Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

59 reviews

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

fkshg8465'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An incredibly violent book, providing an intimate look into a psychopath’s head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kaduku21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Colonisation

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: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Genocide

Minor: Cursing, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Excrement, and Cannibalism

mike_petrow's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

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: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

princemyshkin's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Like nothing else, the pages and prose flow like spilled blood. Ultra violent, decedent. Pulling punches only to save the viewer from the worst abuses.
Initially feeling stilted, once you accept the patter, it rushes over you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

redmarten83's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

fatherofmysteries's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

There is no review I could write that could begin to sum up the journey that this book took me on

He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent