Word: successful
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Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is one of the few recent novels that has achieved commercial as well as critical success. Given McCarthy’s elegant minimalist style and simple, episodic plot, I wondered how this post-apocalyptic novel was capable of capturing the national imagination. It was only after attempting to read Philip Roth’s 1997 novel “American Pastoral,” however, that the merits of “The Road” became apparent. One can learn important things from a novel without even...
While I suspect that the commercial success of McCarthy’s work may be due to the tropes of science fiction and action rather than its literary merits, that does not diminish the power of McCarthy’s intensely human portrait of a father and son. Where Roth and many other contemporary novelists write about an ironic and dehumanizing world that leaves characters externally disconnected and spiritually enervated, McCarthy embraces humanity in all of its weakness, madness, and strength. Some people may find detailed digressions on spiritual exhaustion profound, but this reader found it merely exhausting...
...dual narrative structure is absolutely critical to the film’s success. Frankly, if “No Distance Left to Run” had been purely chronological, it would have been rather depressing. As the film shows, being in Blur was far from an easy job. Despite the fact that they were one of the most successful bands of the 1990s, Blur seemed to have far more moments of resignation, anger, and bitterness than of elation. Early in their career they lashed out against their record company, the hollowness of grunge culture, and the pervasive influence of America...
...outshine the other. “Could You,” meanwhile, has a chorus that references “My Girl,” but its bluesy guitar work and “doo-bee” falsetto bridge separate it from The Temptations’ original. The success of this bridge section is characteristic of an album whose best lyrical moments are impassioned, wordless cries...
...Crimson Alpine team had success earlier this season at the Bowl in exhibition races...