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geonox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Racism, Genocide, and War
Minor: Racial slurs
ddavare's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia
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.frogreads_'s review against another edition
I wanted to read this book before watching a breakdown a youtuber i like did of it. I went in expecting the brutality but was not forwarned about the casual use of the n word for both black people and native americas (hellooo pre civil war America!)
But overall i was not expecting a book lauded as being so gratituously violent to feel like pulling hairs and walking through quicksand to get through.
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Torture, and Murder
Dont read if you cant stand people getting scalped or the n word being used a LOTshuzige's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, War, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Gun violence
taicantfly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A heartbreaking book about the violence and wretchedness that went into building the American southwest. From the infamous monologue (that which exists without my knowledge...) to the Judge scappling away ancient paintings to the seemingly random genocide of whole tribes and their traditions, this book will desensitize you with its overwhelming and needless violence and cruelty and then it will be swept under the rug as the bones of vultures in the desert.
In the end the Judge asks if there were any witnesses to what had been. If apart from him and the Kid anyone had known or seen Glanton, the Jacksons, Toadvine, Bathcat, Tobin, Tate, Shelby. As he pulls the kid into the outhouse, we now know that all of that is lost to the arrow of time and no matter what, as says the Judge:
"Men's memories are uncertain and the past that was differs from the past that was not."
Judge Holden is the centrepiece around which the violence unfolds, a near-omniscient possibly-immortal god (or at least prophet) of war. Shocking character and completely unimitable.
This was the first McCarthy book I read and I was by no means disappointed. A flawless, soul-crushing and very difficult read which I would not recommend to anyone struggling with misanthropic thoughts.
I will be seeing a 7 foot tall bald albino in my nightmares for the rest of my life.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Blood, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Racism, Sexual content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, and Pedophilia
billyjepma's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
“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.
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Murder, Rape, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gore, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Child death, and Sexual violence
Moderate: War, Alcoholism, Torture, Excrement, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, and Cannibalism
heavens_night's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, and Racism
Moderate: War, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Slavery
bheller77's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Rape, Xenophobia, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, War, Excrement, Suicide, Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, and Stalking
Very dark. Violent. Gory.mymorie's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Torture, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
ronophica's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Ableism, Animal death, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Gun violence, War, Rape, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Excrement, Cursing, Violence, and Sexual harassment