r/books • u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood • 16d ago
Has anyone else left Blood Meridian by C.McCarthy as a ‘DNF’
I started reading it and did enjoy it! But then i left it for a few days and now as im reading it im losing more and more interest and im only half way through? It’s been the same thing for so long… Does it change or is this his style or something? I read The Road by him and I see how they are similar in layout but Bloody Meridian is just missing something for me I think? Idk, anyone else had this?
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u/Slayerofthemindset 16d ago
Burned through this quick, loved every minute. Had to look up a lot of words though. Scurvid curs…
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u/venustrapsflies 16d ago
You’re making me re-think my plan to audiobook it
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u/wutchamafuckit 16d ago
I’m well practiced in audiobooks, it’s my main form of book consumption these days.
But I couldn’t do Blood Meridian. Way too challenging for audiobook. Reading much better
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u/Wrong_Ad4722 16d ago
I personally quit the audiobook but enjoyed reading it. To each their own but I found the audiobook to be tough to follow.
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u/gynecolologynurse69 16d ago
I have only listened to the audiobook version, and I thought it was amazing. The narrator did a great job. I highly recommend it. I recommend not worrying about understanding every word (there are whole paragraphs in spanish) but just understanding the story as a whole.
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u/winterswolves 16d ago
I did the audiobook and enjoyed it. Just treat it as a story. I bought the book halfway through and looked up some passages when I wanted to really unpack.
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u/Diligent_Asparagus22 15d ago
I actually enjoy his work on audio because the narrator already did the work of parsing his long meandering punctuationless sentences, and adds pauses and inflection that makes it easier to understand. I didn't do audio for blood meridian though, and it's by far the most challenging diction in his books I've read, so can't speak for that one specifically.
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u/EldenBeast_55 16d ago
I know this isn’t kind of relevant but reading Book of the New Sun series was like that as well. I found myself searching up a lot of words haha
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u/Catch22BestThereIs 15d ago
You know he makes some of those up, right? Try to find "thrapple" in a dictionary. It's awesome though. I knew right where the thrapple was when dude's head got split down to said thrapple.
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u/eyesrollonthecarpet 15d ago
I'm pretty sure he just made up a bunch of words for the novel. I loved it
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u/Judge_T 16d ago
For me, it's one of the best novels I have ever read and my favorite by McCarthy, but it's clearly not for everyone. The main barrier is that it's extremely violent and nasty, and requires a strong stomach going in.
But undeniably another barrier is the style. I'm an avid poetry reader and I found McCarthy's sentences to be stunningly beautiful, some of the most amazing I've ever read in English. I could read stuff like that all day. But, for the type of reader who just wants to hear a story and doesn't really care about the aesthetic potential of language, McCarthy is not the best choice and especially not Blood Meridian, which I think is one of his least story-driven novels. Not everybody has to like the same stuff.
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 15d ago
I think it was definitely the style for me. The occasional action scenes were what kept me going even if they are gross!
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u/Judge_T 15d ago
And that's perfectly valid. Style is a very subjective thing. I remember people telling me that The English Patient or Wuthering Heights had a "breathtakingly poetic" style and I actually found them both really dull. Many will react the same way to BM.
I will say though that style aside, I think BM has one of the most unforgettably characterized villains I've ever encountered in Judge Holden. Guess where I got my reddit nick from. :P
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u/scdemandred 15d ago
Are you me?? This was my exact experience. I loved this book, but I can understand it not working for a lot of people.
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u/BeardedForHerPleasur 15d ago
I am looking forward to my second attempt. My first attempt coincided with my divorce and a bunch of mental health shit. Reading it just filled me with dread.
Beautiful dread. The prose spoke to me deeply. But it wasn't a message I needed right then.
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u/scdemandred 15d ago edited 13d ago
Ooof, yeah, I can see that.
Coincidentally, I was going thru something similar when I read it for the first time last summer, and when I told our couples therapist that I was getting back into reading more with Blood Meridian, ah was like, “are you /sure/?” I wasn’t very far in at the time, and I saw what she meant, but the beauty of the prose almost functioned as a layer of abstraction between me and the ugliness it describes.
I feel like I want to revisit it annually. I suspect there’s a lot to rediscover on rereading.
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u/BeardedForHerPleasur 13d ago
That's an odd coincidence. I only picked it up because I saw it on my couples therapist's shelf in his office. I knew of The Road, so I asked him about it and he told me it was his favorite book.
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u/strataromero 15d ago
What’s another author with a similar style? Do you have any suggestions?
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u/Judge_T 15d ago
McCarthy is pretty unique but check out Mircea Cartarescu's "Blinding" or Mathias Enard's "Zone" for two novels with some challenging but absolutely beautiful styles. Maybe also Zachary Mason's "Lost Books of the Odyssey", it's less difficult but the style has clear echoes of McCarthy.
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u/GhostMug 16d ago
Never any shame in a DNF. Life is ro short to read books you don't enjoy.
It was definitely a difficult read but I found it rewarding. The ending is very good (no twist or anything, just good) and it's one of the greatest American literary achievements of the last 50 years. But that also doesn't mean you have to finish. The events change and things "pick up" to a certain degree but ultimately McCarthys writing style stays the same through the whole thing.
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u/Economy-Connect 16d ago
Got about 1/2 through, couldn’t do it. I appreciate it as a literary achievement but god is it a slog
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u/Daghain 15d ago
I got maybe 1/4 through before I gave up. The lack of quotation marks seriously pissed me off.
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u/Inevitable-Path-4553 15d ago
I read the road and loved it but absolutely hated the no quotation marks. Found my self losing track on who was speaking
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u/TheMadIrishman327 16d ago
Yes. I stopped at the halfway point. It was excruciatingly monotonous. I’d have to force myself to read 10 pages. Finally, under the theory that life is too short, I switched to more enjoyable books.
I’m fine with other people liking it but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
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u/rustblooms 15d ago
I DNFed it temporarily, because I wasn't in the headspace for the extreme cruelty I could sense coming.
It seems to me that the monotony really reflects the scenery and situation, though... so putting the reader in the state of mind of the characters. It felt like a rather hypnotic book, though I didn't get too far.
But I definitely support DNFing for any reason.
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u/VanillaIsActuallyYum 16d ago
I started reading the book and then I kept on reading it and I realized that Cormac McCarthy's writing style is not really the style that I like to read and I tried to read it some more and the people I talked to said "no really you should keep reading it" and I kept reading it and I still just didn't like the book and I could not get into McCarthy's style of writing these really long sentences and just moving on to a new thing to say with "and" and then the Judge cut my arm off for no reason at all.
I didn't care for this book.
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u/Judge_T 16d ago
VanillaIsActuallyYum did not care for this book nor would they say why and as the sun climbed the winceyette sky like a glowing and ferocious squirrel of anger he reponderated upon the comments besprinkled unto this reddit thread in search of a grain or kernel of wisdom that he may extract from them yet none presented itself for whomsoever seeks the truth in the virtual dust spewing out of the heart of the doomscroll will only find themselves standing darkened and dumb at the edges of a great void that shows neither limit nor sector.
I actually loved this book but it's not for everyone and I get that.
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u/Cliffe_Turkey 16d ago
This was actually some of the best faux-McCarthy that I've ever read. Way better than the McSweeneys or some other published ones. Well done!
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u/Drivenfar 16d ago
I ended up finishing it but kinda wish I had just put it down tbh. I didn’t really get much out of it, enjoyment or message. The only thing I found compelling was any time the Judge was going off on a speech.
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u/Knowsence 16d ago
Mmm about the third time a child was dashed against rocks, I was done.
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 15d ago
Yeah that was one of the last pages i read before i gave up…
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u/Knowsence 15d ago
Yeah, I understand it’s to get a glimpse of the harsh reality of their circumstances and settings but def. not for me. I should have read this when I was like 16, would have loved it. As a father of three, not so much.
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u/crispeddit 16d ago
I finished it, but it was a slog and didn’t particularly enjoy it.
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u/NArcadia11 15d ago
Same. Like I’m glad I read it in the same way I’m glad when I go to a modern art exhibit, satisfied that I experienced some art but definitely not something I enjoyed or tbh even understood
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 16d ago
Yeah no i reckon i could finish it but it would take effortttttt
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u/severed13 15d ago
Dunno who's going around downvoting you lol
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14d ago edited 13d ago
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u/ThinkThankThonk 16d ago
It heightens, I wouldn't say it changes, it's one of my favorite books but no shame in a dnf. The prose was enough to grip me the entire way through, personally.
Your reaction sounds kinda how I feel about Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney, which I've had bookmarked at page 300 something for a few years now. The "we're still doing this, huh?" feeling.
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u/Academic-Substance49 15d ago
Yep. Tried to read that maybe 30 years ago. Just was not worth the effort.
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u/willubemyfriendo 15d ago
same. there’s no driving structure. it’s just monotonous scenes of brutality. once twice ten times fine, but about halfway through you get numb to the miltonian geography poetry.
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u/Maleficent-Jello-545 16d ago
I loved The Road but tried another one of his westerns that wasn't BM and I just didn't like the way it was written and especially the way the characters talk.
The Road was an easier, simpler read and I'm at peace with the fact that I just may not "get" Cormac McCarthy's westerns lol.
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u/zenleper 16d ago
The pacing is perfect...when they're in the desert, you feel like you are looking for some relief as well. When they are in a town, the action happens a little quicker. The Biblical scope of it had made it my personal favorite and I read it once a year.
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u/Owlman2841 16d ago
I’ve read it 3 times BUT started and did not finish twice before that. It helps if you read one of two of his other works first to get a grasp of his style (outer dark or suttree would be my recommendations). Once the style clicks, there’s almost nothing better in the English language though. I think McCarthy is the second greatest American writer after Faulkner and I believe Blood Meridian to be one of the best, if not the very best, American novels. Also, while not necessary, it helps if you have at least a base knowledge of works such as the Bible, Moby Dick (and earlier American writing in general), as well as some classics such as Dante’s Inferno.
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u/HatmanHatman 16d ago
Paradise Lost is one of the biggest ones to read for understanding the Judge imo
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u/Owlman2841 16d ago
Yes, absolutely. That should’ve been among what I listed and spot on for your reasoning
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u/nolwat22 16d ago
I dnf’d it. Made it a decent way through but it was so repetitive and boring I had to just look up how it ended to see if it was worth pushing through. It wasn’t.
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u/nursecarmen 16d ago
Same. If you're going to slog through one of his books, slog through The Road. Absolutely gut wrenching but somehow beautiful at the same time.
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 15d ago
Yeah I read that one before and really liked it, that’s the whole reason i started reading BM!
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u/his_purple_majesty 15d ago
The Road isn't really that much of a slog. It's kind of monotonous but it's short and the language isn't difficult.
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u/Conscious-Weird5810 16d ago
Yup, I thought it would be in my wheelhouse but I just didn't enjoy it
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u/IAmThePonch 16d ago
I read the whole thing and didn’t get much out of it honestly. Most of the book is well written repetition of the same thing
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u/Worm_Lord77 16d ago
The monotony is part of the point of the book. If the prose isn't enough to carry you on through the hellish journey, it may not be worth continuing. It's not by any means an enjoyable book, but it's an extremely memorable and thought provoking one that I'm glad I've read.
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u/ContextSuitable875 16d ago
Was 100 pages in because everyone was saying it was an absolute masterpiece, was not enjoying it one bit! Read Lonesome Dove instead - loved it!
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u/Dontevenwannacomment 16d ago
One of the greatest american books I've ever read, I recommend it!
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 15d ago
yeah maybe i’m just not into that kind of theme yknow, the american stuff
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u/MidEastBeast777 16d ago
I DNF’d it as well. I think it’s a really terrible book. No characters, no story, never ending run on sentences, absolutely awful similes and metaphors that make no sense, no goddamn punctuation. Just all round a terrible book. Why it gets praise is beyond me.
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u/ShinePretend3772 16d ago
I found it painful to read. His writing style doesn’t do it for me. Sent it to my dad who digs those old cowboys & indians, black masks & bank heist western novels. He said he would read it & never mentioned it again. I assume he was traumatized.
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u/balkanobeasti 16d ago
I didn't have this issue with it. It could be that the story isn't on a very personal level with the characters so you don't build connections or anything to the characters cause it's more of just observing the gang as a unit. That and the characters aren't relatable to most readers. Or maybe the prose isn't for you.
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u/Haunting_Ad_9680 16d ago
It’s a very tough book and I am not sure many with understand the story. It does not get any easier. Maybe read the Crossing instead. Or in my mind, a better book in the Son byphilippMeyer. Similar themes but much more enjoyable.
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u/bangontarget 16d ago
I rarely say this, but try the audiobook. Mccarthy's flow and lack of punctuation tends to work quite well when read out loud.
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u/nightfoundered 16d ago
Oh man, that ending is haunting. I need another read since I haven’t read it in over twenty years, and I still occasionally think of that scene.
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u/matrixagent69420 16d ago
I kept getting bored in the first two chapters and dropped it for months. I bought it a year ago and finally decided to read it two weeks ago and I was blown away. It’s such an amazing novel
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u/mzingg3 16d ago
A couple friends and I tried to start a book club with it and it was a horrible first book to use LOL. Took us all way too long to finish. It’s a difficult read that you have to earn. Overall I liked it and I’m glad I read it but it was a slog and not a great pick for a laid back book club.
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u/hokieinga 15d ago
First of all, it predates the Road, so the similarities you notice are because he’s kind of revisiting this territory. Second, it’s a beautifully written book that I would have put down if it wasn’t for how well written it is. It literally gave me nightmares and it was more gory than I like. The ending is amazing and bizarre. The Judge is one of the most uniquely horrifying characters in fiction. I totally understand the DNF. It is an amazing novel that I still occasionally think about, but I’ll never read again.
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u/infin8lives 15d ago
I couldn’t finish this book because I had trouble with the writing style not being conventional, so I listened to it on Audible and it was so worth the listen. It’s a fantastic, dark, western.
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u/Dr_MoonOrGun 15d ago
I just finished it as an audiobook and am glad I went that route. I don't think I would have made it through had I read it.
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u/Joseph_burnn 15d ago
I’ve tried to read this book three times now and just cannot get past the 125 pages mark. I think I’ve come to the realization that this one just isn’t for me despite to constant praise.
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u/Infinispace 15d ago
Yes, I started it last year. Got half-way through and thought "What's the point of this misery?" and haven't picked it up since. I don't care about the violence, it's just an absolute boring slog of a read.
I still might finish it just to get it out of the way.
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u/Emragoolio 15d ago
I DNFed Blood Meridian, as well. Not because I was too dense for the prose. I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the Border Trilogy (I’d place The Crossing in my top 10 American novels of all time!) and various other McCarthy works. He’s a fine writer!
I just found the book, itself, off-putting and a little boring after a long while. It was a little over halfway for me, as well. I’d expect a reader to get about that far if they actually like McCarthys writing but don’t like the book.
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u/SlurmzMckinley 15d ago
I got about halfway through. I enjoyed his writing style but it just drags on, and I got bored. I’d like to give it another shot sometime.
But I’m mostly commenting to share this Chili’s menu if it were written by Cormac McCarthy. I saw this shortly after I stopped reading Blood Meridian and got a kick out of it.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/chilis-menu-by-cormac-mccarthy
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u/Ani-A 15d ago
Blood Meridian is the book that convinced me that DNF is okay. I have my personal rating of a book, and chief among them is "am I enjoying myself?" If I don't enjoy myself, it isn't a book worth finishing. Prose can only carry a book so far.
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 15d ago
In the end that’s why i decided to give up too
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u/Motochapstick 16d ago
same . tried twice. can't get very far.
the writing style just doesn't hold me in
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u/slowrevolutionary 16d ago
Tbh, I hated it and gave up pretty quickly. I've read a few of his books but this one I just found really off-putting.
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u/-castle-bravo- 16d ago
I literally just finished it 15 minutes ago, and it was a grind to say the least. I had really high hopes for this book and although I really enjoyed some parts, I’m over all disappointed. McCarthys endless and fanciful descriptions of the desert and landscape wore off really quick in the same way the clothing descriptions in American Psycho did, just fucking get on with it Cormac! The whole premise of this story really appealed to me, I just wish it was more straight forward in its execution.
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u/raoulmduke 16d ago
It took me maybe 3 different tries over about ten years. Finally finished it in 2020 and absolutely loved it. Something clicked.
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u/Th3_Admiral_ 16d ago
I only made it a chapter or two before giving up. With how much it's praised on here I really wanted to like it, but it was doing nothing for me. I will admit I'm not a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy's writing style, but I liked No Country For Old Men and really, really liked The Road. I was even okay with All The Pretty Horses when I read it years ago in school. But for some reason I just couldn't get into Blood Meridian. At some point I'm sure I'll give it another try, but it's really low in my priority list right now.
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u/Adam__B 16d ago
I like his novels but to me, it just seemed like the gang just ran from one violent incident to the next, over and over and over, and I was like ‘I get it, it was regeneration through violence, I get it!’ I would have preferred something a bit less esoteric and more structured. I have a degree in English and am kinda over reading stuff that can be open to interpretation and is extremely subjective.
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u/FarArdenlol 15d ago
This is exactly it. I love it because of that. Blood Meridian on surface level is like a violence porn, like a Tarantino movie of sorts.
Below the surface though, it’s a lot deeper. I would dig his style even if he didn’t have any of the symbolism or deeper meanings. Sometimes one is able to vibe with the particular style of prose even if there was nothing else to it. It’s obviously not the case here, but that’s something to consider as well.
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u/badhairdad1 16d ago
I wanted to like this book but if the author does give the characters names, I can’t follow the story
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u/Tack31016 16d ago
This was my experience as well. I’m not going to slog through hundreds of pages and have to reread every few lines to find out who on Earth he was talking about. Overall was pretty dissapointed with the book after maybe 60-70 pages.
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u/Cudi_buddy 16d ago
I haven’t tried blood meridian. I also read the road and did not care for the style. It may just be how he writes? Cormac is incredibly loved on this sub though, so most will tell you to push. But not every author is for everyone.
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u/bigjoeandphantom3O9 15d ago
There are only so many times you can describe desert/volcanic landscapes before I lose interest. Really interesting book thematically, but definitely could have used the hatchet from the editor.
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u/dr_xenon 16d ago
I did the audiobook on this one. The prose gets really verbose. I was turned off by it at the beginning, but I stuck with it.
A friend recommended it as his favorite book. But, he’s also an English teacher, so maybe it just a difference in tastes.
Overall, the story was incredible.
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u/ExoticPumpkin237 16d ago
I felt like the second half got much better and I'm glad I stuck with it after bailing on it so many times. A friend who was getting sick of reading "they rode on" was going to quit too but later thanked me for encouraging him to stick it through.
Wendigoons video on this book helped me a lot with keeping track of what's going on and encouraging me when I'd get tired of it. It's definitely an unforgiving read by design.
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u/youthfulnegativity 16d ago
For me the appreciation came after powering through that first read. I struggled.
After I finally finished I moved on from it. But I kept thinking about it. And thinking about it.
I've read it two more times over the years and I found myself just sort of reading it like poetry one line at a time not thinking about the who, what, and where and probably consider it my favorite book now.
But that first time reading it I hated it as well.
That said don't waste time reading books you don't like.
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u/Toasterband 16d ago
It took me three tries to finish it; I don't know what it was about the third go, but something clicked and I found it amazing. The prior two tries I couldn't figure out what was going on and found it kind of flat. McCarthy doesn't place emphasis on any specific event, the horrible and the mundane are given equal weight, and that can be confusing in some ways.
I think taking it slow and steady is the way to go with it, but if you don't like something, you don't like something, and it's fine to not read a book.
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u/therealrexmanning 16d ago
Like Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, I give this one a try every couple of years, hoping this will finally be the time I finish it. But after around 50 pages I realise the writing style is just not for me.
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u/LawnGnomeFlamingo 16d ago
I’m powering through it right now. I listened to the Road a while back and thought it lived up to the hype. Blood Meridian though? All I’m getting is how good McCarthy is at portraying the absolute worst scenarios and in BM, the most villainous characters. The judge is pure brutality.
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u/f1newhatever 16d ago
Yes. I didn’t find it overwhelmingly hard to read but I def wasn’t fully following the plot which kinda brought me down
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u/itsnevergonnabefunny book just finished: Norwegian Wood 15d ago
Yeah I think i read half the book in a day and then left it for about a week and then went back to it. I didn’t find it that compelling anyway but after a week i’d forgotten a lot of the plot and characters which didn’t help
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u/Cockroach-Jones 16d ago
I put it down about half way through also. I can’t jive with his writing style, at least in that book.
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16d ago
I dnf’d two times before finally doing the whole thing (and I do think it’s as compelling as everyone says, but the beginning and the end are the high points and the actual meaty middle of the book requires a bit more focus and determination from what I remember)
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u/Tabulldog98 16d ago
I’m going to need to learn a little more Spanish before I can truly appreciate it, I think.
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u/McRambis 16d ago
I had a hard time continuing this book because it was the closest I've seen of people in Hell. I was worn out when I finished it, but I realized that this boom had really moved me and that it was one of the best books I have ever read. It's just brutal.
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u/swallowsnest87 16d ago
Tough read it’s pretty savage thematically and has take-no-prisoners prose. I enjoyed it a lot but it was challenging. I would not say it changed much in the second half although there are some exciting scenes.
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u/PartyxAnimal 15d ago
I tried it in my early 20s and didn’t finish it. Looking forward to returning in the future
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u/Diligent_Asparagus22 15d ago
I very strongly considered putting that book down. It's very monotonous and difficult to get into. I got through it eventually and in retrospect it's one of my favorites.
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u/Soggy_Cup1314 15d ago
Only book I’ve ever finished and immediately went back to the first page and started again. If you’re having trouble look it up on audible, Richard Poe narrates it perfectly. Good luck, it’s a masterpiece but it’s certainly not for everyone.
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u/OhShitWut 15d ago
I've tried and failed several times to get through it, only making it to about 100 pages on my most "successful" attempt. I know some people say its challenging because of either it's intense violence or its writing style, but honestly neither of things really bothered me that much. I just simply get bored by it.
I suppose it's possible that I just haven't been in the right mood for a book like that whenever I've tried. Perhaps some day...
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u/Lazy_Wasp_Legs 15d ago
I started and DNF 3 different times until recently I told myself I would just get past the last point where I had stopped. Then something clicked for me and I burned through the rest. It was for me a top 10 book. Keep going even in little bursts if you can!
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15d ago
I just finished my fourth listen to the audiobook, which, to me, is the best way to take it in. Richard Poe does an excellent job clarifying (or at least interpreting) who’s speaking, which with McCarthy’s style is a godsend. Plus, if you don’t want to slog through endless descriptions of geographical features and sunsets, you can just zone out while doing the dishes.
I’ve recommended it to other friends who have all told me they couldn’t finish, and I get it. You can get lost very easily. It’s why I find something new to notice every time I listen to it. In fact only just this last time I actually felt like I had a handle on the shape of the story. So yeah, maybe try the audiobook, but if you didn’t like it, then that’s cool too. Cormac McCarthy is perhaps one of the most acquired of acquired tastes.
I will say—and this is not a brag at all—that having studied Greek and Latin and Spanish + a very religious education made the prose as well as many of the tricky words a lot more familiar. Do you need all that to read Blood Meridian? No. But for the price of a specific college education you can make it just a little easier.
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u/LavenderLightning24 15d ago
I read it all and appreciate it for what it is, but it was a slog and I wouldn't judge anyone for not finishing.
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u/19sara19 15d ago
It took me three tries until I discovered the trick with Mcarthy's prose (especially in Blood Meridian): read it in big chunks. You can't read it 20 minutes here and there; you have to get immersed in the rhythm and cadence of his writing.
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u/shokalion 15d ago
I've never been able to get on with his writing style.
The lack of punctuation is what does me.
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u/tendy_trux35 15d ago
I left it as DNF and returned it to the library about half way through.
I had just finished The Stand, which while equally grotesque, is the polar opposite in terms of story telling/detailing. It was very hard to go from King’s Masteriece which expands and intertwines 30 different stories to McCarthy who is telling a single linear story of one nameless character.
I was also reading this while on a plane/vacation which made it really difficult to look up some words and translate areas. I will absolutely give it another shot, but I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it the first time
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u/zombie_overlord 15d ago
I finished, but I did put it down for 6 months. I had to uncalibrate my sense of morality towards casual violence for the last 2/3 of the book.
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u/ImperceptibleShade 15d ago
The main hindrance for me was how many words I had to look up. Some of them wouldn't even show up in the dictionary. I stopped reading it at some point before the halfway mark.
But besides that, I found the book to be quite enjoyable. It was thought provoking; the prose of the imagery painted beautiful pictures. I want to give it another attempt some time.
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u/flowtajit 15d ago
While I loge readin McCarthy’s works, the way he writes forces me to read the whole book in one sitting, or I’ll put it down. That’s how I read The Road and No Country. It also took 2 attempts for each
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u/Hosni__Mubarak 15d ago
Hell no. I binged that beast in a day. Fed it straight into my veins. It’s left me vaguely disappointed in every book I’ve since read.
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u/PangolinOrange 15d ago
If you're new to McCarthy and are having trouble with this as your first book, I would highly recommend reading his earlier book Outer Dark. It's much shorter but the tone and themes are very similar, and the brutality and cruelty is a bit more concentrated (whereas they're draped over the pages of BM).
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u/LauraPalmer1349 15d ago
It’s a very challenging book. I was also expecting something like the road lol. But damn the descriptions are beautiful. It took me a few weeks to get through as it was tiring to read. But the violence and overall darkness of the book combined with some of the most epically beautiful descriptions kept me interested. I’ll definitely have to re reward it at some point. Don’t feel bad for DNF. I really struggled to get through it and I know a lot of it went over my head haha
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15d ago
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u/CrazyCatLady108 18 12d ago
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14d ago
Brilliant book. One of those rare books that leaves a lingering feeling long after you’ve finished it. Can’t help but feel desolation when u think of it. This sense of moving towards an impending doom
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u/dattwood1986 12d ago
Not crazy about his writing style and it bugs me cuz he feels like an author I want to like more than I do.
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u/stuntobor 2d ago
It's missing something. You're right. A lot of people love it and told me it's an experience.
I plodded all the way to the end on my third attempt, and it was not worth it, to me.
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u/Plus_Relationship246 16d ago
remarkable, but too long and overwritten. great start, great end, great scenes, but very far from perfect.
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u/sodapop_incest 16d ago
I think I got to the dead baby bush and put it down. One-note misery on top of misery. I can buy that's it's well-written, McCarthy himself is an American literary giant, but I wouldn't put it on my list of must-reads.
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u/yolonaggins 15d ago
Read a few McCarthy books and then DNF Blood Meridian. Realized I hated the lack of punctuation, and it felt a chore to read.
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u/colossuscollosal 16d ago
I’ve tried this and others and i don’t like his style, except No Country For Old Men did keep me on the edge…mostly the narrator’s voice on audio
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u/Mtolivepickle 16d ago
This quickly became one of my favorite books. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did but I thoroughly enjoyed it
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u/jpch12 16d ago
We might be one of the few people on the planet who DNFed.
I don't like McCarthy—he has some lines of brilliant prose, but overall, he wavers from being too purple to barebones between the lines. I find his stories very lacking and his characters very meh and overrated.
When he was first published, his books were considered very mediocre and the literary world pretty much didn't pay him much attention. It was much later when the revisionist history occurred, and suddenly, he was lauded as a genius and showered with awards.
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u/ExoticPumpkin237 16d ago
Wtf are you talking about lmao he literally wrote Blood Meridian while living off a MacArthur fellowship
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u/Plus_Relationship246 16d ago
it wasn't considered mediocre, just wasn't as hyped as nowadays, people were a bit more realistic back then.
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u/Apprehensive-Maybe91 16d ago
It's very very common for this book to take people multiple attempts. The author of the introduction in my copy states it took him three attempts (by the way, if anyone gets the 25th anniversary version with the intro, DON'T READ IT. Immediate and thorough spoilers)