Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

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Mr. McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' examines the nature of man when the fragile constraints of civilization have been broken. To accentuate that all th... (show more)

Mr. McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian' examines the nature of man when the fragile constraints of civilization have been broken. To accentuate that all the horrors in 'Blood Meridian' area contained within each of us, Mr. McCarthy sets his novel in the land of our national myth, the 'Wild West.' Not Hollywood's 'Wild West' mind you, but a truely frightening examination of violence the way it really happened. You will find no show-downs between 'white hats' and 'black hats' at high noon here.

As everyone notes, the violence starts early in the book and it never abates. Mr. McCarthy forces the reader to look, compells us not to look away. The horrific violence is the vehicle McCarthy uses to move the novel from on his pages to within our own minds. Once we follow the characters across society's self-imposed border between 'civilization' and 'chaos' we've left our humanity behind. Glanton and 'The Judge' become OUR king and OUR high priest. As 'The Kid's' humanity slowly withers, we recognize the degradable nature of our own humanity. 'The Kid' is both the reader personally and a representation of the individual standing both as part of society and opposed to society. If we are honest with ourselves we must allow Mr. McCarthy to show us that when faced with humanity's ever-present interior horrors (represented perfectly by 'The Judge') we are just as helpless as the pointedly nameless protagonist.

That is the true horror of 'Blood Meridian.' Not the blood. Not the guts. Not even the dead babies. The horror of 'Blood Meridian' is that at any time we are a one choice, one action away from the world of 'The Judge.' The constraining forces of 'civilization' are tenuous at best. And once the thread of humanity has been broken...

Mr. McCarthy's language paints a vivid picture but can be difficult to wade through. His word choice can be archaic and obscure, but no word (or sentence) in 'Blood Meridian' ever seems awkward or out of place. 'Blood Meridian' makes you work to understand what's going on. The 300 page book seemed much longer to me. Perhaps its because I occasionally found myself rereading passages. More likely it was because Mr. McCarthy can construct two or three paragraphs that give you the impression that you've seen every detail of a hundred mile journey, all within half of a page.

'Blood Meridian' is not a pretty book. It does not fit within today's 'entertainment' consumer's expectations. 'Blood Meridian' is Hieronymus Bosch, not Claude Monet. Don't let that dissuade you. Mr. McCarthy has created a novel sublime in its ability to frighten and disgust you. It's well worth the effort (show less)

 

 

by Anonymous User

No, it's a flop!

Blood Meridian Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McMarthy is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read for two reasons. First, McCa... (show more)

Blood Meridian Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McMarthy is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read for two reasons. First, McCarthy’s language in this book is extremely convoluted. Well written, but convoluted. Turns in the plot can be indicated by whether he uses a verb a couple of pages back literally or simply as a literary flourish. I feel like my vocabulary is average, but at least once per paragraph McCarthy uses words I have never heard and only an unabridged dictionary includes.

The second reason the book is difficult is because of the intricately detailed acts of random violence. 300+ pages of sickening and barbaric acts against all who cross the characters’ path: adults, children, infants and animals. Granted, the book is loosely based on history. The Glanton gang was turned loose in the American West with the mission of killing every Native American they could. But, some things are better left to the imagination. In comparison, the barbaric acts in The Road (which is very readable and a great book) look like Charlotte’s Web when compared to Blood Meridian. If you can take 300 pages of the following, this is your novel:
“They found the lost scouts hanging head downward from the limbs of a fireblacked paloverde tree. They were skewered through the cords of their heels with sharpened shuttles of green wood and they hung gray and naked above the dead ashes of the coals where they’d been roasted until their heads had charred and the brains bubbled in their skulls and steam sang from their noseholes. Their tongues were drawn out and held with sharpened sticks thrust through them and they had been docked of their ears and their torsos were sliced open with flints until the entrails hung down on their chests. Some of the men pushed forward with their knives and cut the bodies down and left them in the ashes…”

Periodically, characters will, out of the blue, raise their rifles and blow another character’s brains out – literally and for little or no reason other than to kill. This book is in production as a movie for release in 2011. I’ll probably see it – on a small screen – just to see how a director might possibly handle the material.

The Introduction to the edition I read contains a warning to the reader (along with a huge spoiler) that this is an extremely difficult book to finish. But without the spoiler I probably would have read over the most pivotal plot point without registering it. Unfortunately, I skipped the Introduction to begin with and came back to it when I was befuddled by the ending. Bad decision, since reading the introduction first might have saved me some time. This book would have made a great novella, but is hard to stomach as a novel. The social commentary, in this case, doesn’t justify the means. (show less)

 

 

by Kevin Howard

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  Technically the best book I've ever read, an absolutely astonishing achievement. Cormac peers into the bloodied and blackened hearts of men and gives us a tale that is as relevant now as it is in the 150 years ago the book is set. Violence and the evil of men destruct the world, that all power corrupts. Visually it’s the most disturbing book I've ever read, definitely not for the faint hearted, black blood seep pooling into my brain and my eyes, coming out of my ears.. blood red skies... the... (show more)

  Technically the best book I've ever read, an absolutely astonishing achievement. Cormac peers into the bloodied and blackened hearts of men and gives us a tale that is as relevant now as it is in the 150 years ago the book is set. Violence and the evil of men destruct the world, that all power corrupts. Visually it’s the most disturbing book I've ever read, definitely not for the faint hearted, black blood seep pooling into my brain and my eyes, coming out of my ears.. blood red skies... the smell of banked up hair and dirt... wretched fingernails and skeletal rib cages.. flaking skin and toothless hermits... sexual abuse.. scat fiends, prophets, demons and everything in between. I cant say much more about this book, its rendered me speechless. Cormac McCarthy is a genius. If you can take the violence the undertones of this book are definitely the things that haunt you afterward. An absolutely astonishing book Americana has never been so finely written about or astutely picked apart. The balance between his love and hatred of his country is so finely tuned and spelled out. A gut wrenching read in its beauty and perfection. I envy McCarthy, this book is basically a 300 page poem, every word conveying such depth and meaning. An exhausting but life changing read. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on May 19, 2009 at 12:08AM

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  Started this book in an Cambridge pub in August, finished it in a plane on the way to Iceland in November.

  Blood Meridian is an intense undertaking and well-written about already, so who knows what it would be useful for me to say here. As always, McCarthy is worried about the details, writing about the ends of sticks stirring the coals, blunt nouns and verbs, pieces of scalp hanging off of people's faces. The names of every tree the gang of thugs pass through their mean trip throug...more S... (show more)

  Started this book in an Cambridge pub in August, finished it in a plane on the way to Iceland in November.

  Blood Meridian is an intense undertaking and well-written about already, so who knows what it would be useful for me to say here. As always, McCarthy is worried about the details, writing about the ends of sticks stirring the coals, blunt nouns and verbs, pieces of scalp hanging off of people's faces. The names of every tree the gang of thugs pass through their mean trip throug...more Started this book in an Cambridge pub in August, finished it in a plane on the way to Iceland in November.

  Blood Meridian is an intense undertaking and well-written about already, so who knows what it would be useful for me to say here. As always, McCarthy is worried about the details, writing about the ends of sticks stirring the coals, blunt nouns and verbs, pieces of scalp hanging off of people's faces. The names of every tree the gang of thugs pass through their mean trip through Mexico that makes up the basic plot of the book. This is a mean, nasty, gross, graphic book that, if anything, should make you feel grateful every time you put it down that you likely won't encounter anyone in your life that feels like cutting your head off with a machete or drowning your dogs in a creek for fun.

  It's an oppressive read, but I think I loved it. The judge is an intense character, and the couple times he holds court over the camp are powerful passages, but at its core the judge and the book are just sort of pieces in the usual puzzle of men trying to control fate and the ugliness of that battle. Not super new, even at the book's release in '85 (the judge has a pretty decent analog in Colonel Kurtz, and I'd be surprised if his physical characteristics weren't in part inspired by the Brando version). The real gold to me was the swift action, the love of the landscape, the terrifying weight of the violence throughout. It's possible that you'd complain that readers become desensitized to it as the book goes on, or that the violent passages start to seem like self-parody after the 15th or 16th someone gets killed out of the blue, but I'd disagree. The book and the lifestyle it depicts are relentless and repetitive and there aren't many times when McCarthy gives you the benefit of a summary -- you're stuck with them for every camping night, every patch of trees and barren hillside, and every person slaughtered.

  Of course, that's really more of a conceptual argument and something people apply to all kinds of unworthy exercises, from lame genre movies to bad art. So the key is that he does it well, he comes at things from that weird dusty place of his own, he gets you lost in day-to-day realities that take place in an existence that's primal and totally stripped of a most things we'd find familiar in humanity. And as anyone who's read him before knows, he uses clean, quick language that makes it all seem elementary. He makes a world that sits on a gigantic, black void and you never doubt the legitimacy of that throughout this thing.

  I liked this:

  "The colt stood against the horse with its head down and the horse was watching, out there past men's knowing, where the stars are drowning and whales ferry their vast souls through the black and seamless sea." (show less)

   

   

  by Matt Parish on Dec 01, 2009 at 09:50PM

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