The Passenger Box Set: The Passenger, Stella Maris

Cormac McCarthy said that he was aware that in his fiction he had not succeeded in creating a vivid and interesting woman and that, in the twilight of his career, he was going to try to put that right. Boy did he succeed! Alicia Western is funny, immensely articulate, a staggering mathematical genius, vastly well-read, so emotional that she weeps playing a rare violin she has purchased with her inheritance (she eschews a career as a concert violinist that was probably within her reach had math not intervened), and, as her psychiatrist notes, “very attractive.” (Her response when he tells her that is not printable here.) She is also, because she is a Cormac McCarthy character, schizophrenic and suicidal. I’m sure you have characters in fiction you long to sit down with and just talk and talk and talk. Alicia has gone to the front of my list of such characters. "Stella Maris" is a novella that consists entirely of transcripts of interviews between Alicia and her psychiatrist in the eponymous facility for psychiatric patients in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. (Although there is a picture of the facility at the beginning of the novel, there is no such place in Black River Falls. At least one internet sleuth claims to have traced the picture to a facility in Maine: the Maine School for The Feeble Minded.) "Stella Maris" is, essentially, part of the predecessor novel "The Passenger". Knopf chose to publish them separately, but issued this two-book set that I am reviewing. They should be read together, with "The Passenger" first. "The Passenger" starts out as a mystery and remains one but it is a metaphysical mystery in which numerous plot threads are not resolved. Kafkaesque characters appear and disappear. Ominous threats pervade everything but are never fully explained or resolved. The main character, Bobby Western, Alicia’s brother, is always running from something but he is never quite sure what. Conspiracy theories abound, especially from a private investigator Bobby hires (whose background is not, as seems almost invariably the case with such fictional characters, as a former detective but as a carnival worker). The doom-laden landscape which McCarthy has created and pervasively portrayed in his fiction looms over everything but here is redeemed by a panoply of fascinating, and often hilarious, characters who spend a lot of time talking in New Orleans restaurants. And what better way is there to escape a doom-laden landscape than that? There is a lot of humor in "Stella Maris" too because Alicia is an endearing smart ass. If you like blindingly smart humor that pops into discussions of complex mathematical problems, quantum mechanics, and the confounding nature of reality, then Alicia is your gal. I don’t mean to suggest that these books are funny. They are deeply tragic. McCarthy didn’t go all mellow on us in these autumnal works. But there is some wonderful dialogue, some of it laugh-out-loud funny. And some characters that will stick with you, including John Sheddan, who speaks euphuistically and calls Bobby Western “Squire Western.” For fans of Fielding’s Tom Jones, touches like that put a shine on the apple. Henry Adams’s wife Clover famously noted of Henry James that it wasn’t that he bit off more than he could chew, he chewed more than he bit off. That was never McCarthy’s problem. I give these books five stars not because they are “good reads” with tightly knit plots, because they aren’t, but for the portentous scope of their ambitions. The plot of neither novel resolves anything. McCarthy knew it was not possible to resolve anything and he wasn’t going to lie to us about it.

Lake Tahoe hits different now

I got a great buy on this boxed set!!! I couldn't believe the price...can't wait to read it. I love McCarthy. I think I own and have read everything he's written.

In the absence of more than one product photo as of 12/19/22: Alfred Knopf: Made In Canada -- industry stalwart known for quality, but a slight let down on page thickness with reference to reverse text transparency. Otherwise fine. Slip Case: only covers 4/5ths the books themselves; the sunset image reveals itself to be a nuclear explosion, the hyperboloid mushroom cloud along the spine of the case; light weight, with an enamel like hardness; thick top and sides, thinner bottom so the volumes may appear flush with the surface at a glance. Binding: appears to be case bound, pages not rigid -- will fall/open as though it were 'broken in' already. Boards: True/Navy Blue on the Passenger, Reddish-Brown/Orange on Stella Maris, gold text along the spines. Solid, no give/flex when pinched with moderate pressure; small vertical hashmark stippling texture. Jackets: glossy to the point you can see your reflection with a waxen texture with some sticky resistance drawing one's fingers across it; blue boy image across the entirety, no text in the front; rear has the author & title along the back spine, vertical; inner front: synopsis blurb; inner rear: author photo & bio. Paper: on the cusp of thinnish, reverse facing text visible through it, but not in danger of ripping when finding purchase on the edges to flip to the next page. Text spacing is 1.5-ish/double, favorable for those with vision problems. Page Edges: irregular cut style (the name escapes me, but it's not printer error as suggested in another review) Preliminary Literary Review (spoiler free): Very much novels suited for the this moment in the world, but perhaps not for the sensibilities of readers' expectations built by better known past works operating in and around 'Western' genre conventions; these will have more for those less favorably disposed toward the author and his style than die-hards-- this may be owed to the marketing and promotion, which lent itself to a more conventional narrative setup, and raise questions as to whether the division and delay into two separate releases was more a commercial consideration than creative one;-- Stella Maris is a coda that might as well have been interleaved within The Passenger. Those putting off every reading the second are of one mind with the first's bereaved narrator, and maybe that's by design as well. The dyptych would be worth reading either way as a literary event. There aren't many living contenders for America's Novelist with a comparable track record, if only for notoriety. Buy with confidence (was right for the price with the 8.50 USD coupon), at least in the material quality as caveated above, or look into the UK editions for different cover art if these don't suit your fancy.

I’ve read all of McCarthy and I admit I was nervous about this latest pair of novels. The late works of authors sometimes disappoint, as though they’ve dwindled in power. But that is not the case with these novels. They are profound and powerful, a deep exploration of love and loss. After many years in the West, he returns to the South, with elements of the Southern Gothic at play, but also resonances of his other works are present. With that said, these novels represent in some ways an entirely new direction. I was surprised by Alicia, his first strong female character, who I found wholly believable.

Reasonably delivery time and no damage. Most excellent book! Sadly, McCormic's last one.

5 Stars aren't enough but it's probably best if the reader has read McCarthy's earlier works. This pair(which is actually two halves of one story) is dense with math, physics, and story. Start with (Melville- Moby Dick) Blood Meridian, The Road, SUNSET, and work your way to The Passenger and Stella. As you have surmised I'm a decades long CM fan. He was and is the finest.

I bought this for one of my sons after my other son said it was a great set. He liked one book more than the other but I don’t remember which one it was or why. It was great to be able to get the last edition of a book written by Cormac McCarthy and I am sure it will be appreciated.

Not fully resolved however. But great philosophical gems. Second volume excruciating — couldn’t finish it.

Els dos darrers llibres de Cormac McCarthy. Tots dos de qualitat altíssima. Cormac McCarthy's last two books. Both of very high quality.

A edição é impecável! Material para colecionador!

I haven't read either book yet but I'm looking forward to doing so. Cormac McCarthy is a unique, wonderful author and living legend. Title of this review is the page end finish of the books in this slipcase set. I noticed some negative quality reviews, one with photo images. The finish is deliberate and designed to resemble the way vintage books were bound. Personally I like it.

The Passenger's unique structure can disorient and frustrate. Thankfully, McCarthy's mastery of prose allowed me to come to my own conclusions about Bobby Western's years on earth. To me, The Passenger is a story about the real and unreal, the possible and impossible, avoidance and acceptance.