I’ve read a lot of different kinds of books and though I love to read fantasy literature a lot, I decided to take a sort of dive into other forms of literature as well recently. If you missed it, I broke a four-year reading slump this year, so I was trying to ease my brain back into reading lots of books. I recently read Between Two Fires, and I enjoyed that one a lot, but as I was on Goodreads, I got recommended Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West. From the description, I figured that this book would be a bit different than what I was reading lately but it sounded too good to pass up for a read, so I figured, why not, right? I heard a bit about the book online and it being violent but also really well-written, but I never anticipated how much I would actually love this book. So, here is my review of Blood Meridian and why I consider it basically to be one of the best books ever written in American literature.
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What is Blood Meridian About?
Blood Meridian was written by Cormac McCarthy and is an epic western that tells the story of a group known as the Glanton Gang as they cause mayhem in the western areas of the United States and then, Mexico. The story follows several characters, with a concentration on an unnamed character known to readers only as “the kid.” The Kid, to me, sort of represents the “any man” character. He could be anyone and he serves almost as a way for the reader to get a glimpse into the “what if” side of things. What I mean by that is: What if you were in the story? The kid is a runaway who joins the Glanton Gang and throughout his story, you see the horrors and inexplicable terror that he and the Glanton Gang go through and cause directly.
The Glanton Gang are basically contracted to fight the Comanche natives, who are considered violent and have been wreaking havoc everywhere. They essentially have to bring proof of their kills, which they do in the form of scalps. For each scalp, they earn a sum of money. However, wanting to avoid much confrontation with the Comanches, the Glanton Gang begins to attack any group of Natives they found and scalped them, bringing those back as “proof” of the Comanche threat being subsided. Of course, this is where you really see the sort of violence that is present throughout Blood Meridian. I will say, this book is not really light on the descriptions, so if you do find yourself squeamish, just be warned.
The main antagonist of the story is Judge Holden, a figure who I will speak about soon, but he is an enigmatic, philosophical, and pure evil person who represents sort of the worst of the worst in the story. His presence is constantly depicted in a terrifying way and he is constantly foreboding, bringing more people into his evil embrace. He is one of the most well-written antagonists because the subtlety of his actions and the brutality all the same really makes you feel like he truly is a villainous person.
Throughout Blood Meridian, it is painfully clear that there is a foreboding sense of doom and evil. There are glimpses of goodness in the characters, but that is quickly shattered by atrocities committed by them–sometimes for what feels like no reason. Yet, the way the characters are written and the way the story takes you through its events, it’s strange because you love the story but yet, it’s also horrifying. It’s really interesting how writers can do that, and I think it shows a high level of writing ability.
The Writing Style
One of the more standout things about Blood Meridian is the writing style, which you will guaranteed notice right away. Firstly, McCarthy doesn’t write with traditional punctuation and quotation marks in the way that most English literature is written in. Sentences sometimes stretch on and on into whole paragraphs, but in a way, this is one of the more brilliant pieces of the prose of this book. At first, it definitely does strike you as strange, but as you read on, you get used to it relatively quickly. Additionally, the setting descriptions are fantastic. You can feel every emotion reflected in the setting and you can really feel the writing style shine in these areas. This is a very visual book and the prose helps create that sense of you living in the midst of the story. Also, there are lots of really small details that you need to pick up on in order to understand what is happening because it’s one of those “blink and you miss it” type stories. That’s why I’m planning on rereading it so that I can get the full scope of the story now that I’ve gotten an overall glimpse.
Judge Holden
Judge Holden, or The Judge as he’s often referred to, is the enigmatic piece of this story. In a way, he feels almost surreal as a character. He appears in strange ways, comes out of nowhere, seems to have a solution for everything, and his philosophy is horrifying. I’ve seen many theories regarding what Judge Holden is and what he represents, and I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll leave you to try and figure this piece out. He is, in my opinion, one of the best written pure evil villains I’ve ever seen. The story doesn’t try to push in your face that he’s evil, it just shows you what he does and from there, you piece the idea that he is evil together. Just masterful writing in my opinion.
Brutality
I will say this: Blood Meridian is a dark and quite grim story. It’s got all the elements you’d expect of a book like this though and the violence feels on-par with what it should be. It can feel gruesome at times, but you can tell that it’s never done out of exaggeration or for no reason. The violence and the brutality of the characters all serve a purpose in the story because without these elements, it wouldn’t feel right. The people that are depicted in this book are brutal and they do terrible things, so to gloss over this wouldn’t work. It’s not a lighthearted book and it’s not very easy if you don’t do well with violence, so I’m just putting it at that.
A Masterpiece in Literature
I’ve been searching for a book like this for a long time. I’ve read a lot of classics and considerably great American works, but I don’t think any of them have really captured me in the way that this book did. I think there’s something about the hidden commentary through depicting the actions of the characters that just works so well. In another lens, the writing keeps you hooked, the events are all written in a flowing manner, and you can really feel the story through the words. It’s not just something you read, but it’s something that you see. There’s also a lot of philosophy about war, nature, the order of things, chaos, violence, humanity, the lack of humanity, etc… and it really is an introspective book about what makes human beings the way they are. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever stop thinking about this book.
I give this an immediate 5-star rating. Perfect in almost every way, I find it difficult to find any flaws in Blood Meridian. If you want a book that will challenge you and will get you thinking, this is the book you want. If you want something that shows the true harsh and brutal reality of humanity and the human condition, this is the book you want. If you just want to read a book that’s good, this is the book you want. I wholeheartedly recommend Blood Meridian.
You can pick up a copy of it over on Amazon!
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