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Child of God  By  cover art

Child of God

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
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Publisher's summary

In this taut, chilling audiobook, Lester Ballard - a violent, dispossessed man falsely accused of rape - haunts the hill country of East Tennessee when he is released from jail. While telling his story, Cormac McCarthy depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humor, and characteristic lyrical brilliance.

©1973 Cormac McCarthy (P)2012 Recorded Books

What listeners say about Child of God

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Meet Lester

That was freaky as freaky gets and I really liked the story and the telling of it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Stark, and beautifully written, as always.

Cormac is a master, both of writing and of depicting the grit of life in all its horrible beauty and beautiful horror. Narrator's delivery was superb.

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five stars

Wonderful, short, accessible performance of a nightmare horror masterpiece. Southern gothic at its very finest.

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Good but short

Fascinating book, very much in line with other McCarthy books in style and quality. Lester Ballard is... Well what is he? A Child of Hod I suppose.

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Originally Published In 1973

DO NOT READ this book. As an avid lover of horror, a person who loves character studies and someone with a soft spot for novels set in the south, I think this book is a solid work. Necrophilia. Check! Baby murder. Check! Dark comedy. Check! Quick read. Check! I change my mind. DO READ this book.

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Disturbing, but engrossing

Story line is disturbing, but the prose dense & excellent. Narration was perfect. I have listened to several of Cormac McCarthy's books and enjoyed them. I had missed this & happened on it through seeing it on sale.

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the story

liked everything, speaker, story. full of suspense. it reminded me of down home tales, spoken via fire light.

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A remarkable admixture of horror and beauty.

With his short novella, Child of God, Cormac McCarthy again proves his writing worthy of incision in the Western Canon. Like blind Tiriseus, his vision is frighteningly clear and unsparing. He is cursed with sight free of illusions, and shows us the world with spare and exquisite prose.
Hard to take, hard to put down, and definitely not a bedtime story.



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Be there

My favorite author. so love immerse myself in the characters. I think others are better though.

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  • DL
  • 06-23-22

As good McCarthy as it gets

Dark, gritty, violent and brilliant as always. If you’re a McCarthy fan, you won’t be disappointed.

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