What was going on with that? The theif on the beach had no thumbs and neither did the man at the end who had the family. I unfortunately didn't read the book so don't know if it's brought up, but I'm thinking of picking the book up now.
shareThe book describes the Thief's hand in the novel as missing all of its digits, not just the thumb, by mentioning that the Thief was a 'castoff from some commune'.
The novel makes no mention about the Veteran's hand. It describes him with some facial damage/scarring.
The movie ties them together, to give the so-called 'Hollywood ending' a little menace.
I love the way the author describes his characters and settings. McCarthy always describes his characters by how the world/environment has altered them. You never see people described with hair color, eye color, clothing, etc - but the number of holes punched through a belt as evidence of the emaciation plowing through his body, or how the facial disfiguration made it hard for him to talk. Its pretty cool.
I recommend the novel wholeheartedly!