Suttree (by Cormac McCarthy)
Gorgeous Writing, Gaping Questions: A Review of Suttree
I read Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy a couple of years ago and thought it would be a good idea to add Suttree to my Audible library. I probably should have done more research, despite thinking I would enjoy it based on the book's description.
The book follows Cornelius Suttree, a man who has abandoned a comfortable, well-off upbringing to live a marginal, self-imposed exile among the drifters, fishermen, and outcasts on the Tennessee River in Knoxville during the early 1950s. Living alone on a ramshackle houseboat and scraping by as a fisherman, Suttree moves through a world of vividly drawn eccentrics — including the unforgettable Gene Harrogate, a young petty criminal with a series of increasingly disastrous schemes.
The audiobook is narrated by Richard Poe, and he does a wonderful job bringing McCarthy's dense, atmospheric prose to life — his pacing and voice work suited the novel's mood perfectly.
What first stood out to me was how beautiful the writing is — extremely detailed and illustrative. I enjoyed the characters, despite their being the troublemakers of Knoxville, and I especially liked Harrogate. He had an innocent simplicity to his approach to life, and I laughed most often when he was part of a scene. I saw him as a young, goofy kid who lacked life experience but was more than eager to acquire some.
While I was interested in the story and enjoyed learning about Suttree's life and the people he interacted with, I was left with more questions than answers. The question that kept popping into my thoughts while listening was: what is the point of this story? I enjoy learning about people's lives, but I also prefer a story to have a point. The best takeaway I came up with was that Suttree demonstrated that once you stop pretending the world is ordered and fair, what remains is attention, a feeling for other broken people, and the decision to keep moving rather than freeze or drink yourself to death. Suttree definitely seemed loyal to his friends, with unbridled honesty.
I wish I understood more about why Suttree chose the river and chose to abandon his family. That felt like a gaping hole throughout the entire book.
While I appreciate McCarthy's writing style, I didn't particularly enjoy this book. It's a novel that rewards patience and a taste for beautifully rendered bleakness, but for me, admiring the prose from a distance wasn't the same as connecting with the story. I'll keep exploring McCarthy's other work — I just don't think Suttree and I were destined to be friends.
I wasn't anywhere near a Tennessee river to snap my usual book cover photo — I was in the desert instead! So in place of the river, I hope you enjoy these photos of Snoopy Rock in Sedona, Arizona.
Photos by my husband — check out more of his work at lostthepath.com.
Linked below are my review for the books in The Border Trilogy.
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