Blood Meridian - I Don’t Get It….(Spoilers)

[shannerdrake]

Third time’s the charm. I finally finished Blood Meridian. After two failed attempts, I found myself on a beach with plenty of time and rum (probably should have read Hemmingway instead, by I degrees) so I picked up Blood Meridian and read it over the course of four days.

I. Don’t. Get. It. I’ll be up front. As much as I want to love McCarthy, I really don’t. I’ve read five of his books now and I find them to be a really long episode of Seinfield (about nothing) with lots of big words and poor grammar and abysmal punctuation.

For what it’s worth, I’m not some bumpkin. I read 15-20 books a year and am degreed in the humanities. Shoot I read books and wrote papers in my Calculus and Chemistry classes. I have tried to read him for fun, as an academic exercise, and from an art perspective. Regardless, all of his books end up feeling like a few hundred pages of him describing a few guys riding horses for days, months, years, and violent killings. John Grady Cole’s horse had more miles than my Silverado.

So, enlightened men and women of Hunt Talk, please explain to me what I’m missing and tell me why it didn’t just read my last CMcC book?

 

[Jofes]

If you don't enjoy it, I wouldn't worry about it. It's your opinion, I know plenty of people who don't like the book. I don't understand Dostoevsky or however you spell it.

Maybe try "the crossing"? Its less gore and better storytelling. (My favorite of his)

I enjoyed blood meridian because it's feels like the story between a young man whose not good, and true evil/the devil and he's not sure what to do, but he can't get away, and somehow everything turns out okay for evil, but everything else is maimed or destroyed that it touches, himself included.

 

[shannerdrake]

If you don't enjoy it, I wouldn't worry about it. It's your opinion, I know plenty of people who don't like the book. I don't understand Dostoevsky or however you spell it.

Maybe try "the crossing"? Its less gore and better storytelling. (My favorite of his)

I enjoyed blood meridian because it's feels like the story between a young man whose not good, and true evil/the devil and he's not sure what to do, but he can't get away, and somehow everything turns out okay for evil, but everything else is maimed or destroyed that it touches, himself included.

So far I’ve read Child of God, The Border Trilogy, and now BM. I do agree that The Crossing was my favorite of the five. I’ve debating reading No Country for Old Men since I liked the movie so much.

Yeah, the Kid knew he was bad, but he met evil and couldn’t escape it. In classic McCarthy fashion, he makes you think for a moment that he can escape it, but you know he won’t.

Curious for your opinion on what was happening in the Epilogue?

 

[WesternWyoming]

I didn’t enjoy Chaucer, Beowulf, Hawthorne, or Dickens: all the authors English majors were required to read. Why spend a moment longer on a book you detest?
Don’t worry about who you should read. Find books you love, that can carry you through, that give you courage and lift you up. Find your tribe.

 

[noharleyyet]

Cormac's literary device somewhat makes me think of this: https://poets.org/poem/anyone-lived-pretty-how-town

My difficult slog was Suttree...profoundly disturbing, took me over a decade to finish. I'm thinking McCarthy was equal parts genius and mad.

The Passenger was my last & I didn't even try Stella Maris (the 2nd volume of The Passenger series), his only work I've not...

Blood Meridian is my favorite.

 

[Hem]

Cormac's literary device somewhat makes me think of this: https://poets.org/poem/anyone-lived-pretty-how-town

My difficult slog was Suttree...profoundly disturbing, took me over a decade to finish. I'm thinking McCarthy was equal parts genius and mad.

The Passenger was my last & I didn't even try Stella Maris (the 2nd volume of The Passenger series), his only work I've not...

Blood Meridian is my favorite.

Suttree was disturbing. Watermelons getting assaulted....wtf.

 

[44hunter45]

All so tragic and raw.

All The Pretty Horses feels the most digestible to me. Maybe why he finally got a bestseller with it?

 

[shannerdrake]

Cormac's literary device somewhat makes me think of this: https://poets.org/poem/anyone-lived-pretty-how-town

My difficult slog was Suttree...profoundly disturbing, took me over a decade to finish. I'm thinking McCarthy was equal parts genius and mad.

The Passenger was my last & I didn't even try Stella Maris (the 2nd volume of The Passenger series), his only work I've not...

Blood Meridian is my favorite.

After I finished reading BM, my wife saw me pondering rather pensively and asked me what was wrong. I said something to the extent of “I just finished this book and can’t process it. I wish I had Ken’s cell.” Somehow I knew you had read it and have perspective.

I think I had built it up so high in my mind that I knew it had no chance of living up to my expectations. However, I was not prepared to flat out dislike it.

 

[Jofes]

So far I’ve read Child of God, The Border Trilogy, and now BM. I do agree that The Crossing was my favorite of the five. I’ve debating reading No Country for Old Men since I liked the movie so much.

Yeah, the Kid knew he was bad, but he met evil and couldn’t escape it. In classic McCarthy fashion, he makes you think for a moment that he can escape it, but you know he won’t.

Curious for your opinion on what was happening in the Epilogue?

I think the epilogue makes the judge to be more clearly untouchable, evil, and a somewhat spiritual being instead of a physical one we see throughout the book.

And everyone is enjoying the judge, but kid and reader knows just how evil he is...

Evil is so active throughout all CMs writings that it's almost the main character.

Similar to Anton in no country for old men.

 

[brymoore]

McCarthy is a favorite author of mine. I’ve read all his books. When I finished Blood Meridian, I was overwhelmed, potentially terrified. I didn’t read another McCarthy book for five years. I thought it was a great book, I just couldn’t invest myself that deeply into another McCarthy book for awhile.

 

[Lmartin5]

Agree with the consensus above...having read the majority of his work(s), I was left contemplating this one.

Very dark, hateful, and full of life-changing decisions/opportunities.

With that said, I would tune in for the big screen production.