Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy has become one of my all time favorite novels. I’ve read the book three times and listened to it once and upon each reading (and upon my first listen) my appreciation of the work and for McCarthy has only grown.
First, the language is exquisite, the characters are vivid, grotesque, so unbelievable that they seem impossible to fabricate. The dialog in the book is funny, thought provoking, and also grotesque.
I also love the way McCarthy seems to thumb his nose at convention with his notoriously sparse plotting. I have to admit I get annoyed when I read reviews where the reviewer states, “there’s no plot” or “the plot is too simple”. Who gives a shit! Is the book compelling or not? Of course plot has something to do with whether or not a book is compelling, but I’ve found that, at least for me, it’s only a part of the picture. My first criteria as far as “criticism” goes is, “Do I want to continue to read this book?” Of course, just because you want to read The DaVinci Code does not make a book that is on par with Foucault’s Pendulum. However, The DaVinci Code, has accomplished something quite noteworthy (and I’m no fan of Dan Brown) in that it has compelled millions to read the book. But I digress…..
Blood Meridian also moves at an incredibly fast pace. Sure McCarthy makes some word choices that will require the reader to pick up a copy of a 19th Century dictionary, but its worth it and it adds to the lyrically hypnotic feel of the prose.
I also love the way McCarthy refuses to romanticize the west. Sure there were brave, heroic, and tenacious woman and men struggling to survive in the harsh brutality that characterized frontier existence. But for every “good” person, there were probably twenty nihilistic sociopathic assholes waiting to kill or maim anyone who entered their line of vision and in McCarthy’s vision of the West these assholes are sometimes outlaws, sometimes soldiers, sometimes politicians, sometimes churchgoers, sometimes atheists etc. etc.
Blah Blah Blah Blah, I know I know. If you haven’t read Blood Meridian you should check it out. It is in my view the great American novel of the last 40 years….or at least my favorite American novel in that same time span.
