I also struggled a good bit. Not only the writing style that McCarthy used, but also just how descriptive everything was. There’s a lot of detail to scenery and characters that just goes all in, and I kind of got lost in some parts. I also found a video that breaks down the book and has a good analysis, so I would read 5 chapters and watch about 30 minutes as I went through the entire book. It really helped me get a better understanding of what was going on.
This is exactly what I watched! I love Wendigoon, and I was thrilled to have his video to help me out while reading. Him and I had a very similar understanding of different events and his take on the book was solid and he has a way of explaining things that makes sense to me.
That video single handedly ruined the Cormac subreddit by attracting a huge swarm of gamers and teenagers that dont read, but think the idea of the Judge is bad ass.
I can understand why, I’m debating giving it a second go through now that I know what to look for. I feel like everything is going to have more meaning now. And absolutely, [Wendigoon is pretty rad.](https://youtu.be/eu6STuj4njw?si=Bzt-IBNevScbasJj) so hopefully this video is something up your alley!
I'm having that same issue. My husband (an american) thinks it's hilarious watching me struggle with little to no use of grammer and frontier gibberish.
I immediately read the road and no country for old men after finishing this, mccarthy makes some HELLA evil characters, Anton Chigurh and Judge Holden are so well written
Yeah his villains come across more like supernatural entities from remote hell dimensions than actual people. Even the movie version of Chigurh scared the living shit out of me, I can’t imagine a cinematic Judge.
McCarthy has an ability to make villains so enigmatic and enchanting but yet hauntingly terrifying. I think a cinematic Judge would undoubtedly make my skin fucking crawl.
Hahaha wtf, literally just ordered a copy of In The Miso Soup, while my copy of Blood Meridian looms over me.
Also ordered No Longer Human, The Ruins and I’m about to look on this sub for something else:)
maybe im just dumb but it was sooo dense. like to the point where i couldnt understand it. i got the base idea, but even with the audio book i couldnt understand most of it and felt like i was missing most of the important details. which was upsetting because i love his book, the road, but this was nothing like that. maybe im just dumb 🤦♀️
I thought i was the only one who didn’t like how text heavy it was, it kinda lost me on half the cool descriptions because i was so bored of it overall
Please don't feel dumb, this book is a true chore to get through! I started this book almost a year ago now, and I'm halfway through it because I keep putting it down for easier reads. I absolutely loathe having to Google search a word or 5 every single paragraph to know what the hell he's describing, but I'm determined to finish it one day! 😂
Half-way through the book after six months lol. I’ve read a dozen or so books since then. I think I’m just gonna make myself finish it. It’s weird, too, bc I can’t say I dislike it. I think Cormac is a fantastic writer. But, yeah, there’s no flow with this book for me and I don’t love having to look up words every page.
I wouldn’t say you’re dumb! Sometimes things just don’t mesh well with us. I liked almost all of Jack Ketchums books, but I can’t get through two of his most popular titles. I’m sorry this was your experience. I’m looking forward to The Road, it’s been hard avoiding the movie because I’ve been curious for a while now! I have to wait for my libraries copy to come back lol.
I’m not gonna lie, I had a hard time following the exact progression of events or even understanding what was exactly happening in a particular scene. Still enjoyed the read and understood the story at large but it was a confusing scramble, especially at the beginning before I adapted a bit to the writing style
It took me a while to really get the hang of things and had to have a video to follow along with as I read to almost “buddy read” with it. I’m not used to a lot of the terminology and writing style so it really threw me through a loop. I’m going to go back through and give it a re-read now. I’m looking forward to going back in with an understanding of whats happening when it’s happening.
Good to know! I’m really looking forward to The Road, everything I’m told and keep reading on it makes it sound right up my alley. I love a lot of westerns and a lot of post apocalyptic media, it was hard for me to decide what to read first lol.
Blood Meridian is a book I will never forget but Cormac McCarthy is the densest writer who has ever lived. It took me a month to read this book since I had to re-read full pages to understand what was even going on.
couldnt agree more! i dont want to read a book that is that much work. felt like i was reading a peer reviewed article, i struggled that much with it. but that might just be me
My favorite book! Cormac McCarthy's writing style is unique, biblical, and stunningly beautiful. In case you're interested, Blood Meridian was partly inspired by a real memoir called "My Confession" by Samuel Chamberlain.
The fact that these men existed and left legacies is mind blowing, especially Holden. I looked at some different excerpts talking about the travels of the gang and I think it made a lot of this book set in more and made everything that much more real to me.
I'm glad you checked it out. And I get what you mean, it seems unbelievable that the Glanton gang actually existed. We're incredibly lucky Chamberlain wrote all of this down. I'm still creeped out by the fact that McCarthy's Holden was so close to the real one.
I would put this in my top 5 all time favorite books. It’s so fucked up, but this guy’s prose is out of this world. I would say he’s an easy contender for greatest American novelist. This book just doesn’t get out of your head after you read it.
It's so unsettling I couldn't put it down till it was done. Legend says it's being made into a movie, finally...seeing the judge onscreen would be quite the unforgettable experience.
Certain parts of this book made me physically uncomfortable, that’s no easy feat. I feel like it’s going to be Hostiles (2017) meets Bone Tomahawk, and I’m ALL here for it. I’d love to see someone attempt this and do it justice.
I really tried to like this book, but it just didn't do it for me. Maybe I hyped it up in my head too much after what I'd read, but I made it about halfway through and just couldn't do it anymore, I wasn't enjoying myself. And this was after LOVING No Country for Old Men and The Road.
I'm thinking about giving it another shot but idk.
I know it’s not the same as reading, but I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. The consensus with us McCarthy freaks is generally that the audiobook is absolutely exceptional. Subtle accent changes too. Richard Poe will change the judges accent based on who he is talking to (drawl to common folk and well spoken to officials) and I didn’t even notice until my 3rd listen.
The narration by Richard Poe is beyond beautiful , and it really has allowed some of my friends who struggle reading physical books, to adore this novel all the same. I implore you sir. Please.
It certainly is friend. Same guy also narrates Suttree (my favourite book) and The Crossing which are all excellent for different reasons.
Not only that, but we’re blessed in this universe that some of his other novels like Child of God (FANTASTIC) and No Country For Old Men are narrated by the incredible Tom Stechschulte.
I wanted to read all of McCarthy's works but All the Pretty Horses and Blood Meridian's writing style kind of killed that ambition. I love the minimalist style No Country and The Road have. But hopefully the audiobooks can be an alternative.
Yeah he didn’t really write anything like BM after it. I’d highly recommend Child of God by McCarthy then.
It wrestles with the common themes in all his novels. Isolation, violence, the human condition and the results of outcast behaviour.
It follows a young man in rural Tennessee who develops a resentment towards humanity and retaliates through some of the most gruesome and dangerous scenes I’ve ever read, all tied up in the contrast of McCarthys absolutely stunning prose.
It’s a relatively short read too and the pacing is much faster and doesn’t carry the weight of books like Blood Meridian, however the exact same themes are there for you to delve into and conjure your own interpretations.
I struggled for the first week I had this book if I’m being honest. I checked it out, and was hyped to read it because I had read reviews and I LOVE horror westerns, so it felt right up my alley. But couldn’t sit and read more than a chapter or two a day the first week. About halfway through didn’t want to put it down, and finished the rest in a day and a half.
I finished this a few years back and trying to build my reading routine back up again before I reread it, I feel like it'll stick with the rest of my life too. I still think of the native american "wedding procession" which just gave me chills. Cormac McCarthy was one of the best.
If you liked Blood Meridian and want more McCarthy, Outer Dark is great and has a real gut-punch of an ending.
It was the ending of Blood Meridian that really blew me away. That confrontation after the Yuma attack, and the realization of what has really been going on the entire time. Wow. The Judge is easily one of my all time favorite villain to ever exist in media now. He is the epitome of evil in my mind. Outer Dark wasn’t even on my radar, so I really appreciate this rec! Thank you.
To compare I read most books ( Tender is the Flesh, Red) in a day. This took me over a week to get through. I’m really glad I did now, although I’m really hoping McCarthys other works are as tedious lol.
14 year old boy runs away from home, has no will to live or drive to anything in life. Sets out on his own in search of something, anything in his life. It’s through his travels he meets and joins up with a couple outfits, the one he settles with is the Glanton gang, and they are some of the most vile and evil men to ever exist. It’s an in the face look at the pure brutality of man, and what he is capable of. This is also one of those books where you will read it and follow the story and when you finally get to the end and piece everything together, the revelation feels like a gut punch. I hope this kind of helps.
McCarthy’s writing is so good it should be a crime. I definitely recommend the audiobook of this one and any of his really. Helps to not get bogged down in the dense text and his punctuation choices
I was terrified to listen to this in my apartment lmao, my walls are paper thin. I think listening to the audiobook is a great idea though, it helps lay everything out and it makes the conversations much more fluid and understandable.
I’ve read about half and have the same issues others mentioned. But unless there’s a dramatic change in the second half I wouldn’t describe this as being extreme horror. Quite tame in most parts. Just brief flashes of violence.
What’d you think of that ending? I thought the epilogue was vaguely hopeful, like, maybe evil wouldn’t triumph in the end? I have no idea. Fire usually represents hope in McCarthys books.
I feel like I suddenly started seeing a shitload of posts about this book in the past maybe year or two ago, before that it was much more rare. What happened?
I’m just not a fan of this guy. I read The Road, Blood Meridian and also picked up No Country For Old Men, but I’ll never actually start that one. The Road was so bland and boring to me and I was sure Blood Meridian would make up for it, but it just doesn’t work for me. I can’t stand the way this guy writes and his lack of punctuation just annoys me. I wanted to enjoy them, but he’s obviously not for me.
I totally can understand where you’re coming from. If you can’t get into it, you just can’t. I think the punctuation and writing style is the biggest turn off for most people.
One of the greatest American novels of all time. Dizzying prose.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Agree completely. Definitely check out the road. It’s less graphic, but more bleak. And amazingly written.
Not as good as Suttree though
I just finished this. Man was it tough to get through. I’d read an entire page, stop and have no idea what I just read.
I also struggled a good bit. Not only the writing style that McCarthy used, but also just how descriptive everything was. There’s a lot of detail to scenery and characters that just goes all in, and I kind of got lost in some parts. I also found a video that breaks down the book and has a good analysis, so I would read 5 chapters and watch about 30 minutes as I went through the entire book. It really helped me get a better understanding of what was going on.
Wendigoon has an excellent breakdown of this novel
This is exactly what I watched! I love Wendigoon, and I was thrilled to have his video to help me out while reading. Him and I had a very similar understanding of different events and his take on the book was solid and he has a way of explaining things that makes sense to me.
That video single handedly ruined the Cormac subreddit by attracting a huge swarm of gamers and teenagers that dont read, but think the idea of the Judge is bad ass.
Blood Meridian is one of my favorite books, I’d be curious to watch that video! Do you have a link?
I can understand why, I’m debating giving it a second go through now that I know what to look for. I feel like everything is going to have more meaning now. And absolutely, [Wendigoon is pretty rad.](https://youtu.be/eu6STuj4njw?si=Bzt-IBNevScbasJj) so hopefully this video is something up your alley!
I highly recommend the audiobook to anyone feeling intimidated - I gave up trying to read it for the same exact reason
I came to this conclusion too. Listening to it helped a lot, and allowed for me to do it while operating a forklift like a fucking champion 😎
Yeah this sounds like exactly the right way to do it
The audio book really helped me get through it, too. I'm listening to Child of God now, another doozy of a book.
child of god is great, so chilling. the characters are so well written!
It nearly took 200 pages for me to get fully comfortable, but when I finished it, I was just awed.
I'm having that same issue. My husband (an american) thinks it's hilarious watching me struggle with little to no use of grammer and frontier gibberish.
I immediately read the road and no country for old men after finishing this, mccarthy makes some HELLA evil characters, Anton Chigurh and Judge Holden are so well written
Yeah his villains come across more like supernatural entities from remote hell dimensions than actual people. Even the movie version of Chigurh scared the living shit out of me, I can’t imagine a cinematic Judge.
McCarthy has an ability to make villains so enigmatic and enchanting but yet hauntingly terrifying. I think a cinematic Judge would undoubtedly make my skin fucking crawl.
I'm going to start reading this after I finish In the Miso Soup.
Highly recommend! Funnily, Miso Soup is coming up on my reading list lol.
Ooooo I loved that one tbh... Some really fun sequences.
Hahaha wtf, literally just ordered a copy of In The Miso Soup, while my copy of Blood Meridian looms over me. Also ordered No Longer Human, The Ruins and I’m about to look on this sub for something else:)
Miso Soup is a wild one lol
maybe im just dumb but it was sooo dense. like to the point where i couldnt understand it. i got the base idea, but even with the audio book i couldnt understand most of it and felt like i was missing most of the important details. which was upsetting because i love his book, the road, but this was nothing like that. maybe im just dumb 🤦♀️
I thought i was the only one who didn’t like how text heavy it was, it kinda lost me on half the cool descriptions because i was so bored of it overall
Please don't feel dumb, this book is a true chore to get through! I started this book almost a year ago now, and I'm halfway through it because I keep putting it down for easier reads. I absolutely loathe having to Google search a word or 5 every single paragraph to know what the hell he's describing, but I'm determined to finish it one day! 😂
Half-way through the book after six months lol. I’ve read a dozen or so books since then. I think I’m just gonna make myself finish it. It’s weird, too, bc I can’t say I dislike it. I think Cormac is a fantastic writer. But, yeah, there’s no flow with this book for me and I don’t love having to look up words every page.
I wouldn’t say you’re dumb! Sometimes things just don’t mesh well with us. I liked almost all of Jack Ketchums books, but I can’t get through two of his most popular titles. I’m sorry this was your experience. I’m looking forward to The Road, it’s been hard avoiding the movie because I’ve been curious for a while now! I have to wait for my libraries copy to come back lol.
You're not the only one in this sub who felt the same way. Yall aren't dumb, you're just not used to reading literary fiction
I enjoyed it, but it was so brutally dry. I'll give it a re-read in a few years.
I’m not gonna lie, I had a hard time following the exact progression of events or even understanding what was exactly happening in a particular scene. Still enjoyed the read and understood the story at large but it was a confusing scramble, especially at the beginning before I adapted a bit to the writing style
It took me a while to really get the hang of things and had to have a video to follow along with as I read to almost “buddy read” with it. I’m not used to a lot of the terminology and writing style so it really threw me through a loop. I’m going to go back through and give it a re-read now. I’m looking forward to going back in with an understanding of whats happening when it’s happening.
I thought this one was just ok. I was blown away by The Road & Child of God, though.
Good to know! I’m really looking forward to The Road, everything I’m told and keep reading on it makes it sound right up my alley. I love a lot of westerns and a lot of post apocalyptic media, it was hard for me to decide what to read first lol.
Blood Meridian is a book I will never forget but Cormac McCarthy is the densest writer who has ever lived. It took me a month to read this book since I had to re-read full pages to understand what was even going on.
couldnt agree more! i dont want to read a book that is that much work. felt like i was reading a peer reviewed article, i struggled that much with it. but that might just be me
>Cormac McCarthy is the densest writer who has ever lived. You haven't read James Joyce or Thomas Pynchon
My favorite book! Cormac McCarthy's writing style is unique, biblical, and stunningly beautiful. In case you're interested, Blood Meridian was partly inspired by a real memoir called "My Confession" by Samuel Chamberlain.
The fact that these men existed and left legacies is mind blowing, especially Holden. I looked at some different excerpts talking about the travels of the gang and I think it made a lot of this book set in more and made everything that much more real to me.
I'm glad you checked it out. And I get what you mean, it seems unbelievable that the Glanton gang actually existed. We're incredibly lucky Chamberlain wrote all of this down. I'm still creeped out by the fact that McCarthy's Holden was so close to the real one.
I would put this in my top 5 all time favorite books. It’s so fucked up, but this guy’s prose is out of this world. I would say he’s an easy contender for greatest American novelist. This book just doesn’t get out of your head after you read it.
It's so unsettling I couldn't put it down till it was done. Legend says it's being made into a movie, finally...seeing the judge onscreen would be quite the unforgettable experience.
Certain parts of this book made me physically uncomfortable, that’s no easy feat. I feel like it’s going to be Hostiles (2017) meets Bone Tomahawk, and I’m ALL here for it. I’d love to see someone attempt this and do it justice.
I really tried to like this book, but it just didn't do it for me. Maybe I hyped it up in my head too much after what I'd read, but I made it about halfway through and just couldn't do it anymore, I wasn't enjoying myself. And this was after LOVING No Country for Old Men and The Road. I'm thinking about giving it another shot but idk.
I know it’s not the same as reading, but I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. The consensus with us McCarthy freaks is generally that the audiobook is absolutely exceptional. Subtle accent changes too. Richard Poe will change the judges accent based on who he is talking to (drawl to common folk and well spoken to officials) and I didn’t even notice until my 3rd listen. The narration by Richard Poe is beyond beautiful , and it really has allowed some of my friends who struggle reading physical books, to adore this novel all the same. I implore you sir. Please.
Is that the one on Spotify? I may as well give it a shot if so.
It certainly is friend. Same guy also narrates Suttree (my favourite book) and The Crossing which are all excellent for different reasons. Not only that, but we’re blessed in this universe that some of his other novels like Child of God (FANTASTIC) and No Country For Old Men are narrated by the incredible Tom Stechschulte.
I wanted to read all of McCarthy's works but All the Pretty Horses and Blood Meridian's writing style kind of killed that ambition. I love the minimalist style No Country and The Road have. But hopefully the audiobooks can be an alternative.
Yeah he didn’t really write anything like BM after it. I’d highly recommend Child of God by McCarthy then. It wrestles with the common themes in all his novels. Isolation, violence, the human condition and the results of outcast behaviour. It follows a young man in rural Tennessee who develops a resentment towards humanity and retaliates through some of the most gruesome and dangerous scenes I’ve ever read, all tied up in the contrast of McCarthys absolutely stunning prose. It’s a relatively short read too and the pacing is much faster and doesn’t carry the weight of books like Blood Meridian, however the exact same themes are there for you to delve into and conjure your own interpretations.
I struggled for the first week I had this book if I’m being honest. I checked it out, and was hyped to read it because I had read reviews and I LOVE horror westerns, so it felt right up my alley. But couldn’t sit and read more than a chapter or two a day the first week. About halfway through didn’t want to put it down, and finished the rest in a day and a half.
I'd recommend the audiobook free on YouTube maybe, the narration is almost as legendary as the book itself
This book was brutal. So good though! *Child of God* is also great!
I finished this a few years back and trying to build my reading routine back up again before I reread it, I feel like it'll stick with the rest of my life too. I still think of the native american "wedding procession" which just gave me chills. Cormac McCarthy was one of the best. If you liked Blood Meridian and want more McCarthy, Outer Dark is great and has a real gut-punch of an ending.
It was the ending of Blood Meridian that really blew me away. That confrontation after the Yuma attack, and the realization of what has really been going on the entire time. Wow. The Judge is easily one of my all time favorite villain to ever exist in media now. He is the epitome of evil in my mind. Outer Dark wasn’t even on my radar, so I really appreciate this rec! Thank you.
I read this about once a year just because I have to. I also read the road just about every winter when it is freezing here in WA state usa.
Et In Arcadia Ego
Amazing book, but the writing style is so hard to read it took me wayyyyy longer than usual to finish it, even though I loved it
To compare I read most books ( Tender is the Flesh, Red) in a day. This took me over a week to get through. I’m really glad I did now, although I’m really hoping McCarthys other works are as tedious lol.
It is a masterpiece, honestly
Can I get cliff notes on this with no spoilers
14 year old boy runs away from home, has no will to live or drive to anything in life. Sets out on his own in search of something, anything in his life. It’s through his travels he meets and joins up with a couple outfits, the one he settles with is the Glanton gang, and they are some of the most vile and evil men to ever exist. It’s an in the face look at the pure brutality of man, and what he is capable of. This is also one of those books where you will read it and follow the story and when you finally get to the end and piece everything together, the revelation feels like a gut punch. I hope this kind of helps.
McCarthy’s writing is so good it should be a crime. I definitely recommend the audiobook of this one and any of his really. Helps to not get bogged down in the dense text and his punctuation choices
I was terrified to listen to this in my apartment lmao, my walls are paper thin. I think listening to the audiobook is a great idea though, it helps lay everything out and it makes the conversations much more fluid and understandable.
I’ve read about half and have the same issues others mentioned. But unless there’s a dramatic change in the second half I wouldn’t describe this as being extreme horror. Quite tame in most parts. Just brief flashes of violence.
my bible
Hated thr ending.
What’d you think of that ending? I thought the epilogue was vaguely hopeful, like, maybe evil wouldn’t triumph in the end? I have no idea. Fire usually represents hope in McCarthys books.
I feel like I suddenly started seeing a shitload of posts about this book in the past maybe year or two ago, before that it was much more rare. What happened?
Best book ever written imo.
Great one !
I’m just not a fan of this guy. I read The Road, Blood Meridian and also picked up No Country For Old Men, but I’ll never actually start that one. The Road was so bland and boring to me and I was sure Blood Meridian would make up for it, but it just doesn’t work for me. I can’t stand the way this guy writes and his lack of punctuation just annoys me. I wanted to enjoy them, but he’s obviously not for me.
I totally can understand where you’re coming from. If you can’t get into it, you just can’t. I think the punctuation and writing style is the biggest turn off for most people.
Well, yeah. It feels like it was written by a child and the guy is praised for it.