Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

28 reviews

skippy_skippington's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A deconstruction of the mythologized North American old west, tearing away the veneer of respectability and civilization. Stark, horrific, violent, and weirdly beautiful at times. Not for those with a sensitive constitution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

fatherofmysteries's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There is no review I could write that could begin to sum up the journey that this book took me on

He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

nyxlexica's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

3.0

Difficult to read. Very slow, very distant, no character to get behind. An intense depiction of a period in history I knew nothing about, though, with an incredible villain. Happy I've read it but can't say I enjoyed the process, exactly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

erinjk's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ddavare's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

This is a purely violent book. I did not enjoy this at all. It's supposedly considered a great American novel?? I understand what the author was trying to convey (fate vs. free will, humanity's taste for violence, hipocrisy of Christianity), but this could have been done with at least 70% less violence. Whatever happened to the power of suggestion? JEEZ!!! - I mean the author suggests what happens to the protagonist (I use the word "protagonist" very lightly) at the end and leaves it up to the audience to imagine it. I would not recommend this book (as a person who is not white or a man) as it's triggering in every regard. Unless you are a lit major, writer, or enjoy reading literary challenges (the writing is interesting and challenging), I don't recommend. I think the average reader would not draw out the author's point, and would not be able to see through all this violence. This has not added any value to my knowledge and just created unnecessary stress and disappointment in Western culture (and I'm already disappointed with our political climate). This is a rant. I was set up to read this as part of a group read, and I am not happy about it and am using Storygraph as a way to vent.

shuzige's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, and War

billyjepma's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

A towering, alienating, raging tapestry of the violent, bloodthirsty heart of the American condition. It’s a nightmarish read, one that forces you to wrestle with its foggy, murky plotting and aimless pacing—there’s a reason it took me months to finish. But that’s part of the nightmare McCarthy is cataloging for us, and his disdain is palpable even (especially?) as he coldly pontificates on the situation of the men his story follows.  

“In the days to come the frail black rebuses of blood in those sands would crack and break and drift away so that in the circuit of few suns all trace of the destruction of these people would be erased. The desert wind would salt their ruins and there would be nothing, nor ghost nor scribe, to tell to any pilgrim in his passing how it was that people had lived in this place and in this place died.”

There are a lot of quotes that speak to the intent of this book—a book I might someday understand better—but that one might be the one I latch into. McCarthy understood violence and its roots in the masculine soul better than almost any other American writer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Genocide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

ronophica's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hypnoticspxlls's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia

asililydying's review against another edition

4.5

depraved. how do the 'enlightened' create and maintain colonialism? liberal democracy, a fair republic, founded on the defiled corpses of millions and millions of innocent lives; crimes committed nakedly, bald, out in the open with many a song to accompany them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism