Blood Meridian
Or the Evening Redness in the West

Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is unquestionably the most violent novel I’ve ever read. It’s also one of the best. For those who would consider that a turn-off, I offer this caveat: For the overwhelming majority of fiction that involves a lot of violence, the violence itself is an act of masturbatio......more

Blood Meridian has been on my to read list for well over a decade because, quite honestly, I sensed it was not my cup of tea. I’m not sure why exactly… maybe it’s that I’ve suffered my way through Faulkner and Hemingway already and had this gut feeling that they and McCarthy would sit at the same su......more

UPDATE: Cormac McCarthy left our world on June 13, 2023. This book plus The Border Trilogy, No Country for Old Men, and The Road are among the greatest books written by an America in the 20th and early 21st century. RIP, Cormac. We’ll miss your voice Breathless. Unique. Brutal. There are many words......more

There are two ways to evaluate a book, as far as my unlearned mind can concoct at the moment. Stylish literary flourishes sometimes cloud our judgment when it comes to evaluating the plot itself, which is, after all, the reason why the book exists. This book is well written. If I'm a 11th grader, and......more

Cormac McCarthy's west of absolutes is a wonder to behold. Villainous attacks on people devoid a home, desecration of the westland, listings of all things in the majestic, transitory landscape like observations by Darwin at the Galapagos in lush (sometimes horrific) detail, murky human psyches, no d......more