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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Incredible style (though the prose is over wrought to the point of being distracting) but this is unrelentingly grim to the point of absurdity. I'm glad to have finished.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At a lost for words. The fucking judge.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Horrific. Graphic. Pure Evil. Mind blowing read. And to think…this story is historically credible.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this book is like staring at the sun for a day
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Whenever anyone says ‘I’m not racist I hate everyone equally’ I’m gonna assume I’m talking to the Kid from now on
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Slavery, Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Vomit
What a show off!
Blood Meridian is the epitome of how lots of beautiful descriptions don't make a good book. Surely McCarthy knows his way around a vocabulary and can provide with beautiful prose here and there, but his skills are wasted on a plot-less story, bleakness over bleakness to no end, and no characterisation whatsoever.
I was not even once compelled to read on, the author didn't give me any reason to. I didn't care neither about the story nor the characters, the author didn't give enough background or POVs to. It is like a long history book about a tiny episode that you honestly couldn't care less 2 minutes after you have finished reading it. Which is my final mouthfeel I have after finishing this book.
I don't care how violent it may be. It is not even the most violent book I ever read. Nor the bleakest. Nor the most beautifully written. Nor, by God, the most engaging or intelligent one. It is just an average one with some highs.
It falls flat on so many levels that I wonder how it is possible to even think of associating the word "masterpiece" to this. It is like a long song where barely no sounds are present and here and there beautiful violin solos are heard. Nice, but empty. Not the best song you may have heard, clearly.
I understand how it may have been influential. At least in tone it is quite original and for most people this level of violence is unheard of. For me it is a waste of prose on a story and characters that are barely there. It could have been much more, if not for McCarthy wanting to show off his skills with words. A typical example of when the ego of the author eats the opera.
Blood Meridian is the epitome of how lots of beautiful descriptions don't make a good book. Surely McCarthy knows his way around a vocabulary and can provide with beautiful prose here and there, but his skills are wasted on a plot-less story, bleakness over bleakness to no end, and no characterisation whatsoever.
I was not even once compelled to read on, the author didn't give me any reason to. I didn't care neither about the story nor the characters, the author didn't give enough background or POVs to. It is like a long history book about a tiny episode that you honestly couldn't care less 2 minutes after you have finished reading it. Which is my final mouthfeel I have after finishing this book.
I don't care how violent it may be. It is not even the most violent book I ever read. Nor the bleakest. Nor the most beautifully written. Nor, by God, the most engaging or intelligent one. It is just an average one with some highs.
It falls flat on so many levels that I wonder how it is possible to even think of associating the word "masterpiece" to this. It is like a long song where barely no sounds are present and here and there beautiful violin solos are heard. Nice, but empty. Not the best song you may have heard, clearly.
I understand how it may have been influential. At least in tone it is quite original and for most people this level of violence is unheard of. For me it is a waste of prose on a story and characters that are barely there. It could have been much more, if not for McCarthy wanting to show off his skills with words. A typical example of when the ego of the author eats the opera.
This book contains some of the most haunting imagery I’ve read and does so in a way that doesn’t feel aimless. I wish I had more to say about this book, but anything that could be said has already been said. The judge is an incredible character and I feel like I could write a killer essay about what he means in the confines of the story, which is really the hallmark for good writing for me.
This absolutely could be pushed to a 5 on a reread. I didn’t catch everything I should have and I feel like understanding the deeper meaning through external explanation like I have doesn’t give nearly the same satisfaction as getting it straight from the source material.
Reread:
I did decide to upgrade this from a 4 to a 5. The last chapter is my favorite part of this book and the part I think is most crucial to understanding the book at large.
As I’ve read more of his work, I’ve come to understand that McCarthy is a master of symbol. One of my favorite symbols in this book comes in the aforementioned last chapter, in where we are told the kid (now man) carries with him a Bible he cannot read. There is also an incredibly poignant scene where the man attempts to help an elderly woman only to find that she is dead and has been dead for a long time. It’s probably the most on the nose symbol in the story, but I think putting it so out in the open makes it hit significantly harder in contrast to some of the other more hidden symbolic elements of the book.
The judge remains to me a very strong highlight. His philosophy feels like an exaggeration and further extortion of Chigurhs, almost as if Chigurh is just a disciple to the religion that the Judge is the godhead for. He doesn’t hold himself to the workings of fate because he is himself fate incarnate.
This absolutely could be pushed to a 5 on a reread. I didn’t catch everything I should have and I feel like understanding the deeper meaning through external explanation like I have doesn’t give nearly the same satisfaction as getting it straight from the source material.
Reread:
I did decide to upgrade this from a 4 to a 5. The last chapter is my favorite part of this book and the part I think is most crucial to understanding the book at large.
As I’ve read more of his work, I’ve come to understand that McCarthy is a master of symbol. One of my favorite symbols in this book comes in the aforementioned last chapter, in where we are told the kid (now man) carries with him a Bible he cannot read. There is also an incredibly poignant scene where the man attempts to help an elderly woman only to find that she is dead and has been dead for a long time. It’s probably the most on the nose symbol in the story, but I think putting it so out in the open makes it hit significantly harder in contrast to some of the other more hidden symbolic elements of the book.
The judge remains to me a very strong highlight. His philosophy feels like an exaggeration and further extortion of Chigurhs, almost as if Chigurh is just a disciple to the religion that the Judge is the godhead for. He doesn’t hold himself to the workings of fate because he is himself fate incarnate.
I thought I had read this already. I remembered pawing through the pages for amusing snapshots of terrible violence. I was younger then and uninterested in long descriptive passages of anonymous outlaws riding through alienated wilderness. I wanted the gore and the judge. I skipped to the end and thought the ending passage unremarkably interesting.
I feel like I shouldn’t like Blood Meridian. I find McCarthy kind of an edgy, bitter old man with a silly penchant for dismissing punctuation. The book is surreal, it’s absurd. It should be funny but it isn’t. I was drawn in and couldn’t stop reading despite the seemingly repetitive nature of the desert paintings and blood in the sand. The book is a complete object and everything works. Dialogue is sparse; if anything the judge talks too much, despite being the only ‘character’ of the novel.
It’s a horrible book and I won’t want to read it again for a long time. It is also incredible, and it will not leave my thoughts for a long time.
I feel like I shouldn’t like Blood Meridian. I find McCarthy kind of an edgy, bitter old man with a silly penchant for dismissing punctuation. The book is surreal, it’s absurd. It should be funny but it isn’t. I was drawn in and couldn’t stop reading despite the seemingly repetitive nature of the desert paintings and blood in the sand. The book is a complete object and everything works. Dialogue is sparse; if anything the judge talks too much, despite being the only ‘character’ of the novel.
It’s a horrible book and I won’t want to read it again for a long time. It is also incredible, and it will not leave my thoughts for a long time.
I finished this seven years ago. This is just a drive-by.
Find your favorite Goodreads reviewer and check their review.
This novel has left me undone.
After this I'll be needing something soft and pliant in the way of reading material.
This was as complicated as The Vulgate.
But a far more rewarding read.
It's brilliant in its awfulness and it's the most psychedelic read I'll ever inhale.
Good luck to all potential readers.
Find your favorite Goodreads reviewer and check their review.
This novel has left me undone.
After this I'll be needing something soft and pliant in the way of reading material.
This was as complicated as The Vulgate.
But a far more rewarding read.
It's brilliant in its awfulness and it's the most psychedelic read I'll ever inhale.
Good luck to all potential readers.