Reviews

This writing was just so incredibly not my style, sorry to say. My mind was wandering every time I tried to read it-- the run on sentences and lack of punctuation were probably the least of my problems with it. The "main" character was hardly a character at all as we learn nothing about him and he almost never speaks. Just endless descriptions of people wandering around the desert killing people and getting dehydrated

nakednames's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

5.0

damn.

kayteebee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

williamcompton's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

roseaboveyou's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

Okay, I hate this book. I had already read this book, and I’m pretty sure it was almost exactly ten years ago. After living through yet another decade of everyone telling me how brilliant it was, I figured the details must have been blurry to me because of when I read it. And after I saw that wendigoon had a video on it which you could NOT watch if you had any intention of reading the book, I figured that it was time for the re-read I had always planned, which would then enable me to watch the five hour video. Well, after rereading a book that I was pretty sure I didn’t like, I now realize why I couldn’t remember it, and it’s because I do not like the book. I appreciate that 1) McCarthy is a stylist, and stylists don’t have to use punctuation or whatever, and 2) that the book is, according to historians, about as accurate a documentation of the travels of the Glanton Gang as one can get. That being said, 1) cormac McCarthy is not better than other people because he doesn’t use commas, and 2) with regards to “the banality of evil,” violence and havoc are so part and parcel with the journey that everything blends together under the blanket of immorality, so everything just starts blending together and the pace just drags. Lots of philosophical pondering around campfires and whatnot, but I have a difficult time finding the Judge’s monologues horrifying when literally everyone around is doing awful things to everyone, and he’s just a lot spookier. Ugh. I watched the video anyway to see if there was some deeper messaging that I was missing, but there isn’t. I just don’t find it interesting. Maybe I’m predisposed to being underwhelmed by humanity’s capability to commit great evil. The three stars are because it’s a good book regardless of my opinion of it, but I do not plan a spiteful reread any time soon.

ronitjauthor's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No

4.0

This was undoubtedly the most horrifying, brutal, nightmare-fuel of a novel that I have ever read. It definitely lived up to expectations, because I got exactly what I was promised.

I was reminded of Hearts of Darkness. In there, I had a hard time imagining the external and grew bored with the internal. With Blood Meridian, I was appalled by the vivid external and was left speculating on the human complexities of the internal. That is the horrid beauty of Blood Meridian. It is not for everyone, and I can see many folks, especially from today's day and age hating this book for what it is. Yet, it is an experience worth undertaking—if you have the interest, and the stomach for something this brutal.

McCarthy paints a vivid picture of the America-Mexico border with detailed descriptions of the geography that can match the excellence of a landscape painter. With just the same level of skill, he crafts these horrors of violence, gore, brutality and human depravity that are difficult to digest, punctuated by philosophical passages that evoke a sense of absurd awe that is the experience of reading this book.

I'll admit, some parts felt like drags. Not because they were poorly written, but because it has become difficult to consume books that are this lyrical and literary with the modern day's reduced attention span and fast-paced content explosion. That being said, I completely understand why this book is a classic, and it certainly deserves its place in world literature.

4/5

boogi29's review against another edition

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5.0

With every form of media that romanticizes the old west, in some capacity or not, Blood Meridian set a permanent reminder of the realism and brutality that comes in living in a place without laws, where men make money based on violence.

This book may be my favorite book I’ve ever read. Although the violence is brutal and nonrelenting, the way that McCarthy describes it is absolutely stunning. Every sentence he creates seems like something out of a philosophy textbook, and that paired with a western setting creates a one of a kind read that will never be duplicated again, and allow it to withstand the rest of time.

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