The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy | Everything You Need to Know Before Reading the Novel

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy is the second installment in The Border Trilogy. The first is All the Pretty Horses. The third novel in the trilogy, Cities of the Plain, is my favorite.

[Fictionalre]

Dude I just finished all the pretty horses and was just about to jump into the crossing and then this video dropped.Perfect timing 😁

[Johanna_reads]

All the Pretty Horses was one of my favorite reads of last year, and I also loved The Crossing! Both stories touched me in very personal ways. That’s so wonderful that you had that masterclass, and I loved the passage you shared. No shortage of powerful quotes in that book or any McCarthy book! Now I’m really looking forward to Cities of the Plain!

[Onche]

I just read The Crossing, one of the best books I've ever read (haven't read Karamazov yet) and my favourite McCarthy
My top 4 would look like The Crossing, The Waves, The Unique and its Property and Moby Dick so far

[maryann]

I was listening to the audio production of The Crossing last night and found myself crying, then sobbing, over when Billy first encounters the wolf.
Incredible.
Liked and subscribed!

[salvadormanzo]

The Pedro Páramo bit was spot on with what I had in mind when reading the first pages of the novel. Juan Rulfo was born just like 20 minutes of where I was born in Mexico, making Pedro Páramo a very personal novel, a sentiment which McCarthy enraptures for me through his work. Thanks for sharing that bit of info, it'll definitely have a special effect when reading The Crossing!

[BootsAndCatsAndBootsAndCats]

You mentioned there was a paragraph that stuck out to you and I KNEW IT. I knew exactly which one, immediately.

[mioselee]

God I love your in-depth reviews! That really made me want to pick up a Cormac McCarthy book. Thank you!

[fleabynight]

It's a special book. That paragraph was nice to hear again. I even bought a T-shirt of The Crossing, it meant so much to me.

[timscimeca]

I'm currently reading The Crossing.
I love it. On on page 47. Billy is talking to the Guero.

[haroldlarwood]

There are aspects of All the pretty horses which have an anglo saxon feel to them, especially towards the end where the central character is dreaming about horses. This stands out to me, because US literature is generally from the perspective of events happening outside of a character whereas in this the character internalises the dream experience - there is subjectivity. He uses this to describe night scenes and the combination of low light, dark and glow of firelight make these scenes vibrant, as if they were characters in their own right. The ethereal delicacy of these descriptions has a Lawrentian feel to them where he plucks something out of routine context and awakens a readers curiosity in a new vision of activity.

[wheelsondirt]

just finished the book, loved the dialog and prose

[M.R-qm]

Did a deep dive into McCarthy's books last year and "The Crossing" was my favorite. It still haunts me - in a good way and I am glad that I read the trilogy in the order it was meant to be read.
Thank you for your insight.

[mirandaschubert]

Did you ever read Blood Meridian? That one is intense. I just started reading the crossing. I read all the pretty horses, like over 20 years ago and barely remember it. I love his writing style and I'm excited for this book. Thanks for the video.

[gharden]

All the pretty horses got me back into reading after years of feeling incapable of it. i was working in the backroom of a charity shop and during a break was browsing through all the books that had been donated and saw a big one - the whole border trilogy. i recognised mccarthy's name because my mom loves the road and i knew of blood meridian and thought, hey, during breaks ill just pick this up and read a bit. ended up buying it for a pound, just over a year ago now. finished all the pretty horses on my flight home and was just, like, completely overtaken that i had been missing out on all the art in words, in putting hours into sitting and doing nothing but reading. have read lots of books since (including blood meridian - jesus christ.) but always read other authors in between mccarthy reads to clean the slate and make sure i was getting in more variety. just finished the crossing a few days ago and i dont know how he did it, it was like one long and calm and horrible and beautiful dream. i'm not a fast reader and i havent read nearly enough books yet but of what ive read, the crossing is my favourite. it's all ive been able to think about! i can't wait to read cities of the plain :))

[saltyandthebeefcracker]

I read the Road when it came out and liked it, but didn't read anything else by Macarthy until recently.
Blood Meridian was so notorious I had to read it.
His style is so odd it took a few pages to get realize what I was reading. It is a real book in every way.
The next book of his I picked up was All the Pretty Horses. Understanding his style I really enjoyed this book, and after reading a few other things I am halfway through The Crossing, and it may be my favorite of Mr. Macarthy.
The first part alone made me love this book and I wondered were could it go from here?

[nikkivenable]

The ending of this book wrecked me in a way no other book has ever come close to doing. Also, I didn’t know this book was inspired by Pedro Paramo(so?). That book is coming to me in the mail in February. Can’t wait!

[Zek-nctr]

Nice hard back edition dude envious a bit

[Hermit_mouse]

Denis Johnson was reading this trilogy when he wrote Train Dreams. Definitely worth a read.

[nosmoker]

If you’re a big fan of McCarthy I’d recommend you a very short novel called Fat City. Its writing style is closer to Hemingway’s than to McCarthy’s but late McCarthy leaned more and more towards Hemingway, especially with No Country and The Road. I’m trying to raise awareness about that novel because it’s so undeservedly overlooked and when it was released it was universally acclaimed by critics. If you liked Hemingway’s story called Fifty Grand, this one’s a treat. On second thought, it’s precisely as if John Williams wrote a story about boxers. None of that Rocky Just dirty, lyrical realism.

Great channel.

[kingsleycasper]

Unrelated to Cormac, I’d love for you to cover more Toni Morrison novels, perhaps the Bluest Eye or Song of Solomon. Additionally, I know this was a special circumstance but I’d love to hear you read key paragraphs from novels in the future, maybe that can be a new part of your format! (Here and there)