Perhaps it's because I seem to have entered a sort of apprenticeship period as a writer and everything I read now is bright and new again but I was deeply affected by this novel. Not only were it's themes of violence and identity profound and resonant, but McCarthy's prose style used American English and it's vocabulary in ways I never knew possible. If nothing else, McCarthy shows the power of precise diction. The value of knowing what things are called is overwhelming. I am in awe of this work. Not only will I certainly be revisiting this piece again (you pretty much have to read a novel like this multiple times) but I have a new master to admire and worship.