Scan barcode
damontorrancebaby's review against another edition
it was boring and i hate native americans
dataphyte's review against another edition
5.0
In my literary pantheon, Nabokov held the distinction of being the only writer who makes me feel as though I am hallucinating. But now, the old lepidopterist will have to share that position with Cormac McCarthy.
Before remarking on the mind-bending violence of this book, I feel it is essential that I make space for appreciating the miracle of this prose. McCarthy writes in higher dimensions, his sentences are are like the 3-dimensional shadows of 4-dimensional objects. The sense of something above and behind the words is everywhere, and it everywhere left me feeling like a Dionysian celebrant the morning after a religious epiphany, my mind brushing the edges of a gnosis found and lost.
A few other things you can expect it this book:
- an unrelenting blizzard of archaic words equestrian, martial, period-spanish, and nothing in particular.
- questions asked, pondered by unlikely philosophers, and left hanging in the fetid air.
- As in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Blood Meridian attains a polish that reflects the soul. The reader would do well to ponder what they perceive in this book, for it is in no small part they themselves.
- Violence, gore, torture, racism, rape, and human misery in such abundance and of such quality as I have never in my wildest dreams or basest video games envisaged. The horror here has a body to it, a kind of volume inside of which any direction you might point leads merely to more and varied cruelties. A kind of horror in which the notion of redemption is outside of the possibility matrix.
Stylistically, the vernacular speech succeeds in capturing a time, place, and state of affairs in the world. It succeeds in asking lots of questions. If I were a historian of the period, I would like to pass judgement on the accuracy of the immense amount of historical detail. To me, it felt right.
A friend once told me that each book read was, in a sense, a different life lived. The things I saw inside of Blood Meridian will never leave me—McCarthy sees to that.
Before remarking on the mind-bending violence of this book, I feel it is essential that I make space for appreciating the miracle of this prose. McCarthy writes in higher dimensions, his sentences are are like the 3-dimensional shadows of 4-dimensional objects. The sense of something above and behind the words is everywhere, and it everywhere left me feeling like a Dionysian celebrant the morning after a religious epiphany, my mind brushing the edges of a gnosis found and lost.
A few other things you can expect it this book:
- an unrelenting blizzard of archaic words equestrian, martial, period-spanish, and nothing in particular.
- questions asked, pondered by unlikely philosophers, and left hanging in the fetid air.
- As in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Blood Meridian attains a polish that reflects the soul. The reader would do well to ponder what they perceive in this book, for it is in no small part they themselves.
- Violence, gore, torture, racism, rape, and human misery in such abundance and of such quality as I have never in my wildest dreams or basest video games envisaged. The horror here has a body to it, a kind of volume inside of which any direction you might point leads merely to more and varied cruelties. A kind of horror in which the notion of redemption is outside of the possibility matrix.
Stylistically, the vernacular speech succeeds in capturing a time, place, and state of affairs in the world. It succeeds in asking lots of questions. If I were a historian of the period, I would like to pass judgement on the accuracy of the immense amount of historical detail. To me, it felt right.
A friend once told me that each book read was, in a sense, a different life lived. The things I saw inside of Blood Meridian will never leave me—McCarthy sees to that.
bblackwood's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wes_hannen's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
gracenebowman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ioric's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.0
brghreader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.5
miyyui's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5