Product Description

This compelling novel has as its protagonist Cornelius Suttree, living alone and in exile in a disintegrating houseboat on the wrong side of the Tennessee River close by Knoxville. He stays at the edge of an outcast community inhabited by eccentrics, criminals and the poverty-stricken. Rising above the physical and human squalor around him, his detachment and wry humour enable him to survive dereliction and destitution with dignity.

‘Suttree contains a humour that is Faulknerian in its gentle wryness, and a freakish imaginative flair reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor’ Times Literary Supplement

‘Suttree marks McCarthy’s closest approach to autobiography and is probably the funniest and most unbearably sad of his books’ Stanley Booth

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8191 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

About the Author

Cormac McCarthy is the author of ten acclaimed novels, most recently The Road. Among his honours are the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Customer Reviews

My favourite book. (And I've read some).
People often ask what your favourite record is, or your top five movies, even your favourite food. I have always found it very difficult to answer these questions, and my answers will change from day to day depending on mood. Now Cormac McCarthy has brought a little certainty to my life. This is WITHOUT ANY SHADOW OF DOUBT my favourite book. It has everything from wry comedy to hideous tragedy, plot driven action to melancholy contemplation. Every adult male will recognise at least a part of himself in these destitute, stinky characters; and a very uncomfortable realization that can be. And to top it all off, the language employed by McCarthy is of the most beautiful expressive nature. I defy anyone to show me an author that can decribe a filthy riverbank, or a pickled vagrant with such obvious love of words. Go on, read it, and disagree if you dare. We are indeed 'whelmed in dark riot'.

One of his best books
Suttree is the name of the character who the book is about, a man who lives on a houseboat in Knoxville and makes a threadbare living as a fisherman. In it's own way it's one of McCarthy's best. The book is very much in the author's distinctive style but there are many more descriptions of suburban settings than some of his books, and he really goes to town! No-one brings out the wild poetry of such places as wastelots, riversides, shanties and city catacombs like him. Suttree meets various characters who live very much 'on the fringe' like him. The dialogue is exceptional and there are some excrutiatingly funny moments. There are also some slower bits but this is fortunate since it helps you not to finish the book too quickly! The themes of the book are similar to 'Tortilla Flat' by Steinbeck, which is also delightful, but this work is much denser and deeper. I can sense that the author is personally very close to this work. If you like Cormac McCarthy, you should do yourself a favour and get hold of this one.

Best Book I've Probably Ever Read
I have loved all the Cormac McCarthy books I've read but this is my favourite.

Like all his books this is a bleak, lonesome tale that inhabits you. Despite its elegaic sadness there is humour and a core human warmth. I read this book almost two years ago and I still miss the key characters.

I urge you to read this book!