Stella Maris
Cormac McCarthy
The companion volume to The Passenger, Stella Maris, relates the other side of the story, that of Alicia Western, a mathematics prodigy who has just checked herself into an asylum. Told entirely in the form of dialogues between Alicia and her psychiatrist, despite the gloomy premise and the occasional complexity of the conversations, the book is surprisingly funny and exceptionally well-written. The book can be read on its own, but taken together, each of Stella Maris and The Passenger will complement and deepen your understanding of the other.
'A drought-busting, brain-vexing double act’ – Guardian
Alicia Western is the following: Twenty years old. A brilliant mathematician at the University of Chicago. And a paranoid schizophrenic who does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby.
Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Cormac McCarthy's Stella Maris is a profoundly moving companion to The Passenger. It is a powerful enquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and life itself.
‘Cormac McCarthy was such a virtuoso, his language was so rich and new . . . his books were terrifying and absolute. His sentences were astonishing.’ - Anne Enright
