporary attempts at the genre. You just can't help but respect McCarthy's work, for it never comes off as as an impostor. The work has such profound authority, a wise cutting eye that can tell you big things in few words. I listened to all three parts of the trilogy. Muller's work on 'Horses' almost beat Poe's in the 'Crossing', but who can deny Poe's greatness? I wish he'd done all three, especially after hearing his work on 'Meridian' and 'Suttree'. 'Meridian' might be the best narration ever done by a mortal. Muller, like mentioned, did a fabulous job on 'Horses', but then we get this one, which just took a while getting used to. I like Muller, but his gravity on the ends of some words and the way he enunciates certain sentences in this one are a bit nervy and a get under your skin. After 'Crossing', where Billy develops a Poe voice, you find yourself longing for that. Muller's Billy sounds a little too old and bewildered like Lacey Rawlins from 'Horses", where in "Crossing', Poe's Billy was more resolute, albeit young and tragic. Something about McCarthy's voice, the finality, the acceptance, the duality, the inevitability, seems perfectly tuned for a Poe over a Muller or a Stechschulte from 'Road". So I might be biased in this review. Not to say I don't appreciate Muller's work. But when a Poe is out there, you feel a little short-changed when you have Muller.

omg. I have been reading daily for 45 years. this is the best book by the best author that will ever walk this planet. I was sad when the book was over