All 12 Cormac McCarthy books, ranked

1 day ago 5

There are two types of book readers in the world. Those who have not read Cormac McCarthy and think of literature as an escape from the brutal realities of life, and those who’ve read Cormac McCarthy, and are now haunted for the rest of their lives.

McCarthy’s unique prose, often described as sparse and lyrical, combined with his natural aptitude for immersive worldbuilding and nuanced characterization, have turned him into one of the greatest novelists of all time. But, of course, you probably already knew that, so let’s get into the gritty, blood-soaked world of unlikely protagonists and unlikely places, overviewing the man’s bibliography and trying to rank these unforgiving, timeless fictional tales; tales where man and nature collide in their most stripped down form.

**12. Stella Maris (2022)**

I’m somewhat conflicted about putting Stella Maris all the way at the top of this list. To say that every other book Cormac McCarthy has published is better than his final novel in no way implies that Stella Maris isn’t a brilliantly written work. This serves as a companion book to 2022’s The Passenger, which was McCarthy’s penultimate novel before passing. The story follows Alicia Western, a math prodigy, who has to deal with his father’s contributions to the development of the atomic bomb.

What makes Stella Maris further stand out is the novel’s unique structure. The entire book is written in a series of conversations between Alicia and Dr. Cohen, a psychiatrist working at the Stella Maris mental health hospital. Alicia and Cohen discuss many ideas involving humanity and human themes like love, loss, grief, and morality. In a sense, Stella Maris could be compared to a Socratic dialogue, where the protagonists go back and forth discussing deep and profound issues sitting at the summit of this human experience.

**11. The Passenger (2022)**

Cormac McCarthy never shies away from a disturbing premise filled with existential dread, and his second-to-last novel is no exception. The Passenger follows the tale of Bobby Western, the brother of Alicia Western from Stella Maris, as he deals with his father’s haunting contributions to the Manhattan Project and feels guilt about not being able to save her sister Alicia from schizophrenia and eventual suicide a decade ago. Bobby also needs to investigate a submerged airplane off the Gulf Coast, with the discovery of a missing passenger pulling him into a tale of mystery and enigma.

The Passenger perfectly blends noir mystery (which the author excels at) with philosophical musings and themes of existentialism, weaving a profound, dark, and mysterious tapestry for the readers to drown in one of the most experimental novels in McCarthy’s bibliography. I do not doubt that The Passenger will be appreciated as much as some of his other well-known works in the years and the decades to come.

**10. Outer Dark (1968)**

One of Cormac McCarthy’s earlier novels but just as brutal and dark as some of his other well-remembered works, Outer Dark is the story of Culla and Rinthy, a brother and a sister living in an unspecified location and time period engaged in an incestuous relationship. If you think that’s bad, just wait until you read the full premise. Outer Dark essentially begins with Rinthy giving birth to Culla’s child, and the latter leaving that child in the forest because of his shame and guilt. The two then embark on separate journeys. Culla, wracked with sin and guilt, is on his way to find a job across the country, and Rinthy is determined to find her child.

The landscape of Outer Dark is brutal and unforgiving, as if McCarthy intentionally throws the readers into a world devoid of any moral values, where nihilism is the rule of thumb, and the occurrence of anything outside that bubble of inhumanity is the exception that only reinforces the rule, if it occurs at all.

**9. The Orchard Keeper (1965)**

McCarthy’s allusions to the Bible and religion, in general, make up most of his creative psyche (even Outer Dark is named after a passage in the Gospel of Matthew), but his first novel, The Orchard Keeper, doesn’t even attempt to be subtle when it comes to these themes. Taking place in the interwar period, this book revolves around three protagonists: a young boy whose father was murdered, a bootlegger who unwittingly killed him, and the titular orchard keeper living his life as a recluse.

Despite being McCarthy’s first novel, the language bears that unique mark of poetic, sometimes grotesque romanticism, bringing together profound themes like change, alienation, and loss to afflict morally complex characters. McCarthy brings the landscape of rural Tennessee to life in a way that few others can imitate, turning The Orchard Keeper into a timeless read, even if it’s hardly one of his best works.

**8. Suttree (1979)**

Out of all the novels McCarthy has written, Suttree is perhaps his most unique work, often compared to masterpieces like James Joyce’s Ulysses. McCarthy wrote this semi-autobiographical novel over a span of 20 years, so it’s safe to assume that the story felt more personal to him than any of the other books. Suttree tells the story of a well-to-do man who turns his back on his privileged position in society and seeks a life of solitude as a fisherman on the fringes of Knoxville, Tennessee.

If that hardly registers to you as the makings of a decent plot, it’s because Suttree has no real plot. Just like Ulysses, this book’s narrative is all over the place, opting to just follow an episodic, sprawling road that chronicles Suttree’s day-to-day life and discusses his encounters with the odd people that inhabit the frontiers of civilization. Suttree has lyrical prose, rich characters, and many existential themes familiar to McCarthy readers, but perhaps the novel’s most distinguishing quality is its humorous tone, sprinkled in between the grim moments to give you a somewhat balanced experience, especially compared to the rest of McCarthy’s bibliography.

**7. Child of God (1973)**

One of the most important functions of literature as a medium is to cultivate empathy in society. Novels put you in the shoes of other people and give you a window through which to look at their actions, their thoughts and ideals, and their very souls, bared for the minutest glimpse that could result in understanding. That’s the reason why we love tragic heroes. That’s the reason why we can’t help but admire tragic villains. Who knows, perhaps these characters also speak to a part of us deep inside that could very well manifest that potential to be as courageous as that hero or as sinister as that villain.

This is perhaps the most grounded introduction I could give for Child of God. The story of a violent serial killer, an outcast mongrel, who comes to life thanks to McCarthy’s unflinching exploration of the darkness that imbues the human spirit. Abandoned by society, haunted by his own madness, and alienated in every way imaginable, the protagonist in Child of God gives you every reason to hate him, but you’ll still find yourself sympathizing with him, wondering if things would’ve been different had this world been less neglectful of its outliers.

**6. All the Pretty Horses (1992)**

Now, we finally get into the Western/cowboy territory of McCarthy’s bibliography proper. The first book in the so-called Border Trilogy, All the Pretty Horses deals with John Grady Cole, a sixteen-year-old boy who sets out for Mexico in search of purpose after his grandfather dies and his family’s Texas ranch is sold. Grady eventually finds a ranch in Mexico and starts working there, just to fall in love with the daughter of its owner, leading to a forbidden romance amid the brutal backdrop of the American West.

All the Pretty Horses is one of McCarthy’s most acclaimed novels, featuring evocative prose and an adventure-driven narrative full of complex characters. Of course, that’s not to say you can’t expect McCarthy’s conventional brutal realism to permeate every chapter of this story, but all in all, this book is a profound coming-of-age story that reinvents the Western genre and questions its romantic ideals to a large degree.

**5. Cities of the Plain (1998)**

The third book in the Border Trilogy, Cities of the Plain continues to chronicle the adventures of John Grady in the early 1950s as he falls in love with yet another person destined to further thrust his life into danger and violence. Cities of the Plain continues the plotlines already established in All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing, giving you closure to both the story of John from the former and the story of Billy from the latter.

If you want tragic heroism, then reading the Border Trilogy, and specifically Cities of the Plain, is a must. McCarthy’s prose in this conclusive threequel is as poetic and flowery as ever, and though some may criticize it for getting in the way of an immersive reading experience, I find that it works surprisingly well in the context of the narrative and the world he has built.

**4. The Crossing (1994)**

The second book in the Border Trilogy focuses on a completely new character who goes by the name of Billy Parham. The Crossing is a coming-of-age story set in southern New Mexico during the late 1930s, telling the tale of how Billy sets out across the wild landscape to return a captured wolf to its natural habitat. The landscape of the frontier is stark and brutal, with McCarthy using his simple yet lyrical prose to capture the essence of what it feels like to reconnect to the natural world and embrace its inner cruelty.

The character of Billy Parham is one of the most well-developed in McCarthy’s arsenal, and even now, The Crossing remains one of the best books he ever wrote. The other great thing about this middling chapter is that it can be read on its own without the need to delve into the epic tale of John Grady. And who knows? Maybe you’ll love it enough that you’ll pick that book up, too, if only to learn how John and Billy end up together in the third and final novel.

**3. No Country for Old Men (2005)**

Yet another brutal McCarthy story taking place near the Mexico–United States border, No Country for Old Men was originally conceived as a screenplay, which is why the prose and the structure are vastly different from the author’s previous works. The story is about a drug deal gone awry, thrusting the book’s three protagonists into an atmospheric tale full of tension, moral scruples, and twisting character resolutions.

A movie adaption by the Coen brothers came out in 2007 and garnered critical acclaim, often being hailed as one of the best movies of the 21st century. The Coen brothers remained thoroughly faithful to McCarthy’s novel, and they claimed that even the author, who visited their set, liked the movie. No Country for Old Men remains one of McCarthy’s most well-known and popular novels.

**2. The Road (2006)**

Now, we come to the story that perhaps redefined McCarthy for a whole new generation of readers. It’s difficult to talk about The Road and the huge influence it has had on the post-apocalyptic subgenre, if for nothing besides the fact that one wouldn’t even know where to begin. McCarthy’s novel inspired many other tales that mirrored it to one degree or another, even if his unique and stripped-down prose doesn’t necessarily reflect that at first glance.

The story of The Road takes place in a bleak, ruined, and ash-covered landscape. Civilization is in tatters, the natural world is all but a memory, and what remains of society is a collective of stragglers who have turned to vicious violence and cannibalism. Amidst this chaos, we have our main protagonists, a father and his son, who have to journey through this bleak world and survive by clinging to the ragged remains of their humanity.

**1. Blood Meridian (1985)**

Blood Meridian, or, The Evening Redness in the West, is widely regarded by many critics as one of the most profound works of American literature and the revisionist post-modernist Western movement, as well as McCarthy’s magnum opus. In fact, if there ever was a book that had more than a mixed claim to the title of the Great American Novel, it is McCarthy’s Blood Meridian.

The story follows the Kid, a nameless teenage drifter who joins a gang of scalp-hunters hired to kill American Natives in the mid-19th century. Blood Meridian is brutal, unflinching, and terrifyingly grotesque, dealing with themes like violence, human savagery, morality, the mass illusion of civilization, and the death of meaning on the outskirts of order. Blood Meridian is not for the faint of heart, but reading this stark, almost mythic tale will allow you to understand why Cormac McCarthy is one of the greatest novelists of all time.

Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy

Read Entire Article