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dvnielletreads's review against another edition
3.0
the road is one of my favorite books of all time - but this one just didn't do the same for me.
lucaszucas's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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? Yes
4.0
never read so many descriptions of the desert and the sun
knittingchaos's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read... it is also the most violent and sad. It brings up issues of good & evil and what culture is... and is it worth anything.
benelliot's review against another edition
5.0
He made his way among the corpses and stood before her. She was very old and her face was gray and leathery and sand had collected in the folds of her clothing. She did not look up. The shawl that covered her head was much faded of its color yet it bore like a patent woven into the fabric the figures of stars and quartermoons and other insignia of a provenance unknown to him. He spoke to her in a low voice. He told her that he was an American and that he was a long way from the country of his birth and that he had no family and that he had traveled much and seen many things and had been at war and endured hardships. He told her that he would convey her to a safe place, some party of her countrypeople who would welcome her and that she should join them for he could not leave her in this place or she would surely die.
He knelt on one knee, resting the rifle before him like a staff. Abuelita, he said. No puedes escucharme?
He reached into the little cove and touched her arm. She moved slightly, her whole body, light and rigid. She weighed nothing. She was just a dried shell and she had been dead in that place for years."
sterocca01's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
grahamclements's review against another edition
3.0
Blood Meridian is set in North America in the 1850’s. Most of the action takes place in Mexico. The book follows a 19 year-old boy who after a few misadventures, joins a band of men lead by the real life John Glanton, an ex-Texas Ranger. They head to Mexico to hunt down marauding Apache Indians and get paid for their scalps. They kill a lot of Indians, but then start killing Mexicans.
Similar to McCarthy’s The Road, Blood Meridian reads like watching a film, with no interior monologues from the characters and very little dialogue. So a reader’s only real clue to a character’s motivations is by observing what they do. All the men in the gang appear to be amoral killers totally devoid of empathy for anyone. There are no heroes in this novel. It shows the west as an ugly violent place where only the strong and the uncompromising survive.
According to Wikipedia “Academics and critics have variously suggested that Blood Meridian is nihilistic or strongly moral; a satire of the western genre, a savage indictment of Manifest Destiny “(In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent). “Harold Bloom called it "the ultimate western;" J. Douglas Canfield described it as "a grotesque Bildungsroman in which we are denied access to the protagonist's consciousness almost entirely."
Blood Meridian is not an easy book to read. It’s written in a style that will challenge many readers and have most reaching for a dictionary. Some of the limited dialogue is even in Spanish, but a careful reader should figure out what the conversation is about. Much of the book involves long descriptions of the surrounding countryside as the gang rides from one slaughter to the next. It’s left to the reader to decide what the characters are thinking while they ride.
This is a novel for those who enjoy a challenging read.
Similar to McCarthy’s The Road, Blood Meridian reads like watching a film, with no interior monologues from the characters and very little dialogue. So a reader’s only real clue to a character’s motivations is by observing what they do. All the men in the gang appear to be amoral killers totally devoid of empathy for anyone. There are no heroes in this novel. It shows the west as an ugly violent place where only the strong and the uncompromising survive.
According to Wikipedia “Academics and critics have variously suggested that Blood Meridian is nihilistic or strongly moral; a satire of the western genre, a savage indictment of Manifest Destiny “(In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief in the United States that American settlers were destined to expand throughout the continent). “Harold Bloom called it "the ultimate western;" J. Douglas Canfield described it as "a grotesque Bildungsroman in which we are denied access to the protagonist's consciousness almost entirely."
Blood Meridian is not an easy book to read. It’s written in a style that will challenge many readers and have most reaching for a dictionary. Some of the limited dialogue is even in Spanish, but a careful reader should figure out what the conversation is about. Much of the book involves long descriptions of the surrounding countryside as the gang rides from one slaughter to the next. It’s left to the reader to decide what the characters are thinking while they ride.
This is a novel for those who enjoy a challenging read.
plantainicus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Alcoholism, Death, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Child death, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Genocide, Rape, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Gore, and Excrement
vahala's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
amstnfrd's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0