07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Jason Mott Doesn't Get the Love for Cormac McCarthy's Last Books
In an email interview, the National Book Award-winning author of 'Hell of a Book' celebrated 'Lord of the Flies' and a graphic novel called 'Monsters.' SCOTT HELLER
Describe your ideal reading experience.
At home on the couch somewhere around 6 or 7 in the evening. Dead of winter. We don't get much snow where I live, so I'll settle for a light rain. Just a quiet, soft, chilly winter's day.
What books are on your night stand?
'Catch-22' and the collected edition of Alan Moore's 'Swamp Thing' run for DC Comics.
What book has had the greatest impact on you?
Either 'Lord of the Flies' or 'Grendel.'
What's the last great book you read?
'A Different Drummer,' by William Melvin Kelley. It's the story of a fictional county in the South in which all of its Black residents suddenly pick up and leave without any explanation. Its tone and technique could easily be defined as magical realism and, obviously, given the themes of 'People Like Us,' it was both encouraging and saddening to realize just how long this style of fiction has been used to explore the idea of leaving a land that perpetually tells you that you are not equally a part of its being or destiny.
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