45 // "Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy

45: "Child of God" by Cormac McCarthy: | * * * * |

A deeply unsettling book, made doubly so by the beautifully minimalist language that is McCarthy's calling card. Lester Ballard is "a child of God, much like yourself, perhaps."

Ballard, falsely accused of rape, is innocent. Which leads naturally (because this is McCarthy) to 150 pages of Ballard doing unspeakable things.

It's not a fun book. It's not a nice book. But it's a great book, and one you'll be thinking about long after you close the last page, sigh heavily, and stare off into the middle distance for a while (which is the proper way to conclude any book by Cormac McCarthy).