The Crossing

"The reverence attached to the artifacts of history is a thing men feel. One could even say that what endows any thing with significance is solely the history in which it has participated. Yet wherein does that history lie?" (p. 405)

For those unfamiliar with this book, The Crossing is the second part of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. It follows one of my favorite all-time books, All the Pretty Horses. Although The Crossing might be a deeper exploration of McCarthy's obsession with the relationship between history and reality, I'm not sure the plot or the characters are as interesting or as carefully developed as they are in All the Pretty Horses. I realize it's never very productive to compare works of art to each other, but for some reason, The Crossing didn't fill me with the same exhilaration as All the Pretty Horses. Maybe The Crossing is simply too heartbreaking? Regardless, I'm excited to start the final segment to the Trilogy, Cities of the Plain.