PositiveBookslutRemainder is definitely worth picking up. It’s a quick and gritty novel that begs, thanks largely to a cinematic plot, to be read in one sitting … The fundamental conflict in Remainder is the narrator’s ability to discern between reality and reenactment. In that respect, the novel’s tension is remarkably similar to Fellini’s 8½, where the lines between madness and genius, actual and artifice are imperceptibly blurred … If Remainder has any faults, they are in its last hundred pages. The deterioration of the narrator as exhibited in the deterioration of cohesive prose can be frustrating and overtly contrived … Still, Remainder provides many worthwhile points of interest for readers. The outlandish and absurd nature of its protagonist is enchanting as is the mystery that surrounds his eccentric existence. The book is at its best when McCarthy’s prose is precise and detailed.
