Apostrophe S

My dad let me borrow a hardcover copy of “No Country for Old Men” several months ago, saying that I should read it before the movie came out. So I did, just barely. I finished the novel on Monday and saw the movie on Thursday. When was good, because the novel was still fresh in my mind and I was able to appreciate the careful adaptation of the movie. But before I discuss the movie at length, let me first touch on the book.

I’ll say that I really like McCarthy’s style. I read “The Road” and thought it one of the most original and literary entries in the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of science fiction. The author has a way with dialog (albeit annoyingly sans punctuation) that few authors can boast. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the majority of “No Country’s” story was moved along by dialog.

But I was also slightly disappointed in the overall story. I expected more. The central conflict is resolved barely halfway through the book, and the rest of the pages are devoted to an aging sheriff’s soliloquies on life and personal guilt, with only a little falling action after the climax and a glancing blow of a resolution. Maybe it’s my pulp novel sensibilities talking, but I wanted rewards for the “heroes” in the book and I wanted justice for the villains. But perhaps that is the point. Perhaps rewards and justice just don’t exist in McCarthy’s country.

This whole book/movie combo brought to head a very interesting argument: Whether to read the book first or see the movie first. If one reads the book first, one is more likely to pick apart the movie and be disappointed by even the slightest unfaithfulness to the original. On the other hand, if one sees the movie first, your image and opinions, especially when it comes to your visualization of the characters, will be forever skewed by the actors in the movie. The former choice allows you to use your imagination to bring the book’s story to life before seeing actors portray the same scenes, but will probably result in disappointment to the movie. The latter choice allows you to judge the movie for what it is before reading the novel, and there’s a better chance that you’ll enjoy both that much more.

A lot of it depends on the quality of the adaptation, and “No Country” stands as one of the most well-adapted films I’ve seen in some time. Obviously there are differences, but the main points and dialog are lifted straight from the text.

This book is part of the Open Books project I’m working on.