Bought the FS edition and had a new reason to reread this one. It's hard not to compare and contrast with the movie if you're a fan of that one as well; the editing choices made, what was cut, what was swapped around. The bulk of the story is the same, key scenes almost line for line. But some changes make you wonder, like substituting the hitchhiking teenager for a chance encounter with some woman at a motel, swapping a line declaring his integrity for his wife for a suggestion of impropriety - but on the other hand aging up his 19 year old sweetheart for the movie. Chigurh talks more and you get a few looks inside his mind in the book, which makes him less enigmatic than in the movie. Though a longer explanation of his chance driven ethos does little to dull his alien nature. The conversation of him being purely a force of nature is cut short in the book and the movie by his own chance encounter with mortality. Loose ends are wrapped up in the book that might not need tying up, as to what Chigurh ultimately does, the money, and what becomes of the mexican after the shootout.
Really the big change is how much time is given to Bell to philosophize about his views on how times have changed, and reflecting on his own views of meaning and chance, of his past and losing the battle that never was between him and Chigurh.
As always in McCarthy there's some shadow of a discussion about God lurking in the background, and a little ember of hope, in this book through the fire lit by Bell's father in his dream. In The Road, the fire that's carried by the boy and his father. A dim light in the big darkness of the universe, something to hold against the incomprehensibleness of evil. ( )

Review to follow ( )

Well, I've finished it... and my experience was a bit of a mixed bag. The writing style is distinctive—short, choppy sentences that really fit the gritty vibe of the story. This approach creates a tense atmosphere that draws you in, but I found myself confused quite a bit along the way.

The plot revolves around Llewelyn Moss, who stumbles upon a suitcase full of cash after a drug deal goes wrong. It sounds exciting, but I kept thinking maybe I should've just watched the movie instead. While I appreciate McCarthy's unique style, I’m starting to think this genre might not be my thing.

Overall, I enjoyed the writing and its alignment with the story's themes, but it didn’t completely resonate with me. So, I’m giving it 3 out of 5 stars—a solid read, but not one that left a lasting impression! ( )

When Llewelyn Moss comes across the site of a drug deal gone bad, he takes a gun and a case of money and leaves.

This novel tells the story of what happens next--the different mean looking to recover the money, the sheriff, his wife, the men hiring the men chasing him, his wife, her mother, the motels, the cafes, the innocent bystanders who pass by these situations.

McCarthy's spare writing and somewhat confusing dialogue (it is very easy to lose track of who is speaking), the extreme cartel-related violence in the midst of everyday small towns and people going about honest lives and jobs is masterful. ( )

Just Call It, Friendo
Review of the Vintage eBook edition (orig. November 29, 2007, but updated as of late 2022*) of the Alfred A. Knopf hardcover original (July 19, 2005).

The man looked at Chigurh’s eyes for the first time. Blue as lapis. At once glistening and totally opaque. Like wet stones.
You need to call it, Chigurh said. I cant call it for you. It wouldnt be fair. It wouldnt even be right. Just call it.
I didnt put nothin up.
Yes you did. You’ve been putting it up your whole life. You just didnt know it. You know what the date is on this coin?
No.
It’s nineteen fifty-eight. It’s been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it’s here. And I’m here. And I’ve got my hand over it. And it’s either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it.
I dont know what it is I stand to win.
In the blue light the man’s face was beaded thinly with sweat. He licked his upper lip.
You stand to win everything, Chigurh said. Everything.

I read most of my Cormac McCarthys back in my pre-GR and pre-reviewing days, so when No Country for Old Men popped up as a Kindle Deal of the Day recently I couldn't resist a revisit to highlight some favourite passages and compare it to the more recent viewings of the film that I've also enjoyed.

This ne0-Western saga was as chilling and relentless as ever. Set in 1970, Vietnam War vet Llewelyn Moss makes a bad decision in scooping up a satchel of $2.4 Million in narco-dollars when he comes upon a deal-gone-bad with no survivors in the Texas desert. Both the American and Mexican sides of the cartel send hitmen, bounty hunters and sicarios on the trail of the money which is handily tagged with a location transponder. Among the hunters is the psychopath Anton Chigurh who lives by a code of his own which only allows for the occasional mercy via a coin toss.

See poster at https://is5-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Video113/v4/ba/05/26/ba05263f-6dbb-c7f7...
Promotional poster for the 2007 film adaptation of "No Country for Old Men".

Musing about the downward path of civilization and the amoral world that surrounds him, we listen in on the stream of consciousness asides of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell who tries to save Moss from the fate that awaits him with little chance of success.

Re-reading the book I was reminded of how faithfully the Coen brothers screenplay followed the text, even though they dropped several peripheral characters and scenes. The time jumps and unresolved issues were all there in the book as well and left many of us somewhat lost at our first screenings when the conventional Hollywood 'happy ending' was not provided. Hitman Anton Chigurh was yet another of McCarthy's evocations of immortal evil, even if not quite on the level of Judge Holden in Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West (1985).

Footnote
* The 2022 updated eBook editions include an excerpt from Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger (2022).

Trivia and Links
No Country for Old Men was adapted for film and directed by Joel & Ethan Coen in 2007. It won Academy Awards for the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh) and Best Adapted Screenplay. You can watch a trailer for the film on YouTube here. ( )