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mcleary's review against another edition
5.0
This bleak, violent, brutal, dark poetic masterpiece is not for the fainthearted. I will be rereading this book every few years for the rest of my life.
emuishere's review against another edition
This was recommended to me so many times, but I just didn’t get it. Doesn’t seem to be any character or plot development. I guess I understand the book is a collection of snippets on how awful people are…but I just didn’t get anything out of it.
moscar31'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
5.0
Como dijo David Foster Wallace: "Dont even ask."
veryrealpanda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-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? No
4.0
mikaylasky's review against another edition
3.0
I think I may need to reread this sometime in the future. This writing style is kinda wack, lol. I liked the ending a lot, though!
stumpnugget's review against another edition
5.0
UPDATE 2022: Second time reading this. It is one of the greatest and most profoundly disturbing books of all time, without a doubt.
2013: Oh man. This book vomits violence from the first page. But the writing is majestic and almost other worldly in its power and beauty.
2013: Oh man. This book vomits violence from the first page. But the writing is majestic and almost other worldly in its power and beauty.
theorwood's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Beautiful prose - sometimes to the plot’s detriment. Incredible characters that just make you want to pour bleach into your eyes. Thematically so sound, it’s just awful to read. Fuck you white colonizer canon.
brobuck3's review against another edition
1.0
Excerpt from this alleged classic:
"He'd long forsworn all weighing of consequence and allowing as he did that men's destinies are given yet he usurped to contain within him all that he would ever be in the world and all that the world would be to him and be his charter written in the urstone itself he claimed agency and said so and he'd drive the remorseless sun on to tis final endarkenment as if he'd ordered it all ages since, before there were paths anywhere, before there were men or suns to go upon them."
Yep. One sentence. What does it mean? I don't really care. I just know it's near unreadable. But once you learn that McCarthy has a great hate for any punctuation because it 'doesn't look good' this sentence makes sense.
This book is 90% description of a "rabble" or "horde" (McCarthy's two favorite words) riding through a desolate "waste" (another favorite). The horde repeatedly happens upon other hordes, eventually killing and defiling them. The entire book makes me feel nothing. The only theme seems to be that man is beast and nothing more. Groundbreaking stuff Cormac! His descriptions are often excellent, but they make me feel nothing and serve no greater purpose. These spurts of great writing are also straddled by the type of writing above.
Blood Meridian also commits the grave sin of having characters directly spout themes and ideas. Most characters in this book are wisps of people; maybe that's part of the point he's trying to make. But it doesn't serve some greater emotional or philosophical revelation.
Basically: BOOOOOOOOO!!!
"He'd long forsworn all weighing of consequence and allowing as he did that men's destinies are given yet he usurped to contain within him all that he would ever be in the world and all that the world would be to him and be his charter written in the urstone itself he claimed agency and said so and he'd drive the remorseless sun on to tis final endarkenment as if he'd ordered it all ages since, before there were paths anywhere, before there were men or suns to go upon them."
Yep. One sentence. What does it mean? I don't really care. I just know it's near unreadable. But once you learn that McCarthy has a great hate for any punctuation because it 'doesn't look good' this sentence makes sense.
This book is 90% description of a "rabble" or "horde" (McCarthy's two favorite words) riding through a desolate "waste" (another favorite). The horde repeatedly happens upon other hordes, eventually killing and defiling them. The entire book makes me feel nothing. The only theme seems to be that man is beast and nothing more. Groundbreaking stuff Cormac! His descriptions are often excellent, but they make me feel nothing and serve no greater purpose. These spurts of great writing are also straddled by the type of writing above.
Blood Meridian also commits the grave sin of having characters directly spout themes and ideas. Most characters in this book are wisps of people; maybe that's part of the point he's trying to make. But it doesn't serve some greater emotional or philosophical revelation.
Basically: BOOOOOOOOO!!!