Read an article on Cormac McCarthy and they summed up the theme of all of his novels with this question: How do we create meaningful lives in a chaotic world where God is silent and death is inescapable?
I thought of my own novels and wondered what theme connects all of them. I came up with something like this. Not quite as eloquent, and not a question:
The world is broken and so are we, but God allows second chances in surprising ways.
Hi Travis: I've read McCarthy's "The Road" and saw "No Country For Old Men" and found them both interesting. However, if I consumed a steady diet of his creative genius I'd for sure need some serious medication. I came away from both works feeling depressed, joyless and full of gloom and doom.
I think you summed up the message in your books correctly, except you left out hope. Where would we all be without hope and the merciful 'second chance'. Would life really be worth living without them? Please keep including in your stories the elements we all so desperately need.
Gotta go. I'm reading "Gun Lake" and it's good and I want to get back to it!
Very good.
I like it! I can't wait to read that new book of yours.
Like you, T, I'm a McCarthy fan. I just read Child Of God, his shortest work, a couple months ago. Highly recommended! Follows Ballard, a real back woods psychopath, as he makes peace with God for all the rotten things he's done. It walks the line between right and wrong, good and bad. It's very well written, and I know you'd enjoy it. I know you're busy writing, but if you want a shorter read, that one would stick with you. Simple, yet eloquent.
P.S. They're making a film of Blood Meridian to come out in 2012. I've not read it yet, but I think it's Cormac's most gruesome tale.