the book is extremely layered and deep and its kind of embarrassing that's all you got out of it
I got 1/4 of the way through it on youtube audiobook while cleaning my house one day and then bought it immediately. I finished it in two days. I the got no country, the road, and pretty horses. Corncob is great.
I guess it also helps that part of my childhood was spent in the american southwest, so the description of the landscapes is very vivid for me.
That wasn't even the most obvious theme, and you managed to miss it. Think. The Gang slaughtered there way across every area they went, except one. One town fought back and beat them out. What else separated those people from the others?
And further - what does that imply about the fact Holden was able to seamlessly integrate into larger civilization, both down in Mexico towards the beginning and back in the States at the end.
Just hit page 200, I will join you anons. My buildings security guard has alopecia & I imagine him as Judge every time I go in and out. Kind of very Kino.
This is what happens when you don't read the author's entire bibliography >violence at the heart of man
Isn't even the main theme of Blood meridian, let alone all his other books that steer clear of violence as theme whatsoever.
I've tried to read this like 4 times and dropped it every time. >Woah humans are violent
Yep...Got anything else to say?
I think the book holds to one tone for too long that I was mostly tired of reading it by the midway point but I needed to finish it before returning it to the library so I made this thread to incentivize me. I don't think it's awful and the Judge was really interesting to read because he's such a strange character, but I think the people that praise this book are hooked by the opening paragraphs and get 300 plus more pages of bloody western proses. I feel the book could have been better with more dialogue rather than rote descriptions of murder and what not. Maybe it's supposed to be shocking but as someone so desensitized to violence in media those pages gave me less than nothing.
the violence is purposefully repetitious but each scene is unique in some way. desensitized you may be, the way McCarthy describes babies being brained or the kid sparing Shelby is hard to forget
It's my favorite novel ever. I love it so much. If you have an Audible subscription definitely get the audiobook, it is very excellent, very high quality. Alternatively, pirate the audiobook for free. It's on youtube (for now). Download yt-dlp and download it while it's hot.
someone explain the ending to me. the gasps of horror from the men heading to the outhouse seem a little unusual if it was simply the man being violently murdered.
how do you figure? the glanton gang was unusually violent. a normal reaction to their atrocities is horror.
i really don’t fricking understand the obsession with the gay rape ending theory. what does that possibly add to the story? how does it even make sense?
i guess i just didn't expect "good god almighty!" from hardened miscreants. is it possible the "man" finally embraced the judge and the hold was symbolic of it? is it possible the kid, now the man, could have raped and murdered the missing girl?
McCarthy successfully tricked you into believing the judge - that all men are as wretched as the scalp hunters became.
I don’t fully understand the ending but I think it has something to do with the judge trying to explain that silence and being unwitnessed dooms men to death (stepping off the stage) and the judges final killing being unseen but also unspecified emphasizes this.
Again with the rape. I don’t think anyone gets raped
1 year ago
Anonymous
well the following paragraph about the judge dancing and he will never die got me thinking about what he represented. which is why i considered that ending. i know he previously danced in the rain following the murder of the young boy. maybe man's innate violent warring nature is what will never die. i'm probably thinking too much about it and the judge just destroys the man for holding clemency for heathens.
I’m reading this too
Got 200 pages left though I don’t think I’m finishing it before archive
I've tried to read this like 4 times and dropped it every time.
>Woah humans are violent
Yep...Got anything else to say?
It actually does. I didnt like it until i finished it and realized its a masterpiece. But you probably read the rest of the story off wikipedia
the book is extremely layered and deep and its kind of embarrassing that's all you got out of it
I got 1/4 of the way through it on youtube audiobook while cleaning my house one day and then bought it immediately. I finished it in two days. I the got no country, the road, and pretty horses. Corncob is great.
I guess it also helps that part of my childhood was spent in the american southwest, so the description of the landscapes is very vivid for me.
Thanks anon for the bump I thought I wasn't going to finish on time at chapter 21, I'm going to bed and gonna finish this in the morning
While I want to read it, I hate run-on sentences, even when used as a form of artistic expression.
That wasn't even the most obvious theme, and you managed to miss it. Think. The Gang slaughtered there way across every area they went, except one. One town fought back and beat them out. What else separated those people from the others?
And further - what does that imply about the fact Holden was able to seamlessly integrate into larger civilization, both down in Mexico towards the beginning and back in the States at the end.
His other works.
sage
I'm on Chapter VIII right now. Kinda boring, hope it gets grittier soon.
Chapter 10 is incredible
Just hit page 200, I will join you anons. My buildings security guard has alopecia & I imagine him as Judge every time I go in and out. Kind of very Kino.
Cormac is good, but everything is a variation of
>muh cowboys
>muh (un)righteous violence at the heart of man
Just read Jose Saramago instead if you like long, pessimistic rambling. Plus he's not a burger
This is what happens when you don't read the author's entire bibliography
>violence at the heart of man
Isn't even the main theme of Blood meridian, let alone all his other books that steer clear of violence as theme whatsoever.
I have finished reading Blood Meridian
final thoughts?
Honestly this
I think the book holds to one tone for too long that I was mostly tired of reading it by the midway point but I needed to finish it before returning it to the library so I made this thread to incentivize me. I don't think it's awful and the Judge was really interesting to read because he's such a strange character, but I think the people that praise this book are hooked by the opening paragraphs and get 300 plus more pages of bloody western proses. I feel the book could have been better with more dialogue rather than rote descriptions of murder and what not. Maybe it's supposed to be shocking but as someone so desensitized to violence in media those pages gave me less than nothing.
Filtered
the violence is purposefully repetitious but each scene is unique in some way. desensitized you may be, the way McCarthy describes babies being brained or the kid sparing Shelby is hard to forget
It's my favorite novel ever. I love it so much. If you have an Audible subscription definitely get the audiobook, it is very excellent, very high quality. Alternatively, pirate the audiobook for free. It's on youtube (for now). Download yt-dlp and download it while it's hot.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA50AB7N5S7f-uHVWvD1YT7Znzh7efWBL
How is his new book?
someone explain the ending to me. the gasps of horror from the men heading to the outhouse seem a little unusual if it was simply the man being violently murdered.
how do you figure? the glanton gang was unusually violent. a normal reaction to their atrocities is horror.
i really don’t fricking understand the obsession with the gay rape ending theory. what does that possibly add to the story? how does it even make sense?
i guess i just didn't expect "good god almighty!" from hardened miscreants. is it possible the "man" finally embraced the judge and the hold was symbolic of it? is it possible the kid, now the man, could have raped and murdered the missing girl?
McCarthy successfully tricked you into believing the judge - that all men are as wretched as the scalp hunters became.
I don’t fully understand the ending but I think it has something to do with the judge trying to explain that silence and being unwitnessed dooms men to death (stepping off the stage) and the judges final killing being unseen but also unspecified emphasizes this.
Again with the rape. I don’t think anyone gets raped
well the following paragraph about the judge dancing and he will never die got me thinking about what he represented. which is why i considered that ending. i know he previously danced in the rain following the murder of the young boy. maybe man's innate violent warring nature is what will never die. i'm probably thinking too much about it and the judge just destroys the man for holding clemency for heathens.