My understanding of the construction of the novel is that McCarthy took the novel apart, separated it into two parts, and put it back together. The compelling part is a linear telling of the story of the stolen money and the chase. In this part the writing is restricted to only what can be seen, heard, touched, tasted, smelled - the senses. There are no reflections by the characters, no feelings, no rhetorical questions, and no flashbacks. Essentially all of that has been removed and placed in the other part of the novel, in which the character of the Sheriff addresses the reader. There is no action in this part, only a discussion by the Sheriff in first person of his life as a sheriff and his feelings about what he has observed. The two parts alternate, with the Sheriffs first person musings in italics.
It works, very well. Makes me want to try to imitate it.
Link to Amazon: No Country for Old Men
That accounts for the cinematic clarity and momentum of the story, but what of Chigurh (sp)? Sheriff Bell's narration, in parallel, compliments and deepens the meanings of his actions (or inactions), Chigurh is given, almost compelled, to engage his victims (or would-be victims) in a strange and stilted philosophical dialog. Moss's motivations, other than those obvious ones that drive his actions, remain solely within him.
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