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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
96 reviews
ally_bur's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is not a book for the faint of heart - check content warnings. Blood Meridian showcases violence front and center as it follows the exploits of a gang of scalp hunters as they devolve into further violence and murder in the American West. This is a gruesome story that seeks to reveal the violent nature of all men - white and non-white - although, in the end, I still believe that this makes a case for white men as villains who exploit and kill with for no rhyme or reason or with no remorse. In my opinion, the character of the judge stands as an example of white man’s twisted thinking - constant intellectualizing to rationalize violence and exploitation to come out on top.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
deimosremus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Extraordinarily brutal and hard-hitting. The reviews describing at as having a biblical rhetoric confused me at first, but I totally saw it shortly after starting it. Matter-of-fact and not-finessed, but incredibly fine-tuned at the same time, says a lot with as little exposition as possible. One of Blood Meridian's many highpoints is definitely Holden, who happens to be one of the most intriguing and enigmatic characters in any novel I've ever read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Murder
venusenvy's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence
namizaela's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
"The way of the world is to bloom and to flower and die but in the affairs of men there is no waning and the noon of his expression signals the onset of night. His spirit is exhausted at the peak of its achievement. His meridian is at once his darkening and the evening of his day."
Granted, I didn't know much going into this book, but I feel like no one talks about how incredibly racist it is? McCarthy writes as if he's getting paid $50 for every slur he uses. In addition, he treats Native Americans and Black people as nothing more than cannon fodder to show how violent the white protagonists are.
Apart from the appalling racism, the plot is basically nonexistent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but made reading this book confusing. I honestly didn't know what was going on half of the time. I didn't even remember any characters besides the kid, the fool, and the judge.
The saving graces of this book are the prose and the character of the judge, both of which chilled me. However, these merits don't make up for the glaring flaws. I'm disappointed, because The Road was my favorite book of 2020. It looks like Blood Meridian might be my least favorite book of 2021.
Granted, I didn't know much going into this book, but I feel like no one talks about how incredibly racist it is? McCarthy writes as if he's getting paid $50 for every slur he uses. In addition, he treats Native Americans and Black people as nothing more than cannon fodder to show how violent the white protagonists are.
Apart from the appalling racism, the plot is basically nonexistent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but made reading this book confusing. I honestly didn't know what was going on half of the time. I didn't even remember any characters besides the kid, the fool, and the judge.
The saving graces of this book are the prose and the character of the judge, both of which chilled me. However, these merits don't make up for the glaring flaws. I'm disappointed, because The Road was my favorite book of 2020. It looks like Blood Meridian might be my least favorite book of 2021.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Forced institutionalization
brianp1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and Blood
jakej's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A towering achievement, so awe inspiring and distinctly McCarthian that it challenges the ideas of what a great book has to do. There is no character development and no protagonist (except in the superficial sense of occasionally being told from the kid’s point of view) and little plot. The purposes of the book are to remind you simultaneously of the necessity of violence to the world, and as a warning of what violence will do to it. More depressing and immersive than The Road, birthed by McCarthy’s archaic and cold descriptions.
The depravity hides a lot of complexity: there are a lot of unanswered questions in terms of plot that translate into unanswered questions about the characters' psyche's. However, the characters aren’t inordinately complex: the thematic treatment is through descriptive imagery and lacerating language, not through characters facing some internal struggle. It reaches near Biblical levels in the sheer amount that can be pulled from it.
Worth reading a dozen times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Mass/school shootings
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