I have been a fan of Cormac McCarthy ever since reading The Road. I found it to be one the of the best books I had read in many years. My wife suggested that when I was ready for a heavy book I give Blood Meridian a try. Man, she wasn't kidding.
The book loosely follows the "adventures" of a character referred to only as the kid. The boy witnesses a killing right away in the book and soon finds himself traveling with Captain Glanton. They travel across the Texas/Mexico boarder hunting Indians for their scalps. The cover of the book describes is as, "A classic American novel of regeneration through violence." That is a huge understatement. Most of the book is dirty men traveling across wastelands, hunting Indians and killing them. Then using the gold they make to drink, whore and destroy everything they come upon. It takes the classic Western novel and turns into a slaughterhouse.
I felt it was a bit much and I struggled to get through the book. I read a number of other books while I was reading this one since often times I didn't want to pick this one up. It doesn't change my opinion of McCarthy's writing though. It was crisp and clean and minimal. The writing itself was engaging and I enjoyed it, but the reality and grittiness of the subject matter was hard to handle. Although the book is fiction it is certainly based in reality and you know the things described, despicable as they are, happened again and again as people spread out across our country.
It takes the idealized vision of westward expansion in America and presents it realistically horrifying and disturbing.
4 Intellectual/Emotional - This is tough one to rate. I can't say I liked any of the characters and that makes it hard to get invested, but I certainly had an emotional response to the book. It made me feel uncomfortable. Since that seems to be the point I have to conclude it is a success.
2 Style/Readability - I rate this low not because McCarthy isn't a master of modern literature. He is. The writing is superb, but the nearly endless slaughter and violence made it very difficult to read.
4 Long Term Impact - McCarthy is already considered among the best of authors producing work in our time. Many consider this the best of his writing and it will go down in history accordingly.
10 out of 13. I can't recommend this book. It can only be defined as brutal. If you are looking for "the truth until it hurts" this may be for you. I do recommend you pick up The Road instead.
Either way, Keep Turning Pages.
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