Emily May’s review of Blood Meridian > Likes and Comments

I barely got through Blood Meridian and removed it from my read list. Like you said, the narration was so unengaging and distanced I couldn't comprehend anything that happened aside from scalps.

I despise this book! Never would have read it but for a lit class taught by a whippersnapper, grad student, David Foster Wallace fan boy when I returned to school to finish an abandoned degree.
I do recommend All The Pretty Horses by this author. It puts his beautiful writing on display without subjecting readers to pornographic levels of violence. And if you listen on audiobook the lack of punctuation disappears.

i really enjoyed The Road but this sounds like a no for me. the punctuation thing drives me up a wall. it doesnt feel clever or interesting, it's frustrating and makes reading your book difficult for no reason!

Zohal wrote: "I barely got through Blood Meridian and removed it from my read list. Like you said, the narration was so unengaging and distanced I couldn't comprehend anything that happened aside from scalps."

Exactly. Some people said the book was hard to get through because it was so violent and disturbing, but I felt completely detached from the violence. McCarthy could have been describing steam-cleaning a sofa.

Theo wrote: "I despise this book! Never would have read it but for a lit class taught by a whippersnapper, grad student, David Foster Wallace fan boy when I returned to school to finish an abandoned degree.
I ..."

I actually read All the Pretty Horses many years ago and can't remember it at all. I was probably too young for it, to be honest. I'll have to try it again.

Alyssa wrote: "i really enjoyed The Road but this sounds like a no for me. the punctuation thing drives me up a wall. it doesnt feel clever or interesting, it's frustrating and makes reading your book difficult f..."

I agree. I tolerate it, but I've never felt it added anything but frustration and confusion.

I’ve given very few books one star in my life, but this is one of them.

Jill wrote: "I’ve given very few books one star in my life, but this is one of them."

I did consider it.

Lol I hated it. I gave it one star and I adore Cormac McCarthy!

One of those authors who write for men who like to be seen reading more than they like actually reading

Amy wrote: "One of those authors who write for men who like to be seen reading more than they like actually reading"

😂 it's too true

I agree, I thought the writing was beautiful at times and I was interested in the strange monologues by the Judge, but it was too violent and I really shouldn’t have read it at 14. It’s a very dry book. I get people calling biblical, but I found it dense without purpose. I honestly only read it because a guy I liked didn’t stop talking about it… and my crush on him ended after I finished it LOL.

Wondering if you’ve read No Country for Old Men, by McCarthy? I found that much better than The Road …

Craig P. Lockhart wrote: "Wondering if you’ve read No Country for Old Men, by McCarthy? I found that much better than The Road …"

It's another one I've had on my list forever. I feel like I should read it, but I don't know if McCarthy's style is just one I should stay away from.

As someone who really likes McCarthy's style, I agree it's not everyone's cup of tea and tbh I think it's kind of dumb that people tout it as more 'intellectual' than other styles. I like the no-punctuation because it flows nicely when I read it, it makes me feel more connected to the story because it feels (to me) more like an ongoing internal monologue than words on a page. if you want to try McCarthy again I would not recommend The Road, but rather All the Pretty Horses. That said, I'd totally get it if you and McCarthy just don't vibe. Hell, I probably couldn't finish a Jane Austen book if you put a gun to my head.

Caitlin wrote: "As someone who really likes McCarthy's style, I agree it's not everyone's cup of tea and tbh I think it's kind of dumb that people tout it as more 'intellectual' than other styles. I like the no-pu..."

Yeah, I suspect it is just incompatibility with his style. I will have to try one more to see, but I've always had a problem with those rambling (to me, anyway) stream of consciousness narratives. I do enjoy an Austen but I like the darker feel of the Brontes most.

I find his writing to be beautiful, but often at the cost of clarity. While I did enjoy the book, I wouldn’t describe it as a pleasant read, and I agree with most of what was said in your review.

Hi Emily. Unrelated but are you going to read Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries? Although romance was timid, I found the faeries characterisation almost as good as Holly Black's

Thanks for this review I always love reading your reviews :)

I have dropped a few of his books... maybe the road is the only one i like, lol i give up

Agree. I do love No Country For Old Men though. I kept thinking about that book when I was doing other things during my day, and just wanted to spend all day reading it. This book though....it was a slog to get through. I kept putting it aside and starting other books. The way violence is written in this is so detached that I felt nothing while reading it, which i'm certain was the point. (But I see a lot of men on Goodreads saying that women don't like the book because they can't stomach the violence. It's like, in this desensitized world? 🤣 ) I just simply didn't care. Not about the characters, nor the goofy things they were going to do next- which involved a lot of spitting. SO MUCH spitting. I didn't even care to know what the ending was going to be. I just wanted it to end. Lol.

Definitely not my cup of tea. I love murder mysterys, but, this is a little over the top.

"Also, I’m getting tired of authors who are just too intellectual and literary for punctuation. Great, you know how to not use speech marks and commas. I’m happy for you." Love this!

I believe I've seen McCarthy saying he didn't want to dirty up the pages of his books with the "messy" punctuation or something like that, as if all letters and symbols aren't the exact same damn thing. Like, what makes a period "messier" than a quotation mark or a question mark?!

McCarthy doesn't use the punctuation as a pure aesthetic reason, he thought punctuation marks made the page look messy. I actually agree and I would have a problem with it if the language was hard to follow, but it wasn't. He's not for everyone, that's for sure. If you haven't, read THE ROAD, very different (also grim) but quite a great read.

Your heart's desire is to be told some mystery. The mystery is that there is no mystery.

I’m on chapter 4 and I agree with you! I’m thinking to DNF this because I can’t get into it. The story seems interesting but the writing style puts me off cause half the time I have no it’s unclear what’s happening in the scene and I’ll have to read

comparing mccarthy's writing to jay kristoff's YA garbage feels contrarian. kristoff thinks he's someone like mccarthy.

Totally get what you mean. I understand that it's not for everyone. I think we all do, actually, so there's not anything I'd say that hundreds haven't. Though, I think the punctuation thing is kind of nitpicky. It's like not respecting a guitar player for not using a pick on an electric, or better yet, a sax player who uses a saxophone with blue lacquer. Sure, it sounds/looks a little different, but how much does it really change?

Eeeeeexactly!!

Ive never experienced a more gut wrenching, jaw dropping scene of pure awe than the first Apache attack of the unexpecting first mounted troop anywhere...And the description of the first encounter with The Judge in the middle of the desert by Captain Glanton's troop? Fogedaboudit!
UH!
MAY!
ZING!!!

Great review Emily!

I really wish we could stop saying that Faulkner, Hemingway, and McCarthy are “men’s writers”. This is the same impetus that convinces women that reading about war “isn’t for them.” If you don’t like Faulkner, Hemingway (who wrote FAMOUSLY one of the most humanize female characters of the modernist period), or McCarthy—it’s not because they are “at the men’s table.” You simply do not like these three radically different writers. I wrote my PhD thesis on Faulkner. The Crossing made me sob openly and for days. I regularly teach Hemingway to college classes of multiple genders. These authors write about violence against oppressed and marginalized people—African Americans and Indigenous people for Faulkner; war veterans, especially traumatized female nurses, even a proto-trans character, poor Latin American people for Hemingway; Appalachian people, Indigenous people, and Mexican people for McCarthy. Men and women are parts of these groups. Blood Meridian is a novel about how savage and inhuman the Mexican American War was—the repercussions it had on those who both suffered it and served in it (Glanton for example.) Okay—so maybe you’re not persuaded by this discussion of human suffering. If you’ve managed to read any of McCarthy’s work without finding his passages of narration stunningly beautiful, though—I fear you don’t actually enjoy literature. “Long description of rocks and grass”—Jesus. Just admit you only enjoy YA and be done with it.

Chapters 4, 17 and 22 contain some of the most entrancing and vivid passages I’ve read. Ever. Also, as a person in a profession relying heavily on aesthetics I completely gravitate to the removal of punctuation and the redundancies of a thousand ‘…..she said.’ and the like. McCarthy is art in one of its highest forms.

You are both brave and correct.

PHWACK! *chortle*. I still can’t decide whether to read this book or not but your ‘phwack’ has almost decided it for me. I kind of want to read it now so I can put the ‘phwack’ in the appropriate places.

I absolutely loved it. It got me thinking and challenged me. It opened my mind too. I also love how polarising this book can be.

If you’re going for ‘pretentious and myopic’, your review nailed it. Congrats.

I don’t think you understand, but that’s okay.

I totally agree with your take that it’s far too cold and unmoving to be disturbing. It was off putting, but it became so gratuitous that it felt like I was reading any other book despite how detailed the violence was. Cormac McCarthy seemed to write violence just for violence’s sake. The entire book basically blended together for me, where we have the beginning, mass killings, and the end. that’s it. I don’t understand how people are gleaning life changing knowledge from this book quite frankly. And I’m tired of ppl saying “you just don’t understand it” no I understood it, and still didn’t like it lol.

Uh? It's almost like that's kinda the point? For the characters to be 1-D and stripped down? They're scalphunting savages ffs.

Can you help me please, this is my first day and I don't understand how I can buy the book ???

Sarah wrote: "I really wish we could stop saying that Faulkner, Hemingway, and McCarthy are “men’s writers”. This is the same impetus that convinces women that reading about war “isn’t for them.” If you don’t li..."

beautiful comment

The whole point of the book is to make you not like the main characters the judge is literally like the definition of evil. If you want his writing to sound like someone else’s read a different book. The lack of open mindedness is astonishing. The characters are made in a way as to get you to become callous to them they are total evil through and through it’s a book about people and how it used to be and sadly this is exaggerated version of events

Sarah wrote: "I really wish we could stop saying that Faulkner, Hemingway, and McCarthy are “men’s writers”. This is the same impetus that convinces women that reading about war “isn’t for them.” If you don’t li..."

What a shame Goodreads decided to stop sending me notifications for this comment thread because I would have loved to tell you back in December that you completely misrepresented what I said. I never called them "men's writers". I called them "super deep literary dudes" because they are. Women can like super deep literary dudes, too.

“Long description of rocks and grass”—Jesus. Just admit you only enjoy YA and be done with it.

No, thanks. Maybe you should just admit you enjoy long descriptions of rocks and grass? It's okay. We all like different things.

Have you read John Fowles? Granted I’ve only read the French Lieutenants woman but I really enjoyed it.

Have you read Stoner by John Williams. I’ve heard it said Cormac Mcarthy writes like him. Williams’s style is elegant and less self indulgent.

I 100% agree. Fans of this book are the people that are out in the world using big words without understanding their meaning. Pretentious, thoughtless and more than slightly dull. This book was completely without a plot. Just a long, violent travel log.

Neo wrote: "Have you read Stoner by John Williams. I’ve heard it said Cormac Mcarthy writes like him. Williams’s style is elegant and less self indulgent."

Stoner is one of my favourite books. I wouldn't say Williams writes anything like McCarthy, though.

The long descriptions of scenery, giving the natural world the same malice and and agency and harshness as the violent men worked for me. He even makes the sun seem malicious, he uses the unchanging desert and its hostility pretty well imo, in delivering the themes on man’s savagery

get real

. 100 percent agree with your review! Wish I saw it before I read it.

The writing could be beautiful. But the book seemed utterly devoid of plot or characters.