Cormac McCarthy

more photos (4)

Cormac McCarthy’s Followers (28,032)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Cormac McCarthy


Born
in Providence, Rhode Island, The United States
July 20, 1933

Died
June 13, 2023

Genre

Influences


Cormac McCarthy was a highly acclaimed American novelist and screenwriter celebrated for his distinctive literary style, philosophical depth, and exploration of violence, morality, and the human condition. His writing, often characterized by sparse punctuation and lyrical, biblical language, delved into the primal forces that shape human behavior, set against the haunting landscapes of the American South and Southwest.
McCarthy’s early novels, including The Orchard Keeper and Outer Dark, established him as a powerful voice in Southern Gothic literature, while Blood Meridian (1985) is frequently cited as his magnum opus—a brutal, visionary epic about violence and manifest destiny in the American West. In the 1990s, his "Border Trilogy"—All th
...more

Average rating: 4.03 · 1,889,145 ratings · 148,463 reviews · 68 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Road

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,012,859 ratings — published 2006 — 382 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
No Country for Old Men

4.17 avg rating — 237,964 ratings — published 2005 — 170 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Blood Meridian, or, the Eve...

4.16 avg rating — 209,707 ratings — published 1985 — 184 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
All the Pretty Horses (The ...

4.06 avg rating — 142,393 ratings — published 1992 — 201 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Child of God

3.82 avg rating — 53,719 ratings — published 1973 — 82 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Crossing (The Border Tr...

4.16 avg rating — 46,129 ratings — published 1994 — 5 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Passenger (The Passenge...

3.57 avg rating — 36,425 ratings — published 2022 — 59 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Cities of the Plain (The Bo...

4.13 avg rating — 31,038 ratings — published 1998 — 89 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Suttree

4.20 avg rating — 27,493 ratings — published 1979
Rate this book
Clear rating
Outer Dark

3.89 avg rating — 24,584 ratings — published 1968 — 56 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
More books by Cormac McCarthy…
All the Pretty Horses The Crossing Cities of the Plain
(3 books)
by
4.10 avg rating — 226,509 ratings

The Passenger Stella Maris
(2 books)
by
3.68 avg rating — 59,469 ratings

Related News

  Book lovers know that one of the greatest joys of reading is the ability to go anywhere, anytime, through the magic of the written word....
2405 likes · 230 comments
At the beginning of each calendar month, Goodreads’ crack editorial squad assembles a list of the hottest and most popular new books...
189 likes · 43 comments
Another year of books has come and gone, bringing those melancholy feelings of time passing, things changing, and mortality looming. The...
853 likes · 415 comments
Quotes by Cormac McCarthy  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”
Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

“You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.”
Cormac McCarthy, The Road

“Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.”
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Polls

January 2015 New School Classic Poll

 
  16 votes, 28.6%

1952, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 581 pages
 
  7 votes, 12.5%

 
  7 votes, 12.5%

1958, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, 209 pages
 
  6 votes, 10.7%

1951, The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, 160 pages
 
  5 votes, 8.9%

 
  4 votes, 7.1%

 
  3 votes, 5.4%

 
  3 votes, 5.4%

 
  2 votes, 3.6%

1920, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, 305 pages
 
  2 votes, 3.6%

 
  1 vote, 1.8%

1928, Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh, 300 pages
 
  0 votes, 0.0%

 
  0 votes, 0.0%

1958, The Bell by Iris Murdoch, 320 pages
 
  0 votes, 0.0%

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
SciFi and Fantasy...: December Discussion Leaders Needed 6 128 Dec 03, 2008 07:47AM  
The Book Challenge: Heather's 2008 Challenge 111 314 Dec 07, 2008 08:15AM  
75 Books...More o...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Authors you love 17 2293 Jan 27, 2009 04:14AM  
Glens Falls (NY) ...: What are U reading these days? (Part Three) (begun 1/3/09) 88 114 Jan 28, 2009 10:08AM  
Books on the Nigh...: Sci-fi for people who don't like sci-fi? 33 872 Feb 22, 2009 09:37AM  
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL WINTER CHALLENGE - 2008/2009 2159 4181 Mar 04, 2009 07:03AM  
tbr-reading-chall...: Mandy's TBR Challenge 3 80 Apr 08, 2009 07:15PM  
Challenge: 50 Books: Frankie's 50 April 2009 - April 2010 8 155 May 16, 2009 06:50PM  
The Next Best Boo...: Adam's 2009 Reading Goal 23 358 Jun 14, 2009 07:15AM