The Crossing

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Richard Poe

Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

In The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy fulfills the promise of All the Pretty Horses and at the same time gives us a work that is darker and more visionary, a novel with the unstoppable momentum of a classic Western and the elegaic power of a lost American myth.

In the late 1930s, 16-year-old Billy Parham captures a she-wolf that has been marauding his family's ranch. But instead of killing it, he decides to take it back to the mountains of Mexico. With that crossing he begins an arduous and often dreamlike journey into a country where men meet ghosts and violence strikes as suddenly as heat lightning - a world where there is no order "save that which death has put there".

An essential novel by any measure, The Crossing is luminous and appalling, a book that touches, stops, and starts the heart and mind at once.

©1994 Cormac McCarthy (P)2016 Recorded Books

Not my favorite , But still wonderfull

He's the greatest writer I've ever read
And that's an end on it .
Grim , gritty , real and funny .

A tale of a Cowboy on a quest to set things right

Where does The Crossing rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In my top 10. The detail that is given is vivid, clear, and engaging, as Cormac McCarthy is well-known for. I think that this book is a close #2 to my favorite, Blood Meridian.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Crossing?

I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but I must mention that the first part of the book is my favorite and one that made me feel sad, sickened, and full of despair. I was engaged with every word and found it hard to stop listening and wanted to stop at the same time. Heartbreaking is the one word I would use to describe it.

Which scene was your favorite?

My other favorite thing about this book is the geography where the book takes place is where I spent time as a boy in the 1970s, exploring the wilderness of SE Arizona and Mexico. My wish and goal, as a boy then, was to be a cowboy, like Billy. Had I only been born 30 years earlier, perhaps, I would have had an experience remotely like his.

If you could rename The Crossing, what would you call it?

A gripping and powerful story of a young man whose decisions have strong and devastating consequences to him and all around him.

Any additional comments?

Finally, I loved how English and Spanish are intermingled with the dialog. Fortunately, I speak both, so it was a treat. If you don’t speak Spanish, you may find yourself looking up translations often.

Challenging at times

Cormac is a master writer, but this one was a bit of a struggle to get through. I had a hard time staying interested due to many long winded ideological forays from the core plot. There is also a great deal of Spanish conversation and while I understand it on a rudimentary level I don't know enough to understand much of what is said. There is some great writing here but I suppose it is probably more effective to read than listen to.

NOW WE MAY SPEAK OF MADNESS

WHO CAN DREAM OF GOD?
When I bought this book, there was only one review by Charlie Brown. It had me confused, but after listening to the book, I understand. McCarthy is one of by favorite writers and just a couple of days ago a I gave a five star review of The Road. His use of language is astounding and his descriptions, put you right in the story. This story takes many paths and never really sticks with one. The main character does a lot of meandering and stopping and eating with Mexicans. There is a lot of philosophy about God and Religion. In one part their is actually about an hour long sermon. In parts some characters speak Spanish, a lot of Spanish and sometimes it is explained, but lots of times not. McCarthy seems to expect us to have a English to Spanish Dictionary with us. The main character seems likable, but by the time I gave up, I hated him. He seems to have good parents who treat him well and love him, but one day at the age of sixteen, he takes off on a trip to Mexico, for months, without telling his parents. They have no Idea what has happened to him. When I quit it seems he was turning himself and his brother into outlaws. I quit around seven hours in.
ALL TALES ARE ONE
If you had the choice of reading a book in your own voice in your head or given the opportunity of listening to Richard Poe read it, why would you not choose Poe? This guy was born to narrate books.

Chupacabras, Duendes y Putas, Oh Mi

This novel starts out well enough, with teenage brothers setting out into the mountains of Mexico to retrieve the horses stolen from their dad's small ranch (after both he and the boys' mom were murdered). Pretty much everything thereafter I detested almost as thoroughly as I enjoyed ALL THE PRETTY HORSES.

The boys' purpose for the journey deep into the Mexican mountains quickly devolves into a succession of hazy, haphazard jaunts here and there, with various pits stops at which some local ancient hombre would share stew with them so he could stretch out some soporific soliloquy to stymie all senses. After resuming the trip to nowhere in particular, the boys would encounter savagery enough to salt the hide, men who lived like animals and monsters, and women no more than toothless, grotesque objects.

Toward the end I felt like my reading had been hijacked por una Hacienda de Horrores. It's been a couple of weeks since I shelved this book, and I'm still having nightmares.

Best book I've ever read.

This book has become my personal bible. Can't reccomend it enough to everyone I know.

You better know Spanish !!!

ALOT of Spanish dialogue with no interpretation. Slowin places . Book could have been way shorter. Cormac is so smart , sometimes I feel really dumb.. he is something else!

Soul-affirming beauty

An excellent second instalment to the trilogy. New characters, but once again laced with alternating episodes of brutality, and soul-affirming beauty.

Confusing

I had loved Book 1 and was excited to start #2. The book held my interest in the beginning. I guess if I knew Spanish I would have enjoyed the rest of the book. The stories of reflection by the characters pretty well sucked because I didn't understand the majority of what the heck they were talking about. Not sure if I want to move onto book 3.

Need to be a Spanish speaker to enjoy

I was looking forward to enjoying this performance. However, as I progressed through the book, I became increasingly frustrated with the increasing amounts of dialogue which was in Spanish without translation. I finally had to give up about 6 hours into the book. This was after a long session of Spanish only dialogue of which I understood very little. Most frustrating and a waste of a good credit not to mention my time

A little directionless

Great writing but the storyline was a little stream of consciousness and not entirely engaging at times.