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A review by brobuck3
Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
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!!!