Blood Meridian

Or the Evening Redness in the West

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Richard Poe

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Author of the National Book Award-winning All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy is one of the most provocative American stylists to emerge in the last century. The striking novel Blood Meridian offers an unflinching narrative of the brutality that accompanied the push west on the 1850s Texas frontier.

©1985 Cormac McCarthy (P)2007 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

“The authentic American apocalyptic novel…I venture that no other living American novelist, not even Pynchon, has given us a book as strong and memorable as Blood Meridian.” (Harold Bloom)

"McCarthy is a writer to be read, to be admired, and quite honestly envied." (Ralph Ellison)

"McCarthy is a born narrator, and his writing has, line by line, the stab of actuality. He is here to stay." (Robert Penn Warren)

Beautiful. Dark. Thought provoking.

If you have a faint constitution, or an aversion to grotesque imagery, turn away from this one. We are not going on a happy journey.

But, if you can abide the darkness here, you will be rewarded with what I think it's McCarthy's best work, with an ending more haunting and unforgettable than anything else I've ever read.

Amazing

One of my favorite books! I listen to it regularly and always learn more each read. Highly recommend to anyone.

The judge

I liked when judge holden said “you gotta know when ti holden, and when to fold em. Its judging time!”

What more can be said?

Every list I examine of Best Books of the 20th century, Scariest Books, and Best American Books have Blood Meridian on them. And the book deserves each accolade. The word dystopian barely describes the desolate and baseless landscape these characters inhabit. It will thrill you, terrify you, excite you, and oftentimes depresses you, but you will never be bored.

This is the novel of a hired band of mercenaries who head into the southern states and through Mexico, hunting the native Indians. The land is lawless and without any moral code to speak of. Our main character is a nameless kid who has been on his own since his early teenage years. He strikes up with the band and survives amidst the chaos and depravity.

You haven't read any other book like this and it's time you did. The plot is unreal, the characters strange, and the narration is dead on - if you'll pardon the pun.

The Hobbesian natural condition of mankind

If you could sum up Blood Meridian in three words, what would they be?

Brilliant, poetic, violent.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blood Meridian?

"The kid" and the expriest hide in the rocks, hoping to not be discovered by the monsterously brutal Judge Holden who has been trailing them. "The kid" has not one, but two opportunities to surprise and kill Judge Holden. It is the only point in the novel when I wanted a character to commit an act of violence. Despite the urgings of the expriest Tobin, "the kid'" passes on both opportunities. He lives to regret it.

What does Richard Poe bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Richard Poe's narration is, as always, outstanding. I can imagine myself giving up on a challenging book like this without a great narrator to pull me along.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. As much as I admire Cormac McCarthy's brilliant, powerful and often lyrical prose, I needed occasional breaks from the unending depictions of violence and brutality.

Any additional comments?

I have ambivalent feelings about this novel. The writing itself is brilliant. For that alone, the book merits five stars. However, this is, after all, a fairly nasty story about a marauding band of white scalphunters killing and taking scalps throughout northern Mexico and the southwest United States circa 1849.

I struggled at times to find a point to these depictions of violence, If the point is simply to deromantisize the Old West, it is, pardon me, overkill. However, I think that McCarthy may have had something bigger in mind, At one point in the novel, the despicable Judge Holden disapprovingly tells the other scalphunters the following: "Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak." I suppose that McCarthy's point is that without the rule of law, we would find ourselves in what Thomas Hobbes referred to as the 'natural condition of mankind' where it's every man for himself without regard to others. Maybe I need to reread Hobbes' Leviathon in order to better appreciate the themes of Blood Meridian.

Entertaining Historical Listen

They say McCarthy's knowledge of history is excellent. If this book is an indication, our western history was really tough on those that went through it. This book is the most gruesome one I have encountered. Not as good as McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, but well worth the entertaining listen.

Terrifyingly beautiful

As the last words rang out, hairs on my arm stood on end. This is a book of duality. Terrifying and brutal with prose painted and beautiful. Be warned, the violence is unthinkable. But the story itself; it’s thought provoking nature is undeniable.

Judge Holden. Look him up. Perhaps the most terrible villain ever committed to page or film lives within these words. Beware his presence. Behold the grace of which his existence is captured.

This is truly a 5 star novel

Disappointed.

I had a hard time following this book. it was full of violence, in fact unnecessary violence. Sure, the early West was tough but balance the violence with a great story. I found this to be only a fair to good story. The central character, the Judge, was totally annoying and rambled on and on to the point where I was hoping he would be shot or run down by a herd of wild and crazed goats. narrator was very good but for me what I will remember most about the book is that it didn't end soon enough.

The Most Violent Fiction Book I've Ever Read

Wow. This was the most violent and disturbing fiction book I've ever read. I've read violent books before but nothing like this. Human depravity was the constant thread in this book, and it was all described so thoroughly and completely with McCarthy's fantastic prose that it was hard for me to not look away (or hit the "stop" button) despite it being so often dark and disgusting.

Set in the 1840s in Texas, Mexico, the American Southwest, and California, the story follows the main character, a fourteen year-old boy referred to as the "Kid" who flees his troubled life in Tennessee and ends up with joining some bounty hunters in Texas who collect Indian scalps. Basically, they ride through the desert and ruthlessly slaughter anyone they come across - Indians, settlers, other wanderers. Villages are burned. Scalps are collected and ears are collected and displayed on necklaces. Scalps are turned in for money in towns, and the group enjoys a drunken (often violent visit) for a few days in these towns before setting off again. On their rides no life is spared - innocent men, women and children and butchered without a second thought, and animals are stolen or killed to be eaten, or sometimes tortured or just shot and left to die. There was even a scene where one of the gang grabbed two babies and violently killed them in a disgusting fashion. And all of this is described in great detail. It was shocking. I almost drove off the road a few times.

The antagonist (the worst of the antagonists I should say) is a fellow named the Judge. Described as giant bald hulk, this guy is a psychotic murderer and rapist; however, he is also highly educated and extremely intelligent and teaches the gang of knuckle-draggers about the Bible, astronomy, evolution, the natural world, and general philosophy. He takes notes and draws interesting things in a notebook. While he and the Kid often separate and go their own ways, sometimes fleeing from Indian attacks, he always seems to find his way back to the kid and in the middle of the plot.

Also described in great detail were the Mexican and American Southwestern settings and the brutal climate, and these seemed like characters themselves. There was never enough water and day-to-day survival was sometimes difficult especially after suffering wounds during attacks or being attacked by Indians.

There is a lot of Spanish spoken in this novel and I think I missed out on a lot because I didn't understand any of it.

This is certainly a Western, but spends it's time on the dark side of life in the West. The gang is ruthless, viscous, and covered in dust and dried blood most of the time, and on the verge of starvation and dehydration regularly. All the dark facets of humanity are display in this well-written but disturbing novel.

I'm going to give this four stars. It's like nothing I've ever read and is so well written that it will live in your head but at times too over the top for me. There is a part at the end about a family and their pet dancing bear that almost did me in.

I've got some more McCarthy on my shelves and I can't wait to read it.

An American Classic

Inscrutable, apocalyptic and genocidal. McCormick at his apex. This classic American novel is read with gusto and verve. Amazing.