About this title: By the author of the critically acclaimed Border Trilogy, "Child of God" is a taut, chilling novel that plumbs the depths of human degradation. Lester Ballard, a violent, solitary and introverted young backwoodsman dispossessed on his ancestral land, is released from jail and allowed to haunt the hill country of East Tennessee, preying on the ...
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Description: Fair. Purchasing this DVD supports the North Central Regional Library. Thriftbooks and NCRL have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Library ID found on DVD and case. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780679728740ISBN:0679728740
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Spine straight, binding tight, no reader/remainder/library marks, covers/pgs flat w/sharp corners, very slight shelf wear. 1697 numbered pgs. Audience: General/trade. Photos or other information on this item available by e-mail. Daily responses to orders/e-mail. E-mail confirmation of shipment. Check our feedback. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 1993-08-01
ISBN-13:9780679728740ISBN:0679728740
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780679728740. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780679728740ISBN:0679728740
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First British edition, 1st printing
Binding: Hardcover.
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780701120955ISBN:0701120959
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. The book condition is NF, light foxing to top edge. The dust jacket is NF, light foxing to exposed areas of flaps. Author's third book. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York:
Date Published: (1973).
Description: First edition. The author's third book, which the publisher calls "perhaps his most accessible. "...A concise, chilling horror story that explores the limits of human degradation. "--from the dust jacket flap. Black cloth spine and red boards. A fine copy, without a remainder mark, in dust jacket with production defect in laminate at base of spine (a centered, one-inch vertical line affecting second word in publisher's name, which is still readable), and small eighth-inch chip at base of front ... read more
Description: Very good; Collectible. 1973 Random House hard cover-stated First Edition-slight wear to edge of dust jacket (now in mylar cover)-some staining to page edge-minor sun fade to bottom 1/4" of cover at binding-otherwise cover fine binding like new contents clean-a very fine collectible-enjoy. read more
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 1973
ISBN-13:9780394487717ISBN:0394487710
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. First Edition (first printing). The third novel by the author of BLOOD MERIDIAN and THE ROAD, the story of a man falsely accused of rape who is released from jail and allowed to roam at will. Fine in an otherwise Fine price-clipped dust jacket but for a very thin light water stain at the top of the rear panel. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 1973
Description: 8vo. Original blue cloth-backed red boards, titles to spine in yellow. With the dustjacket. The odd mark to the front board but a very good copy in the very slightly rubbed dustjacket. First Edition, First Printing. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 1974
ISBN-13:9780394487717ISBN:0394487710
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Dust jacket is price-clipped. Stated first edition. No remainder mark. Wrap-around of dust jacket is clearly off-center. Jacket edgewear and several small bumps to edges of boards. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House; (1973), NY
Description: First printing of the author's third book, near fine in a very good+ dust jacket. A few tiny spots on the top edge of the page block, and a hint of a spine slant at the top of the spine. The jacket is clipped at both top and bottom of the front flap, and there are two verticsl creases on the front flap. Two small, closed tears at the top of the rear panel with a crease joining them, and a couple of tiny rubbed spots along the lower edge of the jacket. The red lettering of the title is as bright ... read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: hardcover
Publisher: Random House, NY
Date Published: (1973)
Description: Near Fine dust jacket. His third book. Tiny indent to front board; still fine in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with two short edge tears, one of which is internally tape-mended, and with a fleck of black missing from the upper front spine fold. Without the remainder mark so often found on copies of this title. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York:
Date Published: (1973).
Description: First edition. The author's third book. Faint mark from small bookplate removed from front endpaper. Fine in dustwrapper with the barest wear and the red lettering on spine just a bit faded. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 1973
Description: 8vo. Original blue cloth-backed red boards, titles to spine in yellow. With the dustjacket. Light rubbing and a small closed tear to the bottom of jacket spine but otherwise an excellent and bright copy. First Edition, First Printing. read more
"So there I was, freshly finished with McCarthy's Blood Meridian and aching for more of the same. After many arduous hours on Amazon I finally chose a care package containing Child of God, Suttree, The Orchard Keeper and Outer Dark. Being far more familiar with his Border Trilogy as well as The Road and No Country For Old Men, I was finding his earlier fiction to be much more enjoyable the further I delved. Child of God was phenomenal and despite what many other reviewers have said; I think this would be the perfect starting-point for anyone interested in reading McCarthy's work. Now watch as I list for you the reasons why:
1) It's tiny - 197 pages in large font, who would find that daunting?
2) The plot - the character of Lester Ballard will go down in literary history as one of the most disturbing, dirty and depraved human beings ever to grace the pages of a book. You almost feel like you should shower after spending time in Ballard's world.
3) Style - It subtly introduces the reader into the techniques that McCarthy perfects in his later works in an innocent and non-threatening way. I personally found the lack of punctuation barely noticeable after say, page 3.
4) Genius - It's a fantastic book that should take all of an hour to read. It piques ones curiosity and makes you want more which is what any good literature should really be doing. I wish he would hurry up and give the reading world another classic!"
"I recently became a fan of Cormac McCarthy's writing. I started with The Road and then No Country For Old Men. It is interesting to contrast these later works after diving into the novel Child of God published in 1973. The one conclusion that I can make after the comparison is that McCarthy's work has become a lot more accessible, more mainstream. The question that comes to mind after reading Child of God is whether McCarthy's writing has changed, or has our society simply become more depraved, more like the characters that populate McCarthy's fictional landscapes. The one thing that you can definitely say after reading Child of God is that McCarthy truly writes situations that are uncomfortable to read and and truly...well, icky. But, in general society has become more icky--or at least the icky parts of society are shared more widely today in the world of 24 hour news and the internet. Does McCarthy's work seem more mainstream because of these changes in our world, or simply an evolution of writing style?
My impression of McCarthy's writing in Child of God was that he was trying to write like William Faulkner. Constructed of vignettes of changing perspectives and situations that you are thrown into the middle of, sometimes it was hard to determine exactly what was happening. And to whom. That is not to say it was poorly written, far from it. I would say that McCarthy's ability to quickly set the reader in a situation and provide the necessary background has progressed over the years--the newer novels are definitley more accessible and more easily read, but McCarthy's ability to tell a story and detail some real-world characters is present in the novel. As it progresses, it is truly engrossing. Just know that it is disturbing as well."
"Hmm, not sure what I thought of this one. I have enjoyed everything I have read by McCarthy so far but I'm not so enthusiastic about this one. I thought that it was gratuitously unpleasant and, unlike 'No Country for Old Men' where the violence has a kind of meaning, I didn't think there was any in this. I didn't feel any compassion or interest in the protagonist as he committed his various crimes: I wasn't interested in the story at all.
Obviously, this is just my view. It's still worth reading and it's clearly a novel that could only be written by a very skilful writer but I didn't think it was as good as his other books."
"Well, not sure what exactly to say about this book other than it's every horror film rolled into one practically. McCarthy's descriptions are always top notch, even in a relatively few words he can get a pretty powerful image in your head, one that you'll probably want to get rid of soon after reading this.
It has: rape, necrophilia, child abuse, child rape, incest, murder, slander, deformities, amputation, lots of sex,wearing of dead bodies, and other horrible things....Just everything you want on a nighttime read...heh Anyways, the characters are memorable(unfortunately), the writing is really well done, and even has some similarities to "no country", as in you can see where he is developing as a writer....so it's an interesting read.
There is also a lot of reading between the lines in the book, where you are figuring out what is happening through the wording and feeling that McCarthy is expressing.(a lot of fill in the blanks with your mind is what i mean) I think i would have given this book one more star if it wasn't so horrible(which i know shouldn't matter), but to me it was sort of cliche in a couple of areas, otherwise well done."
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