Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

39 reviews

emmabjones's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I gave this book two stars because the writing was good and I was able to finish it. However, it is not my kind of book. Far too much blood, guts, and gore with little plot or character development. I think some people must enjoy this type of read as it is a very famous book, I am just not one of them. 

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Content Warnings

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

michelleabdanan's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Full of beautiful, meditative descriptions of the desert landscape broken up by some of the most horrific and depraved acts of violence put to page. I’m honestly not sure if I liked it but it was masterfully written and I’m going to think about it for a long, long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

caitdanger's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation

nwfalens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

zrals's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

The story of the novel is famously difficult - lots and lots of graphic violence, grounded in historical events. However, the prose is excellent and the characters are compelling, though rarely likeable. It approaches so many big questions packaged in a quick moving story. It celebrates landscapes while emphasizing the terrible things human beings will do to have them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

smokeylives's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

plantainicus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

amortellus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

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

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

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