Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

70 reviews

nopebook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

• 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Genocide, Pedophilia, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, and Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Blood, Violence, Cursing, War, Alcohol, Racism, and Death

qstew's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Murder, Violence, War, Alcohol, Child death, Racial slurs, Child abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Ableism

klvelasquez22's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.25

I’m glad I gave it a try as I’ve been wanting to read McCarthy for a while - but it definitely wasn’t for me, and I probably won’t be reading McCarthy again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Violence, Child death, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Animal death, War, Rape, Death, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Murder, Excrement, Blood, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

thesholmes's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Probably the best book I've ever read. The prose is perfect, the imagery is flawless, the story is riveting, and it just does things that I've never seen a book do. As someone who's really desensitised to a lot of things, this one made me physically sick in the best possible way. Just a thrilling and horrifically beautiful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cannibalism, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, War, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Torture, Pedophilia, Animal death, Gun violence, Body horror, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Death, Excrement, Genocide, Sexual assault, Child death, Colonisation, Gore, and Sexual violence

As someone who is fairly desensitised to most anything, this made me physically sick

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

keynone's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Gun violence

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 against another edition

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

deanrossss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

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