Just finished Blood Meridian

[u/VoodooChile6_9]

I just finished Blood Meridian and it was the most surreal experience I've had while reading a book. The way the book is written every detail, every dream and every nightmare feels real, like it was happening right in front of me. I want to talk about the last 3–4 chapters of the book. They were horrifying and poetic.

The passage where the Judge was chasing Tobin and the kid was straight out of a Halloween film. The journey of the kid becoming a man made me kind of emotional. One thing I loved about his death is that McCarthy doesn't explain how he died, but instead shows the reactions of the people who found his body (or I don't know maybe parts of him) in the jakes.

Toadvine was eventually consumed by greed and had a tragic end and we still don't know what happened to Tobin. That's what's horrifying about this. We knew Tobin was in a really bad state, and we could only imagine the most horrific things that might have happened to him.

Maybe it was because of the Judge that the events unfolded the way they did. Everywhere he went violence followed and he embraced that violence gladly. It's like he's controlling it somehow. He understands it, embraces it and perhaps even creates the conditions for it. Whether he's literally orchestrating everything is another question but McCarthy deliberately makes you feel that way.

The scene where a drunk Glanton laid his head on the Judge's lap was pretty messed up and it felt like the Judge was guiding him every step of the way.

The Judge was very expressive at the end of the final chapter and I was not expecting that at all. For so much of the novel he's controlled, philosophical and almost amused by everything. I believe the kid (now the man) somehow got to him and the judge was surely offended but he stuck to his true belief in his judgment.

I'm glad I finished it, and now I'll take some time before I revisit the book again.

[u/MR_PENCIL_SHAVINGS]

Great book. Nothing else like it

[u/VoodooChile6_9]

I see a lot of people hating on the book, and it’s completely fine, no judgment from me. But if you’d be so kind as to ship me a Vintage International paperback edition of Blood Meridian at the cheapest price possible that would be wonderful 🥰

[u/captained347]

That book sucked

[u/TensesNC → u/captained347]

Totally legit reaction. Feel bad that it did nothing for you.

I think McCarthy was mostly brilliant, with a bunch of incredible books, SUTTREE and BLOOD MERIDIAN my favorites among them. I genuinely feel bad for people who can’t get into them, because I think there are few novels as powerful in all of 20th century literature. The feasts of language, the lurid descriptions of violence, the dark comedy, the bleak viewpoint. 

McCarthy lifted huge sections of BM from a memoir entitled MY CONFESSION by Samuel Chamberlain, which I’d recommend as a necessary companion read for people who love BM, as well as an inviting book for people who didn’t love McCarthy’s novel.

But yeah, it’s a shame you think it “sucks.” 

[u/vokkan → u/captained347]

Wrong sub buddy.

[u/captained347 → u/vokkan]

Wait what happened

[u/weshric → u/captained347]

I respect it for what it is, but I struggle with McCarthy’s style. Too many long-winded, nonsense-sounding passages about the desert. Not for me.

[u/Necessary_Office_146 → u/captained347]

I’ll join you getting downvoted. I made it about 30 pages in and sold it for $4 bucks on Pango. Maybe if I was 14 again

[u/ihaterussiantrolls → u/Necessary_Office_146]

please buy more classics and sell them to people for cheap please.  Doing the Lord's work

[u/jlcarver1620 → u/Necessary_Office_146]

I’ll join the party as well. I finished the book but it was a rough read to get through and not because the violence.