Stella Maris

Cormac McCarthy's final novel pairs with The Passenger. It is a dialogue between Bobby Western's sister, Alice, and her psychiatrist. The "action" takes place at a rehab facility named Stella Maris (Star of Mary in Latin). The dialogue becomes listless and bogged down in various philosophical and mathematical issues quickly.

Alice or Alicia (she changed her name at one point) has picked up and wrestled with thes issues into oblivion. Literally to the point that she began experiencing hallucinations, just not in Stella Maris. The halluciations are detailed in the italicized portions of The Passenger. So yes, you need to read that first.

Because the novels involve someone with a multiple personality disorder (or is she a metaphor for modernity?) I was thinking she may be hallucinating the entire dialogue. The psychiatrist is often as well educated in some of the topics as she is. The book is.... weird. Nerdy. Often disturbing. Such is the life of a child of one of the Manhattan Project scientist's children, perhaps.

Reading Stella Maris often reminded me of Louis Malle's movie My Dinner with Andre, but with more than one person speaking. Pardon the exageration.

And yet the novel left me wanting more. I come to literature with certain expectations (such as, can we have somewhat realistic humans?) and they were not met. Is that my fault, Cormac? I think not. I will read your older novels, though.