• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Blood Meridian is a masterpiece

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

blackadde

Member
A pretty intense read. Don't bother with a dictionary, just accept the confusion as part of an impression of the world he throws you into. It's a brutal, bleak, and challenging meditation on the role of violence that just happens to be set in a Western theme. A friend of mine likened it to reading the Bible, and he isn't wrong - it's like a child turning these characters around in his hand to examine them in the light before idly crushing them into a paste. Absolutely worth the struggle of overcoming the somewhat difficult prose.
 
B

Billy_Pilgrim

Member
It's fucking amazing, and has one of the best alternative titles in history too:

Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
 
A

A Fish Aficionado

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Kieli said:
I initially read it like that too, but eventually I stopped trying to understand every word and read it like a stream of consciousness.

Just let the beauty of the words and images flow over me. Only re-read if I absolutely have zero clue what's going on.
Click to expand...

Yes, but also knowing those words really enhances that experience. I tend to reread McCarthy so many times that the first read isn't that all encompassing.
Even the simplicity of The Road can give me so much more as a reader.

MrOogieBoogie said:
One of my favorite books.

There's a great lecture on YouTube from Yale about the book.
Click to expand...

This makes me miss college. I love discussing literature.

Her lecture is damn fascinating. I read Moby Dick for college. So this takes me back.
 
RowdyReverb

RowdyReverb

Member
What was that one line about Judge killing a bird or something simply because it existed without his permission? That always stuck with me for some reason
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
RowdyReverb said:
What was that one line about Judge killing a bird or something simply because it existed without his permission? That always stuck with me for some reason
Click to expand...

”The freedom of birds is an insult to me. I'd have them all in zoos."

Switch Back 9 posted it earlier in the thread.
 
VenomousCoffee

VenomousCoffee

Member
Excellent book, and I think that the last paragraph (the Judge in the bar, not the Epilogue) is the best piece of writing in literary English.
 
Spuck-uk

Spuck-uk

Banned
The ending to the book is staggering.

Actually all of it is, probably my favourite book, and I hope they never make a film of it.
 
W

Wensih

Member
MrOogieBoogie said:
One of my favorite books.

There's a great lecture on YouTube from Yale about the book.
Click to expand...

Thanks Oogie. I read Blood Meridian in highschool, and I think like many didn't come away with much other than remembering the visceral violence and haunting landscapes. I would love a deep thorough analysis on it as I've heard that there are a lot of literary references hearkening back to poets and authors like Wordsworth and Melville that someone without a lot of literary history would completely miss.
 
K

kswiston

Member
The part with the babies being dashed against the rocks disturbed me for several days, and that was just an off-hand visual descriptor. Similarly horrible stuff happens in other books, but it's the language McCarthy uses to describe violence which makes it so potent.
 
K

KodaRuss

Member
It is a great book but it is so hard to read. I had to stop reading it a few times because of the violence in it. No other book has really had that effect on me, even McCarthy's other books.
 
I

Iksenpets

Banned
Switch Back 9 said:
I've honestly never struggled with a book to the level I'm currently facing with BotNS. Shit is tough yo!



Well, time for a reread hahaha. I just want to post fifty Holden quotes. His rant about birds is incredible and really sums up what's so shitty about human beings.



Also, one of the most badass lines in the history of literature and very Ghengis Khan
Click to expand...

"The freedom of birds" bit is probably the line from a book that has stuck with me more than other. It's so ridiculously ostentatious, but the character earns it.
 
N

nailbombxx

Member
It IS a masterpiece OP. McCarthy's prose and symbolism is so profound. I really need to reread it, I'm sure there's a lot that I missed.
 
Jibbajabbawockky

Jibbajabbawockky

Member
kswiston said:
The part with the babies being dashed against the rocks disturbed me for several days, and that was just an off-hand visual descriptor. Similarly horrible stuff happens in other books, but it's the language McCarthy uses to describe violence which makes it so potent.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the way McCarthy spins words and his descriptions of just horrible violence are so eloquent in the most disturbing way possible.

Definitely one of my favorite books, just for the imagery and the way McCarthy creates this terrible surreal nightmare of words. For whatever reason, amidst all the terrible things in the book, the snakebit horse description always stuck with me as one of the worst:

“They had but two animals and one of these had been snakebit in the desert and this thing now stood in the compound with its head enormously swollen and grotesque like some fabled equine ideation out of an Attic tragedy. It had been bitten on the nose and its eyes bulged out of the shapeless head in a horror of agony and it tottered moaning toward the clustered horses of the company with its misshapen muzzle swinging and drooling and its breath wheezing in the throttled pipes of its throat. The skin had split open along the bridge of its nose and the bone shone through pinkish white and its small ears looked like paper spills twisted into either side of a hairy loaf of dough. The American horses began to mill and separate along the wall at its approach and it swung after them blindly. There was a flurry of thumps and kicks and the horses began to circle the compound. A small mottled stallion belonging to one of the Delawares came out of the remuda and struck at the thing twice and then turned and buried its teeth in its neck. Out of the mad horse’s throat came a sound that brought men to the door.”
Click to expand...
 
T

Tonky

Member
I have a question regarding the ending because I'm still confused about it.

Is it implied that Judge Holden killed the Kid?
 
K

kswiston

Member
TheExhaustedWalrus said:
McCarthy is a genius and Blood Meridian is pretty incredible. I also love The Road but I need to read more of his stuff.
Click to expand...

I have only read Blood Meridian, The Road, and No Country for Old Men so far. I tried to start Suttree, but it wasn't the right time for that book. Those who complain about the inaccessibility of Blood Meridian should probably just steer clear of Suttree, unless things change after the first 25-30 pages.

The Border trilogy is on my reading bucket list. I think 2017 is a good year to knock off another McCarthy book or two.
 
S

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
Probably the first book where I highlighted passages just for their beauty. Depraved, bleak, gruesome beauty.

No, no, no. This is beautiful. This is art.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
Ditto, it is my favorite Cormac McCarthy novel and Judge Holden is arguably his most compelling character. To this day I have yet to figure out what he stands for.
 
T

TheLetdown

Member
Kill3r7 said:
Ditto, it is my favorite Cormac McCarthy novel and Judge Holden is arguably his most compelling character. To this day I have yet to figure out what he stands for.
Click to expand...

Harold Bloom takes a Gnostic look at it. It's worth looking into his interpretation.

The closing piece seems to suggest he's representative of humanity's drive for war and technology to further that. We're those little figures following him from hole to hole.

Screaming Meat said:
I just finished listening to that at work. It was gorgeous. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...

Here's another musical variant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Pale_Light_in_the_West

There are YouTube versions out there, I think.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
TheLetdown said:
Harold Bloom takes a Gnostic look at it. It's worth looking into his interpretation.

The closing piece seems to suggest he's representative of humanity's drive for war and technology to further that. We're those little figures following him from hole to hole.
Click to expand...

Yep that is what I have read as well.
Also that the Judge and Kid are one of the same.
Also, I thought Bloom came to the conclusion that Judge was inexplicable.

He wants to keep Judge Holden completely inexplicable. Saying that he is a sort of Gnostic demiurge is too facile for McCarthy’s portrayal of him. - http://www.avclub.com/article/harold-bloom-on-iblood-meridiani-29214
Click to expand...
 
N

nitewulf

Member
Switch Back 9 said:
Blood Meridian is my favourite book of all time, read it multiple times, and I'm struggling way harder with Book of the New Sun.

With BM, I actually found it easier to read while stoned. It's got this feverish flow to it that just grabs you eventually if you sort of turn off your brain.
Click to expand...
Gene Wolfe?
 
K

kswiston

Member
Safs Safs Safs said:
Suttree is less accessible than Blood Meridian but still should be read. I prefer the writing in Suttree to any of McCarthy's books.
Click to expand...

I will try again at some point. It's the sort of book you have to read on vacation when there's nothing pressing on your mind, and you can devote all of your concentration to it though.

I will probably tackle All the Pretty Horses as my next McCarthy book.
 
S

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
guek said:
It's my most admired book but hearing it's someone's favorite should elicit some eyebrow raising. Shit is fucked up, yo.
Click to expand...

I gravitate towards art that makes me feel.

Regardless of what feelings they are, Blood Meridian absolutely made me feel.
 
M

MoonsaultSlayer

Member
Switch Back 9 said:
I've honestly never struggled with a book to the level I'm currently facing with BotNS. Shit is tough yo!
Click to expand...
This made me think of my several attempts to read Only Revolutions by Danielewsky. I restarted it so many times over a few years and it finally clicked when I started singing it instead.
 
B

Beaulieu

Member
Ive started that book last year.
Couldnt make it past 30 pages.

Non english native speaker but I'm reading exclusively in english.
Read through Infinite Jest without an issue.
 
S

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
TheLetdown said:
Here's another musical variant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Pale_Light_in_the_West

There are YouTube versions out there, I think.
Click to expand...

Nice, I'll check it out.

Tonky said:
I have a question regarding the ending because I'm still confused about it.

Is it implied that Judge Holden killed the Kid?
Click to expand...

Yeah. Considering how descriptive the book is regarding acts of violence and the consequences, it's telling that Holden's final act is only 'shown' by people's reaction to the aftermath. It has been a few years since I last read it, but I took that to mean it was so awful and repugnant, it was beyond mere words (which, ironically, says a lot).
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
jonnyp said:
Should make an HBO TV show of it instead. I'm not sure they can capture it in a 2 hour movie.
Click to expand...

HAH a show without any real love interest that focuses on the biggest scum on the earth with little to no redeeming parts to their characters while they follow the devil in the flesh and commit rapes, murders and all manner of atrocities. Yeah no I don't think we'll be seeing Blood Meridian as a HBO show any time soon. Nothing on TV comes close to it the lengths it goes in portraying humanities horrors that isn't a straight documentary on the Holocaust or something along those lines.
 
H

hugocésar

Member
I read it a few years ago and was completely taken aback by the writing. Some of the most beautiful and unsettling descriptions I've ever read. But honestly, it's been a few years and I remember very little aside from the first chapter and what was done to the Apaches. The opening paragraph is one of the most memorable and impactful pieces of writing I've read. Up there with the opening of a hundred years of solitude for me.
 
L

Lorcain

Member
The Road is one of my favorite books, so I was really looking forward to reading Blood Meridian (based on recommendations). I completely understand and can relate to readers struggling with the book. His narrative style/technique for Blood Meridian seems to really connect with a lot of readers, or not at all for some, like me. I'm jealous of those that were able to dive right into BM and enjoy it.
 
I

IggyChooChoo

Member
For years Tommy Lee Jones wanted to adapt Blood Meridian but never got it to happen. Some of you may be interested in his movie The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which, while not apocalyptically violent like BM, does have some elements in common -- and one specific scene taken directly from BM in which
a mule falls off a cliff.
 
H

hampig

Member
Is All the Pretty Horses as challenging to read as this? I read The Road and found the writing style interesting, but with this book my eyes just glaze over halfway through some of the long sentences.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Do you watch / Have you returned to watching pro wrestling recently?
2
50
1K
violence replied
  • Poll
Et tu, Brute?
Poll 2
51
3K
TrueLegend replied
John "Liver-Eating" Johnson
26
2K
GymWolf replied
So I've been to Venice
39
2K
ForAcademicPurposes replied
Happy Independence Day, GAF
48
2K
German Hops replied
Top Bottom