"Scuttling down the mountain with the thing on his back he looked like a man beset by some ghast succubus, the dead girl riding him with legs bowed akimbo like a monstrous frog." Child of God must be the most sympathetic portrayal of necrophilia in all of literature. The hero, Lester Ballard, is expelled from his human family and ends up living in underground caves, which he peoples with his trophies: giant stuffed animals won in carnival shooting galleries and the decomposing corpses of his victims. Cormac McCarthy's much-admired prose is suspenseful, rich with detail, and yet restrained, even delicate, in its images of Lester's activities. So tightly focused is the story on this one "child of God" that it resembles a myth, or parable. "You could say that he's sustained by his fellow men, like you.... A race that gives suck to the maimed and the crazed, that wants their wrong blood in its history and will have it."
In this taut, chilling novel, Lester Ballard--a violent, dispossessed man falsely accused of rape--haunts the hill country of East Tennessee when he is released from jail. While telling his story, Cormac McCarthy depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humor, and characteristic lyrical brilliance.
In this taut, chilling novel, Lester Ballard--a violent, dispossessed man falsely accused of rape--haunts the hill country of East Tennessee when he is released from jail. While telling his story, Cormac McCarthy depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humor, and characteristic lyrical brilliance.
Used availability for Cormac McCarthy's Child of God
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
June 1994 : Hardback
| Title: Child of God Author(s): Cormac McCarthy ISBN: 0-8446-6750-1 / 978-0-8446-6750-8 (USA edition) Publisher: Peter Smith Pub Inc Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
April 1975 : Hardback
| Title: Child of God Author(s): Cormac McCarthy ISBN: 0-7011-2095-9 / 978-0-7011-2095-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Chatto and Windus Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
December 1973 : Hardback
| Title: Child of God. Author(s): Cormac, McCarthy ISBN: 0-394-48771-0 / 978-0-394-48771-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Random House Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Paperback Editions
June 1993 : Paperback
| Title: Child of God Author(s): Cormac McCarthy ISBN: 0-679-72874-0 / 978-0-679-72874-0 (USA edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 1989 : Paperback
| Title: Child of God (Picador Books) Author(s): Cormac McCarthy ISBN: 0-330-30643-X / 978-0-330-30643-0 (UK edition) Publisher: Picador Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
Other Editions
1974 : Unknown
| Title: Child of God Author(s): Cormac McCarthy Publisher: Random House Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
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