Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

60 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

An incredibly violent book, providing an intimate look into a psychopath’s head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Bullying, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gore, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, War, and Xenophobia

kaduku21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Torture, Genocide, and Rape

jaybeesgotpaperback's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

It was a slow read due to the complicated language, and I understand why there are McCarthy scholars as there is so much to unpick. But thoroughly enjoyed the read even though some of the content is challenging 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Racial slurs, Racism, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Genocide, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Cursing, Genocide, Infidelity, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Mental illness

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

salmonite's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

blipsk's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Might be my favourite book of all time. McCarthy's prose is transcendental. He has a gift for evoking amazing imagery with the lightest touch of description, just perfect, efficient word choice.

It's hard to talk about what happens in the book. It's brutal and relentless. A lot of the characters feel like sketches, we don't get very deep into any of them, even the main POV. And they are without exception awful people. And yet I found myself caring about The Kid a lot by the end.

Reading this book feels a bit like a bad dream, and finishing it felt like the emotional equivalent of muscle ache after hard exercise. It's a book I know I will come back to and reread many times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, War, Racism, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Child death

princemyshkin's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Like nothing else, the pages and prose flow like spilled blood. Ultra violent, decedent. Pulling punches only to save the viewer from the worst abuses.
Initially feeling stilted, once you accept the patter, it rushes over you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Murder, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, and War

luisatkinson's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Pedophilia, Genocide, Blood, Gun violence, Xenophobia, War, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Child abuse, Misogyny, Gore, Excrement, and Alcohol

moonmisandrist's review

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

An incredibly bleak and gruesome story, one that would have been impossible for me to finish if not for McCarthy's wonderful prose. Even with the great writing, it's a challenging read. The violence is so constant and explicit, yet written so casually you only take it what's happened after a few moments or even with a reread of the scene. The Kid, the main character, disappears into the background, and the supporting cast are some of the worst examples of men in storytelling. Very little happens in the book, it's not driven by characters or plot, simply by a cycle of violence.  

Even so, there were so many lines of dialogue I found beautiful, that made me sit and reflect on humanity and love and purpose. There are moments of mercy in this story, and moments of loyalty to brothers, even though no one is ever rewarded for this behaviour. Tobin's dedication to keeping the Kid away from the Judge, a consistent and selfless act, had me rooting for him in vain. The Kid's rejection of the Judge (who could possibly be satan himself), and his worship of war, is a brave act, a rejection of the American expansion into the West, though we know it to be futile.

I think it's very fair to not want to read/finish the book due to the darkness of it, I fault no one for this, at times, I felt the same. While it seems gratuitous, McCarthy knows what he is doing, very clearly so, by choosing one scene in the novel that he locks the readers out of. We do not know what happens, we get no descriptions and are only told by others that "it's bad in there". It's by far one of the most disturbing and haunting parts of the novel. 

Would I recommend this book? no <3 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Rape, Colonisation, Genocide, Gun violence, and Pedophilia

Minor: Child death and Ableism

leo_mal's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

5.0

The buffalo hunter passage is gonna stay with me for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, War, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Excrement, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Cursing, Ableism, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape