Status
Available
Publication
New York : Vintage Books, 1993.
Description
Fiction. Literature. Cormac McCarthy has won nearly every major literary honor, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Set in Tennessee in the 1960s, this chilling novel sees Lester Ballard become increasingly isolated from society. After taking a deceased woman as a girlfriend, he "saves her" from a fire - and his life spirals into deepening depravity.
Media reviews
But the carefully cold, sour diction of this book--whose hostility toward the reader surpasses even that of the world toward Lester--does not often let us see beyond its nasty "writing" into moments we can see for themselves, rendered. And such moments, authentic though they feel, do not much help
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a novel so lacking in human momentum or point. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member fuzzy_patters
For those unfamiliar with McCarthy's writing, the comparisons to Faulkner are obvious. Both eschew standard punctuation to create a feeling of oral story telling, and both treat their story's settings almost as another character that affects the characters in the story. In Faulkner's novels, this
Child of God centers around Lester Ballard, a deranged, degraded human being who, although created by God like the rest of us, commits some of the worst crimes imaginable and completely loses all human dignity. Yet, McCarthy makes Ballard the protagonist in his story and one gets a sense of a poor man who has lived a hard life that has all culminated in eventual insanity. Ballard goes through everything from watching his father hang himself as a child to being falsely accused of rape. All of which serve to propel him to become the monster that he becomes.
As is typical with McCarthy, the imagery of the book jumps off the page. You can not only picture rural Appalachia in your mind's eye, but you can smell it and feel it, too. This is one of McCarthy's great strengths as a writer, and he is a writer deserving of our admiration for his brilliant skill.
I would not recommend this book to anyone who is squeamish or easily turned off by morally degrading subject matter. The book includes descriptions of things like hanged human bodies and necrophilia. However, it is a remarkable book and nearly as good as some of McCarthy's best works like The Border Trilogy, Blood Meridian, or The Road.
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character is rural Mississippi, while in McCarthy's it is rural Tennessee in his earlier novels and the American southwest in his later novels. Child of God is from his earlier period and takes place in Appalachian Tennessee, where McCarthy grew up.Child of God centers around Lester Ballard, a deranged, degraded human being who, although created by God like the rest of us, commits some of the worst crimes imaginable and completely loses all human dignity. Yet, McCarthy makes Ballard the protagonist in his story and one gets a sense of a poor man who has lived a hard life that has all culminated in eventual insanity. Ballard goes through everything from watching his father hang himself as a child to being falsely accused of rape. All of which serve to propel him to become the monster that he becomes.
As is typical with McCarthy, the imagery of the book jumps off the page. You can not only picture rural Appalachia in your mind's eye, but you can smell it and feel it, too. This is one of McCarthy's great strengths as a writer, and he is a writer deserving of our admiration for his brilliant skill.
I would not recommend this book to anyone who is squeamish or easily turned off by morally degrading subject matter. The book includes descriptions of things like hanged human bodies and necrophilia. However, it is a remarkable book and nearly as good as some of McCarthy's best works like The Border Trilogy, Blood Meridian, or The Road.
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LibraryThing member samfsmith
Draw a line from William Faulkner through the midnight dark of the human soul and at the end of it you will find Cormac McCarthy, picking over the bones of murderer and murdered, like some oracle seeking the truth of the ways of man and god. McCarthy’s god is, at best, indifferent. At worst,
This is the story of Lester Ballard's descent into hell. Ballard is a piece of work, a real child of god. McCarthy tells it in stark and simple prose with black humor. Ballard, with the cunning of all men, learns to take advantage of his situation, preying, like the "Son of Sam" murderer, on lovers parked in cars along lonely mountain roads. In his depravity, Ballard takes advantage of the dead female bodies.
No one can tell stories of this kind better that Cormac McCarthy. After reading it I felt depressed and blue for days, wary that a sadistic god would laugh when I was struck down by some depraved child of god.
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malevolent and sadistic.This is the story of Lester Ballard's descent into hell. Ballard is a piece of work, a real child of god. McCarthy tells it in stark and simple prose with black humor. Ballard, with the cunning of all men, learns to take advantage of his situation, preying, like the "Son of Sam" murderer, on lovers parked in cars along lonely mountain roads. In his depravity, Ballard takes advantage of the dead female bodies.
No one can tell stories of this kind better that Cormac McCarthy. After reading it I felt depressed and blue for days, wary that a sadistic god would laugh when I was struck down by some depraved child of god.
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LibraryThing member jpporter
The book is nasty, brutish and short. Everything Thomas Hobbes could want to show what life in a state of nature would be like. The main character - Lester Ballard - gets my vote for being the most despicable characterization of a human being imaginable; yet, in some way, McCarthy seems to want, at
McCarthy's works tend to be blunt, uncompromising (and frequently unsympathetic) looks at humanity - the sort of stuff one doesn't want to acknowledge - that hit too close to home to be comfortable. He has an eye for precision in his narration that is stark, uneasy, yet - in its own way - quite beautiful.
This may not be a book for everyone, as some parts approach the absolutely disgusting. But if you want to experience real American literature as few other authors dare present it, Child of God may be a masterpiece.
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some level, to create some sense of sympathy for Ballard.McCarthy's works tend to be blunt, uncompromising (and frequently unsympathetic) looks at humanity - the sort of stuff one doesn't want to acknowledge - that hit too close to home to be comfortable. He has an eye for precision in his narration that is stark, uneasy, yet - in its own way - quite beautiful.
This may not be a book for everyone, as some parts approach the absolutely disgusting. But if you want to experience real American literature as few other authors dare present it, Child of God may be a masterpiece.
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LibraryThing member NativeRoses
A community's response to a man's descent into isolation, insanity, murder and necrophilia. This McCarthy stands apart from others i've read in that the focus stays on people's relationships with each other rather than civilization vs. nature. Even so, McCarthy plays with the idea of what
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constitutes natural/unnatural desires. By titling the book, Child of God, we are encouraged to understand the urges of a murderous necrophiliac. Show Less
LibraryThing member technobrarian
This is McCarthy at his southern gothic best.
LibraryThing member donkeytiara
more haunting visions from my literary hero... in the right hands, the ugliness of the human soul can be a beautiful story....or is that vice versa???
LibraryThing member ncnsstnt
Cormac is a freak. Such dark and nasty characters... however, I do think that Thomas Harris might have lifted some ideas for his killer in 'Silence of the Lambs' from the guy in this book.
LibraryThing member goddamn_phony
That kid at school who always had a runny nose and a rash around his mouth from licking his lips, and he smelled funny, and used to eat out of the bin and expose himself to other kids...he grew up and Cormac McCarthy wrote a book about him
LibraryThing member SarahEBear
"Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy. Lester Ballard is a simple minded, country man, with limited intelligence, an over-abundance of rat cunning and a psychopathic violent streak. With his florid descriptions McCarthy allows the reader to see into the mind - what limited functioning there is - of
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this unlikeable individual. What is most frightening is the absence of any real emotion (other than anger) or empathy for or understanding of others. Powerful and disturbing. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dogberryjr
Child of God is a stunning piece of writing. McCarthy quickly settles the reader into deep Appalachia and spins a tale of exclusion, poverty, evil and perversion like none other I've read. It would have been easy for this book to slide into a Stephen King-ish tale of simple macabre, but McCarthy
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manages, through his careful prose, to mingle suspense, horror and deviance into an incredible story. Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
Disturbing and dark, but incredibly engaging. Don't touch this is you've got a weak stomach or can't take taboo subjects, but I'd recommend this one highly. I'd also suggest going into it without much knowledge (if any) of what it's about.
LibraryThing member PaulaCheg
Beautiful language, disturbing plot - but the most disturbing bits are unsaid.
LibraryThing member crazybatcow
It's a very fast read. I think it is typical McCarthy - morbid, dark, easily-read. It is not nearly as good, or as dark as I had expected. The reviews said it involved rape... but it doesn't. The reviews indicated that it's about poverty and etc driving a man to become less than a man and it's not
It's about a crazy man, living an impoverished life in a by-gone era - the poverty didn't necessarily make him crazy - maybe he already was or would have been regardless. And the book is impoverished in empathy - we don't feel sympathy for him because he is portrayed as little more than an animal, just scrabbling up enough to survive. We don't even feel very revolted by his behavior because it's so 'matter of course.' And we don't even get the satisfaction of a just resolution in the end.
All in all, we aren't led to care.
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that either.It's about a crazy man, living an impoverished life in a by-gone era - the poverty didn't necessarily make him crazy - maybe he already was or would have been regardless. And the book is impoverished in empathy - we don't feel sympathy for him because he is portrayed as little more than an animal, just scrabbling up enough to survive. We don't even feel very revolted by his behavior because it's so 'matter of course.' And we don't even get the satisfaction of a just resolution in the end.
All in all, we aren't led to care.
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LibraryThing member poetontheone
This lean slab of prose is a dark and gripping ride along through a man's descent into degradation. McCarthy's sparse writing style is the perfect communicator of the book's lurid subject matter. This story seems to convey the frailty of man, how infelicitous circumstances can lead him to fall into
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moral quicksand if his eyes do not account for his steps. Treading blindly through the mad nettles of life, how easily he can be stripped of that which makes him human at a fundamental level. Show Less
LibraryThing member hampusforev
To call Child of God Cormac-lite might be a bit misleading, it's as dark and twisted as any of his other works, with incest-produced idiot offspring and violent encounters with man's dark nature. But it is an easy read, without being particularly diligent I read this in three days. The prose is
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very good as always, shifting narrative voices and keeping a balanced, stark and poetic language. Cormac sparkles the work with some of his sinister humour and I found myself both grinning and grimacing throughout the novel. What I love about McCarthy's characters is the authors complete unwillingness to resort to any pseudo-psychology or freudian events in the character's past to explain them away. They exist just as is, which pervades them with a mystical profundity without Cormac having to do much, I don't know how he pulls it off really. But to give it more than a four would be too much, it might grow, but it might also fizzle away without leaving much of a mark... Only time can tell. Show Less
LibraryThing member Matt_Sessions
A lean, jet-black character study.
LibraryThing member pessoanongrata
McCarthy takes the grotesque tradition, heads out the back, shoots it with a shotgun and pisses all over its corpse. McCarthy does not flinch, does not turn away from what is awful in our world. He writes what he sees in it and what he sees is Lester Ballard, a child of God much like yourself.
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Depraved and hilarious and perfectly phrased. Masterful. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbsp
Wow, such economy of words. A beautifully written tale of horror.
LibraryThing member 33racoonie
Not for the faint of heart. Violence and deviance. One can not just read this story, McCarthy's writing forces one to experience it.
LibraryThing member icedream
I can't think of the last time I read a book that repulsed me so much while still keeping me absolutely captivated. I'm not the kind of person who wants to rubberneck while passing a car accident but I guess when it comes to reading this McCarthy novel I am doing the literary equivalent.
I can't
It is the story of Lester Ballard; a troubled, uneducated man on the fringe of society at the beginning of the novel. Through the book a series of circumstances occurs that lead Lester deeper into isolation and gross depravity. I mean seriously gross depravity! Yet McCarthy manages to keep Lester, well I can't say sympathetic but somehow almost animalistic, stripped down to base emotions that I found I couldn't bring myself to rise to the level of righteous indignation that his actions deserved.
I love a book that begs for serious discussion and that is what McCarthy has done with this book. With Lester's character I see a repulsive character in his manners and his behavior that by far passes anything close to acceptable human behavior. Yet McCarthy calls him "A child of God much like yourself perhaps" right from the beginning of the book just so that statement would stick with me through out the story and kept me shaking my head no, how could Lester be a child of God?
I can't
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help myself, I think McCarthy's writing is so brilliant in it's simplicity. The descriptiveness of his writing is so vivid that I have a mini-movie going on in my head every time I read his books. Child of God was a horror movie. It is the story of Lester Ballard; a troubled, uneducated man on the fringe of society at the beginning of the novel. Through the book a series of circumstances occurs that lead Lester deeper into isolation and gross depravity. I mean seriously gross depravity! Yet McCarthy manages to keep Lester, well I can't say sympathetic but somehow almost animalistic, stripped down to base emotions that I found I couldn't bring myself to rise to the level of righteous indignation that his actions deserved.
I love a book that begs for serious discussion and that is what McCarthy has done with this book. With Lester's character I see a repulsive character in his manners and his behavior that by far passes anything close to acceptable human behavior. Yet McCarthy calls him "A child of God much like yourself perhaps" right from the beginning of the book just so that statement would stick with me through out the story and kept me shaking my head no, how could Lester be a child of God?
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LibraryThing member hemlokgang
Clearly one of the great writers of our generation! Meet Lester Ballard of east Tennessee....ignorant, impulsive, impoverished, isolated, emotionally needy, and....innocent....primitive predator.....and child of god? I think Lester is McCarthy's everyman. It is painful to follow his tracks in this
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story, primarily because he acts out all that is uncivilized, unsocialized, and dark about being human. Not easy to read because Lester is not easy to love, yet I loved the character and the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member LibraryCin
This story follows Lester Ballard. He seems abusive to people and rapes women (girls?). (Although apparently I missed the part where he was “falsely” accused, as it says in the description of the book. Falsely? Really? I thought he had... Apparently this was a part I skimmed?)
This was... very
This was... very
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odd. The chapters are very short and the entire book is short, so it was – at least – fast to read, but – at least for speed – it also helped that I skimmed through a good portion of it, though obviously I misunderstood, likely due to my skimming. Show Less
LibraryThing member maryreinert
This is truly a horrifying novel. The subject matter of a crazed killer is not something that I would normally be drawn to, but quite honestly was drawn by the title although I knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park having read "Road" and "No Country for Old Men." For me, this was the
The writing in this book is so gripping. McCarty paints a terrifying picture of Ballard yet without preaching, moralizing, or sympathizing, the reader gets a tiny glimpse of an understanding of what allienation and isolation can cause in an individual and in a society. The scene of Ballard bringing the wounded bird to the pitiful child and the child's reaction is one of the most gripping I have ever read.[The situation was reminiscent of a situation in "Gilead" by Marianne Robinson[[ASIN:031242440X Gilead: A Novel] Likewise, the description of Ballard watching "the diminutive progress of all things in the valley, the gray fields coming up black...Squatting there he let his head drop between his knees and he began to cry." It takes a very skilled writer to believably bring out that thread of humanity in such a deprived character.
This is not a pretty book and certainly not a pleasant read, but one that needs to be read by anyone who questions who is really a child of God.
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best.The writing in this book is so gripping. McCarty paints a terrifying picture of Ballard yet without preaching, moralizing, or sympathizing, the reader gets a tiny glimpse of an understanding of what allienation and isolation can cause in an individual and in a society. The scene of Ballard bringing the wounded bird to the pitiful child and the child's reaction is one of the most gripping I have ever read.[The situation was reminiscent of a situation in "Gilead" by Marianne Robinson[[ASIN:031242440X Gilead: A Novel] Likewise, the description of Ballard watching "the diminutive progress of all things in the valley, the gray fields coming up black...Squatting there he let his head drop between his knees and he began to cry." It takes a very skilled writer to believably bring out that thread of humanity in such a deprived character.
This is not a pretty book and certainly not a pleasant read, but one that needs to be read by anyone who questions who is really a child of God.
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LibraryThing member TanyaTomato
35% into it and I started to suspect that I wouldn't like where it was going. Read the wiki and quit reading the book. Sorry to the author, but the subject matter is not of my interest.
LibraryThing member lanewillson
Reading Cormac McCarthy is often trying to cross a familiar, busy, four way intersection with when the lights aren’t working. There is a mixture of the ordinary daily banal with a sense of surprise and danger. No quotation marks, and other grammar ticks make the reading feel strange and
Ballard, the main character, draws sympathy, and even admiration as a homeless man working to care for himself as best he can. This is quickly followed by revulsion as he violates humanity. The story then seems fueled by the question of whether Ballard is insane or evil. Neither description offers shelter, and in each there is a place where one can see themselves. To my mind this is what makes Child of God so powerful.
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unfamiliar. This sense of never quite feeling comfortable is almost another character in McCarthy’s Child of God.Ballard, the main character, draws sympathy, and even admiration as a homeless man working to care for himself as best he can. This is quickly followed by revulsion as he violates humanity. The story then seems fueled by the question of whether Ballard is insane or evil. Neither description offers shelter, and in each there is a place where one can see themselves. To my mind this is what makes Child of God so powerful.
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Awards
Brooklyn Magazine's Literary United States (Tennessee)