Part 1: The PassengerCormac McCarthy， America's finest author of postmodern westerns， switches gears and gives us a kafkaesk pageturner about a salvage diver named Bobby Western （A+ for literary trolling， love it）。 But make no mistake: This novel still ponders American myth， the 89-year-old author creatively twists his classic themes into a novel that feels fresh and only familiar if you look closer at what McCarthy does。 Let's try to disentangle the intricate plot: Bobby and his colleagues dive Part 1: The PassengerCormac McCarthy， America's finest author of postmodern westerns， switches gears and gives us a kafkaesk pageturner about a salvage diver named Bobby Western （A+ for literary trolling， love it）。 But make no mistake: This novel still ponders American myth， the 89-year-old author creatively twists his classic themes into a novel that feels fresh and only familiar if you look closer at what McCarthy does。 Let's try to disentangle the intricate plot: Bobby and his colleagues dive for a sunken airplane， but find one body and the black box missing。 Suddenly， agents start chasing Bobby， rumaging his apartment and questioning him， one of his colleagues mysteriously dies in Venezuela， the government strips Bobby of his financial means and voids his passport， citing tax issues。 Yes， folks: Plotline A is Kafka's The Trial， McCarthy style。Meanwhile， we learn that Bobby was in love with his schizophrenic sister Alice/Alicia （both names exist in the novel， adding to the general feeling of destabilization） who killed herself， and that he is still grieving her。 In intersections， we meet Alice/Alicia - and her hallucinations， worn out vaudeville and minstrel characters she has philosphical conversations with。 At least that is we as readers think， until Bobby meets one of them in real life。。。 or is it a dream？ a coma？ The whole novel is one big oscillation， a mirage。And， as promised， we have smart twists on American myth: Bobby inherits gold and has to dig for it in his grandmother's basement （the poor man's goldrush）; he gets into oil - at least at an oil rig （hello， No Country for Old Men）; he takes trips that complement his inner journey ， but not only to the West （frontier pushing/On the Road）， but in all directions， even becoming a race car driver in Europe at some point; aaaand - you've been waiting for it， you get it！ - this is my fellow Catholic McCarthy， so we ponder one of the original sins of America， which in this case is not the genocide the country was build on （Blood Meridian， or the Evening Redness in the West）， but the atom bomb: Bobby's father worked with Oppenheimer， and Bobby is haunted by intergenerational guilt。The novel heavily relies on dialogue， it is almost an oral history of everyday America and its relationship with American history: We get many， many scenes in bars and other closed quarters where Bobby talks about all kinds of things， from love to John F。 Kennedy， with friends and acquaintances， including a transwoman - McCarthy is usually not a writer that incorporates many female perspectives， this is his first work that， with Alice/Alicia， even has a female protagonist。 The many dialogues mirror the theme of reflection and inward travel， but also allow the author to touch upon all kinds of additional subjects。 Between that， we get many slower ruminations and highly complex scientific explanations: Not only was Bobby's father a physicist， Bobby also studied physics at Caltech， and his late sister was a math genius。The time- and plotlines are fragmented and readers have to play close attention to stay on top of this ambitious work。 As the plot progresses， Bobby gets further and further reduced， turning more and more inward。 While most of McCarthy's other novels （just look at the border trilogy） describe nature as both beautiful and relentless， we now get powerful， luminous descriptions of the underwater world， a world that is also scary， cold， and deadly。 This protagonist does not venture West， he ventures into the deep。Sure， there is too much going on here， and the scientific details that now juxtapose the religious motif are excessively intricate， but you know what？ This is a masterfully crafted， intelligent， ambitious pageturner， and I loved reading it （although what unsettled me is how McCarthy， as mentioned: 89， employed the passenger motif: There is A LOT of nonchalance here when it comes to passing over to the realm of the dead）。 On to the sibling novel that focuses on Alice/Alicia， Stella Maris。Part 2: Stella MarisWow wow wow wow - I think my head just exploded。 Short recap: In The Passenger， we heard the story of Bobby Western， salvage diver， physics expert， former race car driver， and grieving brother who is still in love with his beautiful sister who killed herself （my review）。 This very sister is the protagonist of Stella Maris， the book's title being the name of the psychiatric facility she admitted herself to， now for the second time。 The whole text is made up of seven （hello， religious motif） sessions with her therapist Dr。 Cohen， rendered in pure dialogue， McCarthy style， so no superfluous adornment like "he said， she said" or excessive punctuation。 And here's the kicker: The text is set in 1972， and she tells Cohen that Bobby， who is afraid of depths （！）， was in a coma after a car accident， that he was brain dead and the doctors wanted her to agree to stop life-support。 What that means for the parts of The Passenger that take place up to 10 years after the sister's suicide？ You decide。While in "The Passenger"， the sister is alternately called Alice and Alicia， we now learn that she changed her name from Alice to Alicia， which plays into the core theme: Alice/Alicia is desperate because， not unlike Faust， she wants to make the sense of the world， but can't; but while Faust， also a scholar， strives for God-like knowledge and thus ultimately power， Alice/Alicia searches for meaning: What are we？ And why are we here？ There are no answers， just anger， and then， desperation and suffering: "The world has created no living thing that it does not intend to destroy。" （Meanwhile the devil in Faust: "For all that comes to bedeserves to perish wretchedly; 'Twere better nothing would begin。" - Alice/Alicia agrees and wishes to have never existed in the first place）。 These ideas permeate McCarthy's work as a whole。"Stella Maris" is thus a work that consists mainly of philosophical ponderings and to a degree， it reads like McCarthy talking to himself about his worldview。 As in "The Passenger"， the natural sciences play a major role: Pages and pages confront the reader with higher physics and mathematics， with （mainly German） philosophy， with questions of intergenerational guilt and American history （the siblings' parents were both involved in the Manhattan Project）， with destiny and determination。Alice/Alicia is a math prodigy who worked at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques with Alexander Grothendieck。 With Dr。 Cohen， she talks about （and this is not a full list）: Ludwig Wittgenstein， G。K。 Chesterton， George Berkeley （especially An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision）， Immanuel Kant， Richard von Krafft-Ebing， Geoffrey Chaucer， Sigmund Freud， C。G。 Jung， Willard Van Orman Quine， J。 Robert Oppenheimer， Edward Teller， Kurt Gödel （especially mathematical platonism）， Emmy Noether， Ernest Lawrence， Jean Piaget， Johann Sebastian Bach， Martin Heidegger， Edmund Husserl， David Hawkins， Oswald Spengler， Gregory Chaitin， T。D。 Lee， David Bohm， John Dillinger， Rosemary Kennedy， August Kekulé， Charles Chihara， etc。pp。In relation to the classic trope of "what does craziness even mean？"， Alice/Alicia and her therapist grapple with the very concept of reality and what constitutes it: Alice/Alicia dismisses language （which she deems a parasite in the biological system and an epidemic）， ponders philosphy and religion （she is Jewish）， of course science， but also music - due to her synesthesia， she melts those systems into each other。 In context with （heavenly） rules that structure reality， there is the incest motif: Alice/Alicia does not care about the taboo and wants to have sex with her brother。 Understandably， Dr。 Cohen is rather unsettled by his patient， and there are recurring lines in their dialogue: "I don't know whether you're serious。" - "I know。"。 Alice/Alicia despises people who want to repair her， she just wants to talk。Ultimately， Alice/Alicia， a devotee of solipsism， assumes that all problems are spiritual in nature。 Dreams play a major role in her life， and here's the key one （I say）: In the dream， Alice/Alicia looks through a peephole into a world where guards protect a door， and she knows there is something terrible behind that door， and that human longing for connection only serves to evade that presence: She calls this presence "Archatron" （Archatron does ritual sacrifices in Cities of the Plain， much like "Kid" is not only the name of one of her hallucinations， but also a protagonist in Blood Meridian， or the Evening Redness in the West ）。 Life is fear and suffering， just read， you know， everything by Cormac McCarthy。I'm firmly convinced that "The Passenger" and especially "Stella Maris" will keep literary scientist on their toes for many， many years to come， as there is so much going on there， and the books stand on the shoulders of everything McCarthy has written before。 。。。more