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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is an incredible book with a very violent story, but the visceral description and flat tone they come in seems to be merited because the true incidents happened in much the same way. I wasn’t very impressed with the characters however, which is why four instead of five stars. The only character I enjoyed and found memorable was the Judge, who was based on a real person apparently.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The story of Blood Meridian is, in basic terms, a story about the American West in the mid-1800s without any kind of sugar-coating, where bad things are done to everyone by everyone. And the character that the leader follows through all this is The Kid, a boy who leaves his home in Tennessee, wandering and fighting from town to town till he finally falls into a band of men whose entire purpose is to kill Apaches in Mexico, and anyone else whom they feel like.
I’ve seen this book talked about as one of the great American classics, and if that's true, I guess I don’t like American Classics. Outside of the egregious violence that someone somewhere can probably make an argument for in the line of “the brutality that actually took place in the west, the story just followed the gang around from one place to place, massacre to massacre. Which was pretty boring to read, since while there were definite moments of character, there really didn’t seem to be too much to follow in the way of character development or change. The strongest character was the judge, who is very much this off, borderline nonhuman character.
The prose was actually very interesting in certain areas, but a majority of the time, I struggled to follow what was happening and who was being referred to. Each character is referred to by many names and descriptions without being properly introduced. Personally, I don't see it as a negative thing; I enjoy puzzling things out. However, in this case, I was already struggling to comprehend the scenes, and this didn’t help. Granted, by the end, it's obvious who is being talked about at any point in time.
On top of the violence, there's also racism, although it's not as bad as I expected, given the rest of the book. I guess one thing it did well was make everyone as terrible as the next guy, so there is constant talk of savages and so on, the largely white gang is the only one scalping people.
I didn't know the book was violent, a bit gory, and not really my thing. Maybe I’ll reread it in a few years and annotate it as I go next time, and see if it seems better then, but there's an equal chance it’ll get given away or something.
I’ve seen this book talked about as one of the great American classics, and if that's true, I guess I don’t like American Classics. Outside of the egregious violence that someone somewhere can probably make an argument for in the line of “the brutality that actually took place in the west, the story just followed the gang around from one place to place, massacre to massacre. Which was pretty boring to read, since while there were definite moments of character, there really didn’t seem to be too much to follow in the way of character development or change. The strongest character was the judge, who is very much this off, borderline nonhuman character.
The prose was actually very interesting in certain areas, but a majority of the time, I struggled to follow what was happening and who was being referred to. Each character is referred to by many names and descriptions without being properly introduced. Personally, I don't see it as a negative thing; I enjoy puzzling things out. However, in this case, I was already struggling to comprehend the scenes, and this didn’t help. Granted, by the end, it's obvious who is being talked about at any point in time.
On top of the violence, there's also racism, although it's not as bad as I expected, given the rest of the book. I guess one thing it did well was make everyone as terrible as the next guy, so there is constant talk of savages and so on, the largely white gang is the only one scalping people.
I didn't know the book was violent, a bit gory, and not really my thing. Maybe I’ll reread it in a few years and annotate it as I go next time, and see if it seems better then, but there's an equal chance it’ll get given away or something.