Author Topic: The Blood Meridian Book Club Thread (Read 1421 times)

Ichirou · « **on:** June 11, 2007, 09:27:26 PM »

Continuing a subject started in Father_Mike's reading thread...

A few people on Evilbore are planning on picking up the Cormac McCarthy novel Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West. I have decided to create this thread for novel discussion. I will re-read it along with you guys and we can discuss how it's going, what we think of the novel as we read through it, hash out questions and frustrations, etcetera. Hopefully TVC 15 will also pick up the novel and read it along with the rest of us as well. If this works out, we could do this for other novels too. It could be nice!

“Decisions of life and death, of what shall be and what shall not, beggar all questions of right. In elections of these magnitudes are lesser ones subsumed, moral, spiritual, natural.”

- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West

Van Cruncheon · « **Reply #1 on:** June 11, 2007, 09:30:14 PM »

sadly, i had never read any of his books until tvc tossed this one on my checkout pile at half-price books. :'( i was duly shamed.

Ichirou · « **Reply #2 on:** June 11, 2007, 09:33:33 PM »

Do you want to re-read it along with us? BlackMage, Father_Mike, CajoleJuice, and Himuro all seem interested. I'm hoping TVC 15 will also re-read it and help give us some insights.

Van Cruncheon · « **Reply #3 on:** June 11, 2007, 09:39:05 PM »

i shall be gone for a week in oklahoma at a wedding, but yeah: i'll re-read it on the flight.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #4 on:** June 11, 2007, 11:03:48 PM »

give me until thursday next week before we start -- finals :'(

Ichirou · « **Reply #5 on:** June 12, 2007, 12:08:51 AM »

Quote from: Father_Mike on June 11, 2007, 11:03:48 PM

give me until thursday next week before we start -- finals :'(

OK. I think a few people still haven't gotten the book yet, anyway.

CajoleJuice · « **Reply #6 on:** June 12, 2007, 12:10:22 AM »

I'm gonna order it on Amazon within the next couple of days.

Ichirou · « **Reply #7 on:** June 12, 2007, 02:20:33 AM »

IT'S A BLOOD MERIDIAN PARTY

Can't wait till we all get to the scalping scenes (not a spoiler, they mention scalphunters in the back cover)

Howard Alan Treesong · « **Reply #8 on:** June 12, 2007, 02:45:09 AM »

I was not a fan of The Road. Is this better?

Ichirou · « **Reply #9 on:** June 12, 2007, 02:50:02 AM »

I haven't read The Road yet.

Ichirou · « **Reply #10 on:** June 20, 2007, 02:23:28 AM »

Okay, you people have had over a week to get this book, so I am starting to re-read it today.

WHO'S WITH ME?!

CajoleJuice · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2007, 02:24:12 AM »

I've got my book. I'll start tomorrow, ok? Tomorrow for me = today for you, so in reality, we will start on the same date.

Ichirou · « **Reply #12 on:** June 20, 2007, 02:26:40 AM »

OK! Father_Mike must've gotten his book from Amazon by now, too.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:21:12 PM »

I will have it tonight. let us get our read on!

Robo · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:39:46 PM »

I have mine. I won't be around this weekend -- what's the day-to-day reading increment?

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:47:08 PM »

don't know. lets try to get it done in a month though at the most.

TVC15 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:49:35 PM »

Quote from: Synthesizer Patel on June 12, 2007, 02:45:09 AM

I was not a fan of The Road. Is this better?

Yes.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #17 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:50:36 PM »

whiteman you going to reread it with us?

TVC15 · « **Reply #18 on:** June 22, 2007, 02:52:59 PM »

Dunno. I think I still have a copy of it.

Ichirou · « **Reply #19 on:** June 22, 2007, 07:25:57 PM »

Let's try to do twelve pages a day minimum.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #20 on:** June 22, 2007, 09:56:35 PM »

it's only 22 chapters or something so lets try and do a chapter a day. I've got the last 2 books in paradise lost to finnish up tonight and I'll read the first chapter of BM.

Man it's a small little hardcover I got. I love it; it just fits my hands

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #21 on:** June 23, 2007, 03:10:59 AM »

ok first chapter down. unfortanitly I think I had the end of the book ruined by the into -- I hate when they do that :'(

I'm really digging the narrative style. Really simple and really sharp such as this quote

men from lands so far and queer that standing over them where they lie bleeding in them mud he feels mankind itself vindicated.

sort of violent too, eh?

Ichirou · « **Reply #22 on:** June 23, 2007, 03:45:55 AM »

Read the first chapter as well. I love how the kid is born of a man who represents one of the basic tenets of civilization - a schoolmaster - yet he can neither read nor write, nor knows anything apart from violence. There's a kind of feral amorality within the character of the kid, one that has not been tempered by thought or knowledge.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #23 on:** June 30, 2007, 02:24:20 AM »

So I'm on chapter 6 and I better not be the only one

I love how surreal it is, where the only large amount of detail is put into scenery and the rest is described by really powerful small statements, such as like walking though the desert, it's such and such and the sun looks like this, o look a bush full of

spoiler (click to show/hide)

dead babies

[close]

, move on.

I also love the pacing. It feels very epic for such a short time. It's getting pretty gruesome too

.

One thing that bugs me, and it's such a stupid complaint, but it really bugs me, is every second dialog line some one spits. It how he ends discussions, like "should we go back to Texas" "We'd never make it" spits, move on. Characters also blend together a lot but that's probably because everything is so hazy and detailed. -- I think so far the Judge is the only character that stands out of the stereotypical life-lost westerner, but then again I'm only on chapter six.

anyways really liking it so far.

drozmight · « **Reply #24 on:** June 30, 2007, 03:28:59 AM »

Hey, this is a good book.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #25 on:** July 01, 2007, 12:58:50 AM »

you'all suck!

how do you spell you'all?

anyways on chapter 9 or something.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #26 on:** July 01, 2007, 02:19:27 AM »

suck hard! wheres ichi!? I demand answers! Why did this most excellent book reading group on almost excellent book die? :'(

Ichirou · « **Reply #27 on:** July 02, 2007, 01:11:26 AM »

Quote from: Father_Mike on June 30, 2007, 02:24:20 AM

So I'm on chapter 6 and I better not be the only one

I'm still reading but I moved recently and I have no internets and everything is packed up in boxes and I have no TV and AAAGH...but I am still reading.

I'm at chapter 12.

Regarding your comment on the lack of character development: There isn't much, if any, development for any of the characters aside from the Judge and eventually the kid. Once the kid joins up with the scalphunters, a sort of group-mind develops and McCarthy really stops writing them as individual characters and begins to write the scalphunters as just one giant organism, like a hive-mind. You get to witness that bizarre mentality that takes people over when they join a mob, it's really well done.

Madrun Badrun · « **Reply #28 on:** July 02, 2007, 01:44:08 AM »

chapt 11 now

I love the way he introduces the members of the scalpers, like to paraphrase, the doc went to help him. doc irving... then suddenly it's like theres always been a doc and we've always known his name is irving. It's really good the way there slowly getting introduced so that in just a few chapters you know a lot of the members. -- it's really like how someone joining into a large group would slowly come to know everyone.

Bathcat is also an awesome name.

Also the snake-bitten horse scene is one of my favorites so far.

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Author Topic: The Blood Meridian Book Club Thread (Read 1421 times)