J. Kent Messum's Reviews > Outer Dark

Fiction is a funny thing. The vast majority of it is lies based on lies. Naturally, of course, since most storytelling is about invention, exaggeration, and meeting expectation. Even the "dark stuff" (horror, thrillers, dramas) on the market often still cling to the romantic overtones of heroes embarking on quests to best villains and good inevitably triumphing over evil.

The best fiction is based on the truth. However, the majority of fiction writers are terrified of real truth. Why? Because it reflects us instead of peddling escapism, and we've been ugly as fuck throughout most of human history. More often than not we're confused, violent, ignorant, and constantly trying to find our way throughout life using a broken moral compass. Cormac McCarthy, as always, navigates the dark waters of the human experience with a fearlessness unmatched among his peers. He knows what we really are, what we've done, and what unforgivable trespasses we're capable of. He's not interested in telling you lies to make you feel better about your reading experience. That kind of honesty is hard to come by, and for Cormac it's his code.

Outer Dark is a story of a simpler time. It's a world where people lived elementary lives and employed straightforward methods of survival; scrimp or starve, work or waste away, steal or succumb, kill or be killed. Within a more basic world, the human instinct can be much more animal. Our nomadic tendencies were still settling, and our barbarism was barely tamed. People made their way in the world as best they could, sometimes with purpose, sometimes aimlessly, but almost always to some degree of mortal danger.

Written with Cormac's signature poetic minimalism and bleak beautiful prose, this simple story offers many themes and interpretations that could take up pages and spark numerous deep discussions. But I'll leave you with something plain and effective. There were scenes in Cormac's novels 'The Road', 'Child Of God, and 'Blood Meridian' that I thought were the most unsettling things I'd ever read, but one of the final scenes in 'Outer Dark' proved me wrong.

I'm not sure I've ever read a more gut-wrenching passage of such pitiful innocence coming into contact with such efficient and indifferent cruelty. It is a page in a book that will haunt me for the rest of my life.