No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy 

The book is No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. It was originally published in 2005 by Penguin Random House. I read the 2006 First Vintage International Edition paperback. I read it in February of 2025.  

The title refers to the lament of Sheriff Bell. He complains that the United States has changed so much in a negative way that it’s no longer a country suitable for old men like him. He’s right in this complaint but he doesn’t seem to take much responsibility for why the country has turned out so poorly.  

This was a Book Club book. Nominated by Matt Watson and voted by the group. It was also the next in my Cormac McCarthy list. I’ve been reading all of McCarthy’s novels in publication order.  

I see Sheriff Ed Tom Bell as a stand-in for McCarthy. He complains that the country has gone to such shit that it’s no country for old men. They have no place anymore.  

It’s difficult for me to hear complaints like this from the previous generation because isn’t the next generation that comes up after them the result of their work? Did the previous generation fail in passing down the values that would preserve the society to be a country fit for old men? Isn’t this green-haired, radical woke, entitled generation the fruit of their labors? There has not been enough responsibility taken for how their children turned out.  

Real life is chaotic. Most of the time we don’t get the benefit of seeing the purpose of all the things that happen in life. We’re so limited. That’s not to say there isn’t a reason for everything that happens. There is. But they’re not our reasons, they’re God’s. That should be comforting to us. Like I said, we’re so limited. We’re limited not only in our perspective of the world around us but also in our creativity and vision for “the better way” to make the world. Our reasons aren’t as important as God’s. They’re not as good. We can’t account for everything. I don’t want the cosmic burden of making sure everything that happens in the world is for a reason. That’s God’s business. The cause of so much anxiety in the world today is because people are trying to take on the tasks that belong to God, like deciding their own gender and creating their own truth.  

I mention all this because what McCarthy is doing with this novel is showing us how limited we are in our understanding. Now, McCarthy would say there is no real reason for things to happen the way they do. Sometimes people just die and there is no blaze of glory. There is no dramatic shootout between “the good guy” and “the bad guy.” People just die and that’s that. There’s no reason we should’ve been alive in the first place and so there’s no reason we shouldn’t die in any way or any time that we do. I like to think McCarthy struggled with that nihilism. I know he did. There is usually an uncharacteristic glimmer of hope in his characters and stories, especially his later work.  

The story doesn’t turn out how we think it’s supposed to. It appears to be a western but it doesn’t follow the typical western tropes, ie the shootout at the end. There isn’t one or at least it’s not shown on camera. Because that’s how real life is. Life doesn’t really turn out how we thought it would or should. People are taken from us “too early.” That doesn’t make sense to a Christian. If we believe in a sovereign God who is accounting for every sparrow that falls from the sky, then we can’t say someone was “taken from us too soon.” They died exactly when and how they were meant to. There is a meaning to all these seemingly random things that happen in life. But it does seem random to us. McCarthy captures that randomness, especially of death, perfectly.  

This book made me think about the Cohen brothers movie of the same name. It’s the most faithful representation of a book I’ve seen in a movie. It’s basically scene for scene from the book. There are a couple things that are left out or changed a little. The movie is so good. The actors are amazing. The cinematography is excellent. There is no music in the film at all. There’s no score. Again, real life doesn’t have mood music that tells you how to feel from moment to moment. Real life is mostly silent.  

I was surprised how close to the movie it was. I hoped there would be more in the book. It’s very different from McCarthy’s other books. It has a much different narrative style. Less poetic prose we usually get from a McCarthy novel. For most of the guys in the book club, this was their first McCarthy read. While it’s a good introduction to McCarthy, I don’t think it fully represents his talents as a writer. They need Blood Meridian for the real McCarthy experience. Maybe they should read The Road first.  

This book wasn’t any more confusing than any McCarthy novel. It stayed clear and readable.  

There was an anti-Christian message in this book. Lewellyn is shown as a Christ figure and a foolish hero. He’s foolish because he tries to save people. The first time we see it is with the Mexican in the shootout he stumbles upon. The Mexican is barely hanging on to life and asks for water. Later that night Lewellyn goes back to take him some water. That’s when all his trouble starts. They would’ve found him anyway because of the tracker in the case of money, but he throws himself into danger by going back to the crime scene to try and save the dying man.  

“There is no description of a fool, he said, that you fail to satisfy. Now you’re goin to die.” (p27) 

Then we learn how he met Carla Jean. She was living in the doldrums working at a Walmart and he whisked her away into life of love and marriage. Then at the end when he picks up the girl hitchhiking. It’s clear that he is not romantically interested. He just wants to help her. He’s a savior. And he gets killed for it. That’s how McCarthy views Jesus. A good man who tried to help people and got himself killed for it.  

Anton Chigurh is how McCarthy and many people wrongfully see God in the Old Testament, a merciless domineering tyrant. That’s absolutely not how the Old Testament authors saw God but that doesn’t’ seem to matter when God is in the docket in court of modern public opinion. Chigurh is strict and demanding but he has a code and he doesn’t waver from it ever. God has put out the commandments and if you break them then you deserve to die. Chigurh is bound by the rules that he made. And so is God. The difference is that God pays for the law himself. This is the difference between the sovereignty of God and fatalism.  

Fatalism is the belief that all things are fixed to happen a certain way and there is no free will involved at all. No one can make things happen a different way than they’re supposed to. But in reality, there is a free will involved, God’s. He chose to satisfy his own law with his son when he was not required to. This is a merciful action that perfectly satisfies the justice of it. The justice of Chigurh has no Christ.  

“He straightened out his leg and reached into his pocket and drew out a few coins and took one and held it up. He turned it. For her to see the justice of it. 

Call it. 

I wont do it. 

Yes you will. Call it.” (p258) 

There is a justice to Chigurh’s code but there is no way out of it to redemption. Like Carla Jean says, “It’s a false god” and Lewellyn responds, “Yeah. But it’s real money.” (p183) 

This book was great. The movie is great too. I’d highly recommend both to anyone except for my classic western-loving grandad. This is no book for him.  

**************************************************** 

Notable Quotables 

His whole life was sitting there in front of him. Day after day from dawn till dark until he was dead. All of it cooked down into forty pounds of paper in a satchel. (p18) 

“””” 

There is no description of a fool, he said, that you fail to satisfy. Now you’re goin to die. (p27) 

“””” 

He stood there looking out across the desert. So quiet. Low hum of wind in the wires. High bloodweeds along the road. Wiregrass and sacahuista. Beyond in the stone arroyos the tracks of dragons. The raw rock mountains shadowed in the late sun and to the east the shimmering abscissa of the desert plains under a sky where raincurtains hung dark as soot all along the quadrant. That god lives in silence who has scoured the following land with salt and ash. He walked back to the cruiser and got in and pulled away. (p45) 

“””” 

Gone the way of all flesh. Nothin’s forever. (p50) 

“””” 

You’ve lived here all your life? 

The proprietor took a while to answer. This was my wife’s father’s place, he said. Originally. 

You married into it. 

What’s the most you ever saw lost on a coin toss? (p54-55) 

“””” 

It had already occurred to him that he would probably never be safe again in his life and he wondered if that was something that you got used to. And if you did? (p109) 

“””” 

Look at me, Chigurh said. 

The man looked and looked away again. 

Do you speak english? 

Yes. 

Dont look away. I want you to look at me. 

He looked at Chigurh. He looked at the new day paling all about. Chigurh shot him through the forehead and then stood watching. Watching the capillaries break up in his eyes. The light receding. Watching his own image degrade in that squandered world. (p122) 

“””” 

could extricate myself by an act of will. Because I believe that one can. That such a thing is possible. But it was a foolish thing to do. A vain thing to do. Do you understand? (p174-175) 

“””” 

Carla Jean? 

Llewelyn, I dont even want the money. I just want us to be back like we was. 

We will be. 

No we wont. I’ve thought about it. It’s a false god. 

Yeah. But it’s real money. (p182-183) 

“””” 

You got a dog in this hunt? Not really. A couple of kids from my county that might be sort of involved that ought not to be. 

Sort of involved. 

Yeah 

Are we talkin kin? 

No. Just people from my county. People I’m supposed to be lookin after. (p194) 

“””” 

country is headed. The way I see it goin I dont have much doubt but what she’ll be able to have an abortion. I’m goin to say that not only will she be able to have an abortion, she’ll be able to have you put to sleep. (p196-197) 

“””” 

He straightened out his leg and reached into his pocket and drew out a few coins and took one and held it up. He turned it. For her to see the justice of it. 

Call it. 

I wont do it. 

Yes you will. Call it. 

God would not want me to do that. 

Of course he would. You should try to save yourself. Call it. This is your last chance. 

It could have gone either way. 

The coin didnt have no say. It was just you. 

Perhaps. But look at it my way. I got here the same way the coin did. 

You wouldnt of let me off noway. 

I had no say in the matter. Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person’s path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning. (p258-259) 

“””” 

Most people dont believe that there can be such a person. You can see what a problem that must be for them. How to prevail over that which you refuse to acknowledge the existence of. Do you understand? (p260) 

“””” 

Do you think God knows what’s happenin? 

I expect he does. 

You think he can stop it? 

No. I dont. (p269) 

“””” 

When you’re called on like that you have to make up your mind that you’ll live with the consequences. But you dont know what the consequences will be. 

And some part of me has never quit wishin I could go back. And I cant. I didnt know you could steal your own life. And I didnt know that it would bring you no more benefit than about anything else you might steal. (p278) 

“””” 

It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. Any time you quit hearin Sir and Mam the end is pretty much in sight. (p304)