The Crossing cover art

The Crossing

The Border Trilogy Book 2

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The Crossing

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Richard Poe
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About this listen

Sixteen-year-old Billy and his brother Boyd are fascinated by an elusive wolf that has been marauding his family's ranch. Billy captures the animal - but rather than kill it, sets out impulsively for the mountains of Mexico to return it to where it came from.

Billy returns, finding himself and his world have irrevocably changed. His loss of innocence has come at a price, and once again the border beckons with its desolate beauty and cruel promise.

©1994 Cormac McCarthy (P)2016 Recorded Books Inc Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural Latin American

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Critic reviews

" The Crossing...towers over most contemporary fiction. An American epic infused with a grand solemnity." ( Sunday Times)
"McCarthy speaks to us in the thrilling, apocalyptic tones of an Old Testament prophet. We must treasure him." ( Sunday Telegraph)
"McCarthy writes prose as clean as a bullet cutting through the air and constructs tales as compelling as any you will read." ( Daily Telegraph)
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a good story but full of pointless tales told by characters met along the way

Enjoyable though long winded

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Time to take a good look and just for once 'see' how fragile human life can be. Elements of Hardy's elemental fate and Conrad's simple refusal to try and know what can't really be known combine in a desert setting which puts everyone and everything 'out there' and on their own.

McCarthy's voice is always probing into areas that we rarely allow ourselves to go, recognising - if not the futility of existence - then surely the fact that we are all up against it in the struggle to move forwards.

Everything comes together in a book which never descends into philosophical 'abstraction' but just asks us to look a bit more closely at people and then move on. And it is this sense of movement - this momentum - which drives the narrative along, always seeking that something which may be over the horizon. And there is a lot of horizon in the desert lands of New Mexico and beyond.

If we were to value reading/listening as representing some form of escapism then you can do no better than this.

Wonderful narrator although I had to slow him down a bit to capture the 'space' which must accompany any reading of McCarthy. And the book two of a trilogy placement is completely irrelevant. This is simply a continuation of McCarthy's vision - the one that starts way back over there just past that arroyo and stretches as far as that cordillera over there with snow showing in places.

Simply magnificent - we all need to 'lose' ourselves at some time.

A Masterwork from a truly wonderful writer.

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So unique and so Cormac McCarthy, I wish I could understand Spanish but it only diminished

Great story great performance.

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Compelling, and poetic in it's imagery with lots of philosophical observations about life and human nature. Always interesting and thought provoking. There are lots of long passages written in Spanish which can be somewhat confusing, unless you understand Spanish of course. The narrator was excellent.

poetic and philosophical.

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A universally perfect novel. Difficult to think of a novel that captures so much of our shared human experience. McCarthy takes on the big questions. Why are we here? Where are we going? Why do we do what we do? Based in the 1950ts and set to the back drop of the old west frontier.

Brilliant

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This book feels like an experiment for McCarthy, but it' my favourite from this author.

The story shifts between authentic depictions of the characters' journey between Mexico and US and the inner voyages of the various storytellers encountered on the road. The technique of story within story is very well used and recreates many layers of psychological and emotional depth.

There is a lot of violence (including against animals. which I found hard to bear) and a pervading sorrow in the travels undertaken by the main character, which seem to reflect, in a glimpse, the metaphor of the journey of life.

Authentic & Enchanting

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A heartbreaking story from start to finish. Beautiful prose and narration. I preferred All the Pretty Horses as it was less bleak. Also less use of Spanish which at times made following The Crossing a little hard.

Bleak but brilliant

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I was born in America, but events during Vietnam took my drafted father to north Yorks hire...........england. I may be put too much stall in displacement......... But this writing has made me understand something of the human condition and how that vast land has defined us as a species .my favorite writer my favorite book

.

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Beautifully told.
I’m working my way through the border trilogy. I feel like All the Pretty Horses was a warm up for this.
This book contains many stories within the main story as this is a story of the road & all the tales that come along it. This story is beautiful and heart wrenching.
I’m looking forward to the next one.

Beautiful and heart wrenching

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This is by far the best read audiobook I've ever heard. Richard Poe is perfect from start to finish. I think I'd find it hard to listen to anyone else read Cormac McCarthy now.

It Couldn't Be Better

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