Emi B. (wantonvolunteer) - , reviewed on 11/26/2009 + 84 more book reviews

This was one of the most difficult books I've ever tried to read. The story is gory, about a sharp-shooter kid who joins up with the Glanton Gang hunting scalps along the Texas-Mexico border around 1850. The violence begins on the second page and doesn't let up throughout the entire book. I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time, all the carnage and baseless hatred was exhausting. There's another character called The Judge and also Holden (most characters in the book are referred to at least a couple different ways, which is confusing) who is evil incarnate; I think he's supposed to be the devil, "he never sleeps and he says he will never die," and little children and animals go missing and are brutally murdered whenever he's around.

If I had the chance to start over reading this, I would have skipped Harold Bloom's ridiculously intimidating intro. I want to read The Road and No Country For Old Men but I think it's going to take some years to get the bad taste of Blood Meridian out of my head. (shudder)

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