PositiveThe Wall Street JournalIt is the sense of a world on the verge of social upheaval that gives C a certain momentous quality, allowing Mr. McCarthy a chance to play with themes of family disaffiliation, sexual relations and, indeed, war ... The appeal of C depends in part on Serge as a character—a matter rather ambiguous as presented, since he carries the burden less of a moral force than of a groping anti-hero. He can appear uncannily sterile and robotic ... Still, Serge is a seeker—of knowledge and experience— and in that guise a pilgrim we are willing to follow and even to care for ... Mr. McCarthy often employs the historical present, a kind of \'hot news\' mode used by Hemingway both successfully (The Killers) and farcically (Islands in the Stream). There is a lot of wordplay, too. Nearly un-get-at-able sentences pop up ... The book is dense with allusions, extravagant and learned ... What does it all add up to? It is hard to say, but there is an intrepid attitude to Mr. McCarthy\'s literary sally that has little to do with pleasing publishers or even an audience. C is clever, confident, coy—and cryptic.
