• Blood Meridian

  • Or the Evening Redness in the West
  • By: Cormac McCarthy
  • Narrated by: Richard Poe
  • Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (10,045 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Blood Meridian  By  cover art

Blood Meridian

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Richard Poe
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

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)

Featured Article: The Best Western Audiobooks for Your Inner Outlaw


The now classic Western genre has shaped modern literature, film, and other forms of entertainment. Whether your story is taking you to space or to the wide-open plains of Utah, it’s likely pulling on the tropes and themes of a traditional Western. Our favorite audiobooks don’t just encompass old classics though—we’ve gathered a full breadth of work so that all fans of the genre can find everything from family-friendly listens to gritty adventure tales.

What listeners say about Blood Meridian

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6,475
  • 4 Stars
    1,833
  • 3 Stars
    972
  • 2 Stars
    439
  • 1 Stars
    326
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6,443
  • 4 Stars
    1,367
  • 3 Stars
    444
  • 2 Stars
    105
  • 1 Stars
    121
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5,438
  • 4 Stars
    1,417
  • 3 Stars
    842
  • 2 Stars
    418
  • 1 Stars
    348

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

could listen to it again and again

Would you listen to Blood Meridian again? Why?

yes, so much that my wandering mind possibly missed

What did you like best about this story?

historical fiction is my favorite. the setting in the southwest is familiar

Which scene was your favorite?

not sure that there is a favorite. will listen again. and again. and again...

Who was the most memorable character of Blood Meridian and why?

the judge at the end and the kids friend that is missing ears

Any additional comments?

cormac mccarthy has an interesting technique. both books that ive listened to have had the same effect regardless of the difference of the narrators. both narrators did an excellent job.. both stories moved quickly. enough that i know that i would find plenty in a second and even third listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece

Relentlessly brutal, yet effortlessly beautiful. A new favorite. Perhaps one of the greatest novels of the modern era

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Brutal anti-Western; not for the faint-hearted

What made the experience of listening to Blood Meridian the most enjoyable?

The dry almost biblical narration of vivid scenes of senseless cruelty; expostulations on the nature of violence and the underlying brutality of human nature.

What did you like best about this story?

A bleak, and, I think, a more realistic and unromanticized view of the brutality of frontier life.

Which scene was your favorite?

Any scene where Judge Holden gets philosophical.

If you could take any character from Blood Meridian out to dinner, who would it be and why?

They are all blood-thirsty psychopaths, even the best of them. Why would anyone want to seek their company?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • CS
  • 09-23-22

Classic McCarthy, audio is not the right medium

Coming from other ones he’s written, I can see why this is deemed to be his magnum opus. The lyricism of the descriptions clashes so powerfully with the casual brutality of the life the novel depicts. This is one to be read though, in order to have some sort of shield from the gruesome violence but more importantly to savor each line, go back and forward, read and read again, especially when the Judge’s treatises.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

You Will Lose Sleep

It’s an amazing story and the writing is beautiful, but it will hurt you. I had very little faith in humanity to lose, but this novel might’ve scraped a little of the last of it away.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

an incredible story about the nature of evil

the whole book is bleak but it's bleakness has a point, and that is that evil will never stop or subside and all that needs to happen is for good or decent men to stand by.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning

Simply a cannot miss experience of modern American literature. Stupendously read by Poe. The characters come to life in a way that’s terrifying and beautiful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brutal

This one will Leave a mark. It’s so so dark. But wow what a book. The violence is so common it becomes expected

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Fo
  • 03-13-21

No Idea what that story was.

I listen to books while farming. Usually I miss a few words or sentences as I'm working because I am focused on work. I rarely find this to hinder my comprehension, this was an exception. I have very little understanding of the story... hard to follow.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great book

I absolutly love this book. So eloquently written on such a dark side of humanity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!