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)

Approach at your own risk!

Through the mid to late 1850’s, a gang of men ride the western frontier indulging in an orgy of violence and depravity. The landscape is bleak and hellish, their wandering, aimless and seemingly endless, the vistas deeply symbolic and portentous. On the course of our journey through McCarthy’s dense and vivid prose we are confronted by many questions and themes which are beyond the ability of this particular reader to understand fully.
Rather than attempt any examination of this work instead I direct the potential reader to the internet where may be found a rich vein of critical analysis on this novel. This an astonishing vision, a rare work. It is not “The Road”, but rather its darker and more complex, older sibling. At almost 14 hours it is a remorseless and demanding undertaking. Approach at your own risk.

Masterpiece

The definitive portrait of the American West. The definitive novel by the most important writer of his generation. The writing is stunningly beautiful, and Richard Poe's reading is spot-on. A flawless masterpiece on paper and, equally remarkably, in this recorded format. So be a major thinker and put down that Dan Brown: count yourself among the few of your generation who have experienced BLOOD MERIDIAN, the MOBY DICK of its century, before it's too late.

Faulkner of the Frontier West.

When I started reading I couldn't find the thread in this stream of consciousness narrative. But after a couple of chapters I understood that there was no traditional "storyline" per se. Instead, from the very first paragraph, the reader simply materializes beside a young man who is trying to survive in an incredibly hostile environment. We watch as he randomly encounters various threats and opportunities. The images are horrific, but feel authentic. The writer uses archaic language, the kind one finds in letters and journals of the period. That and the graphic descriptions of atrocities committed paints a vivid and shocking picture for the reader. Not unlike the shock viewers of Deadwood (HBO series) first experienced at that depiction of the Old West, so in stark contrast with our shared cultural myths (ala Gunsmoke). We don't often talk about the atrocities perpetrated against the native population here, and when we do we don't talk about what those atrocities really were. We more often talk about the atrocities committed by natives against settlers. Here we see clearly it was a tit for tat escalation, an apocalyptic era with no limits on cruelty and brutality.

I think it's brilliant. But it's certainly not for everyone.

unflinching and beautifully written

though i'm not a fan of the chapter headings which are too "detailed" like old style victorian or pre-vic novels, the "in which our hero etc. etc etc." delineating all the vital plot points of the chapters, and i realize this is partially the style he's emulating, i would rather not have any surprises or suspense diluted, this is an excellent novel. think Moby Dick crossed with the Wild Bunch and written by Jerzy Kosinski and you may have a sense of the brutality and yet the philosophically poetic language which pops up. there is depth here to be pondered, but be prepared...

A Poetic, Metaphoric, and Symbolism-Rich Wonder

I'll be frank right up front: I loved this book. It's McCarthy has such a seemingly effortless ability to render forth horrific and beautiful descriptions of everything from sunrises to Indian attacks that it's enough to make one weep with envy.

McCarthy certainly gives the lie to the nostalgic romanticizing of the Old West enshrined in American culture; these cowboys 'n Indians aren't film-stock black hats/white hats (as it were), but each as brutal, kill-happy, and merciless as the other. Entire massacres are committed and described by McCarthy as almost trivial, mundane, routine matters; and the blood drips from literally every page. The grue and gore isn't exploitative in the slightest, however, as many other books containing graphic violence are charged with; the combination of McCarthy's palpably sensuous prose and his obvious knowledge of his subject serve not to titillate, but to simply tell a story.

Overall: A deep, searing story where the bad may overtake the good, but the writing style is the gold of this book. This book will stick with you for a long time...

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Violence, the Devil and the West

To come to terms with this violence described in unrelentless detail and frequency is not possible to our 21st century minds. The face of the brutal wars of the western conquest cannot be reconciled. Yet here we are, the ancestors of these people who defeated Mexicon and tamed the natives. This is a novel about squarely facing our bloody past, without ambiguity. I'm now struggling to view any depiction of evil without the Judge. He is dancing, light on his feet, he thinks he will never die. McCarthy makes the connection at the conclusion to the ambiguous main character, to us, to our silent violent past and our continuence of the western ethic, to this day. Brilliant reading and narration. I'm far from being over this one.

Not for Me - Know Yourself

This allegorical story is a mind quest and the descriptions of the land are amazing, but they compromise 30% of the book. The rest is blood and guts. Not enough in my book to qualify it for the literary praise it gets. No thanks. If you are like me, you might stay away, too. Otherwise, if you like blood and guts, there are some really amazing thoughts and speeches in the book, you should probably go for it and enter the frey.

And they road on...

My husband convinced me to listen to this because I absolutely love No Country. Apparently Joe Rogan mentioned this being a great true American novel. Anything Rogan says is gospel with my husband. Anywho.. I surprisingly loved this book. It's gritty truth kept me entertained for a very long toad trip. If you are familiar with Cormac, you know going in, it's not going to be happy, there's no neat ending and there's probably going to be some cringy moments that make you need to take a beat before "riding on..."

The Best.

One of my favorite books ever. I could read it over and over again. The best.

the deepest, poetic, vivid story u will ever read

the character of the judge is the closest personification of thee actually Satan u will ever read. Cormac McCarthy sees deep and farther than most men that have ever lived or wrote. U will need to read the book again.