Set in the anarchic world opened up by America's westward expansion, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is an epic and potent account of the barbarous violence that man visits upon man. Through the hostile landscape of the Texas-Mexico border wanders the Kid, a fourteen year-old Tennessean who is quickly swept-up in the relentless tide of blood. But the apparent chaos is not without its order: while Americans hunt Indians - collecting scalps as their bloody trophies - they too are stalked as prey.
Since its first publication in 1985, Blood Meridian has been read as both a brilliant subversion of the Western novel and a blazing example of that form. Powerful and savagely beautiful, it has emerged as one of the most important works in American fiction of the last century. A truly mesmerising classic.
***
[SEE THE CHILD]***
(@picadorbooks, 13 August 2015, first published 28 April 1985, 372 pages, ebook, #popsugarreadingchallenge 2020, a western, bought from @AmazonKindle)
***
***
I've read a few of McCarthy's book now. I wouldn't describe myself as exactly a 'fan' but I have mostly enjoyed what I've read. I wasn't sure I would finish Blood Meridian at first which disappointed me because I've heard such praise heaped upon it. I found it hard going and really couldn't get into it at first. It was a slog and I almost quit a few times but kept pushing on because a phrase or a scene or other stuck in my head. Before I realised it I was lost. The prose of the book is not just a challenge but the context is as well. It's chilling and bleak and horrible at times but so real I got shivers down my spine. I'm so glad I stuck it out.