Title: Self-absorbed prophet goes for profit
Product review: This is one of those books that had it not been for the vocabulary would be a high school senior's creative writing assignment. Pompous and overblown, McCarthy often explains what he has just tried to show--like a stand-up comic, he knows everything, notices things we don't and he's going to inform us. "Look, you're jerks and pseudo-intellectuals--I'll tell you what you need to know." His favorite author is Melville, his favorite book, Moby Dick. In The Crossing he tries to imitate Melville's style--inserting long passages about technical matters like bull-roping, chain-making, etc. To paraphrase a V.P. candidate running against Dan Quayle, "Mr. MaCarthy, I have read Herman Melville...and you are no Herman Melville."
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