Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

29 reviews

gremlintamer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

This book is A LOT.

carolinemb's review

dark slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

reachingforstardust's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, Excrement, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Torture, and Alcohol

eabosch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ak9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

Brutal and disgusting but beautiful and poignant 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gloombee's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

definitely a book for men 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and War

thetatteredowl's review against another edition

 Really enjoyed the book's hypnotic, poetic quality, but it had no speech marks, which is always a dealbreaker. Gave up as soon as I reached page 50. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

namizaela's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

2.0

"The way of the world is to bloom and to flower and die but in the affairs of men there is no waning and the noon of his expression signals the onset of night. His spirit is exhausted at the peak of its achievement. His meridian is at once his darkening and the evening of his day."

Granted, I didn't know much going into this book, but I feel like no one talks about how incredibly racist it is? McCarthy writes as if he's getting paid $50 for every slur he uses. In addition, he treats Native Americans and Black people as nothing more than cannon fodder to show how violent the white protagonists are.
Apart from the appalling racism, the plot is basically nonexistent, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but made reading this book confusing. I honestly didn't know what was going on half of the time. I didn't even remember any characters besides the kid, the fool, and the judge.
The saving graces of this book are the prose and the character of the judge, both of which chilled me. However, these merits don't make up for the glaring flaws. I'm disappointed, because The Road was my favorite book of 2020. It looks like Blood Meridian might be my least favorite book of 2021.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Forced institutionalization

jakej's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

A towering achievement, so awe inspiring and distinctly McCarthian that it challenges the ideas of what a great book has to do. There is no character development and no protagonist (except in the superficial sense of occasionally being told from the kid’s point of view) and little plot. The purposes of the book are to remind you simultaneously of the necessity of violence to the world, and as a warning of what violence will do to it. More depressing and immersive than The Road, birthed by McCarthy’s archaic and cold descriptions.

The depravity hides a lot of complexity: there are a lot of unanswered questions in terms of plot that translate into unanswered questions about the characters' psyche's. However, the characters aren’t inordinately complex: the thematic treatment is through descriptive imagery and lacerating language, not through characters facing some internal struggle. It reaches near Biblical levels in the sheer amount that can be pulled from it.

Worth reading a dozen times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Mass/school shootings