Is this The Great American Novel? 

Blood McCarthy - I don't fully agree, but I am comfortable with that statement.

This is a deeply American book. The prose is rough, reckless, and blazing with color. Since its inception, the US has been steeped in blood, rugged individualism, and wild dreams of expansion. We are a devouring people and so is this book. It doesn't apologize to the reader and it will never hold your hand. Only the strong survive. Many won't make the journey; they will die along the way. This is Blood Meridian, and it has but one rival, Moby Dick.

For me, what makes McCarthy so good is the prose. I don't mind that the book is pretty much the same from the first chapter. The writing is so beautiful and haunting that it floors me. It reads like poetry to me. But I can understand that his style can be jarring and too distant, or even boring, for others.

Loved this review, and loved that note from Better than food, lol!

I think the "epigraphs" are modeled after the "epigraphs" in Dante's Inferno. Also, Try Lonesome Dove if you want more westerns. 🤠 Its almost the opposite of Blood Meridian. It's a long, character-focused story in a demystified version of the Wild West.

Nice discussion. I am in the "despised this book" camp. It made me feel physically ill and as far as I could tell, for no reason.

I have no desire to read McCarthy but I have all the desires to see you suffer through more McCarthy

This was a really comprehensive and articulate review of a 20th century classic 🎉

I feel like enjoyment of this book is heavily dependent on prior knowledge of the myths surrounding wilderness and the American West and how media has portrayed the period in the 100 or so years before Blood Meridian. I could go on a rant about it lol. But the thing that got me through was the prose. His biblical and barren style really matches the atmosphere he's building and deals with the contrast between the Edenic American myth and the harsh reality of the land.

One of the quotes from this book that will stick with me forever is: "Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent." Still raises the hair on my neck. I love Cormac McCarthy. The border trilogy & Suttree are my favorites. His lyricism from his Tennessee period is just so strong and moving vs. some of his later more sparsely written books. I also really enjoy his most recent two! Also a big fan of Books are Better Than Food & Cliff. Cheers

Interesting sentiments. As a hardcore fan of this book, I can understand though. However, I don't think I've ever heard anyone call Blood Meridian *the* Great American Novel, as in this is the single greatest work America has ever produced. Moby Dick usually gets that honor and likely always will. I suppose I might say that I consider Blood Meridian *a* Great American Novel, or at the very least an American novel that's pretty great, lol. XD Also, I do just wanna say that, as an American, very little of what I love so much about Blood Meridian has anything to do with the fact that it's about "cowboys and Indians". Rather what I appreciate so much is the neo-scriptural prose that's so unique and the way McCarthy was able to infuse the earthiness of the western with a Biblical surrealism. And the philosophizing, which, while perhaps none too subtle, is still very artfully put, and did make me think and consider things. Again, I totally understand not liking Blood Meridian though. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Good review! ;)

Those epigraphs are a nod to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Also I think this book is a masterpiece, maybe its because Im an American. The ending is perfect to me.

Your review is very insightful. I love Blood Meridian. The history of American violence, and its inexorability, is the subject.

Your review has convinced me to reread this. Thank you. Maybe nostalgia has fooled me into enjoying this book. 🤔

i wanna read this but the fact that i might find it boring scares me loved the review as usual!!!!!

The last chapter!!! Confusion galore!!!!! 😮😮😮 I read it as a buddy read and we both had very different perspectives on the ending. It wasn’t my favorite read but I got through it

I think it's a really good point that Americans will certainly view this book differently than non-Americans. I have to concede that I've never read this book (though I do have a copy), and perhaps I'll get to it before it too long.

As someone who has always lived in the States, this book massively impacted my world view of U.S. history, and the realities of genocide often overlooked. Really important stuff.

I read a lot of McCarthy's books last year. Loved All the Pretty Horses.

I watched your review on Hyperion and loved how you brought up the influence of Keats and how story’s are told. So I looked up your review of this book by one of my favorite authors and man did this video make me sad. I think one of the main themes you missed from this book is the same theme you brought up on your Hyperion video about the books that influenced these books form and structure, blood meridian is a bloody mix of the Bible, moby dick, paradise lost, war and peace all told through the lens of the American manifest destiny period. To hear all the praise you laid on Hyperion not be applied to this book just breaks my heart cause you seem like a insightful dude based off your other reviews and I wish you’d give this one another shake.

Wait. There’s bears and dwarfs prostitutes.??? 🤔 maybe i need to read this

Bloody Cormac...(hah) This is a very good novel. I think it's a complex description of man's simplicity. Check out "Suttree", too. Peace on earth.

As an enormous McCarthy fan and obsessive over his work I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the honesty of your review. I would rather listen to a negative review from a reader I respect, even if I don’t agree with them, than some booktuber twaddling on about some 200 page YA guff that we absolutely have to read as it’s their 18th 5* book of January. You crack on Kieran.

The discussion of the great american novel makes me feel similarly as when most british people talk about the victorians...

I thought it was worthless garbage, as everything else by this author. Maybe read Lonesome Dove next time you want to try another "great american novel" inside the western genre. LD is actually great.

That's really interesting about the SPAGHETTI WESTERN connotations. You said that the western genre meant for you what was captured in the spaghetti western. This was said within the context of the question of the Great American Novel. The spaghetti western is Italian, implying that to even touch upon Blood Meridian as the Great American Novel is to touch upon America as the story of the polyglot. The story of America as the story of the polyglot is a story of hideous violence. Unspeakable, unwritable, inexpressible. "God shed His grace on thee" and "Crowned thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea." Sure. I don't know if it comes across sufficiently-- I'm American-- but the idiotic stupidity of America is every bit as horrible as the violence, I think. So what is it about the west and writing about the west has any appeal to anyone, American or otherwise? The historical truth is that the settling of the American west by caucasians of European origin was a slaughter of the earlier settlers. Slaughter appeals to a vast audience of American readers? Or cinema goers? I give Cormac credit for not caring about that, though the Sam Peckinpaw nature of Blood Meridian is definitely there. Interesting. Brave New World. Starting over again. Encountering virgin territory. Big Timber. "There's Gold in Them Hills." Europeans are going to this new place after leaving the sewers of the old place, but not to make a new place which will never be a sewer. To be King of a new sewer. But that's not the appeal of the western genre, or should I say western sewer? To be King in a new sewer, of their own creating, and saying it smells like roses? Yes, but then, as these are not Kings, but serfs, to always say manure is what makes roses? And then the Apache, there, fouling up the whole British-derived nonsense of a tabula rasa, or a wiping of the slate clean.

I liked Sutree better.

That term Great American Novel keeps getting more dated as each decade goes on. Is it a epic scale or personal character study?

Cormac McCarthy's BOWEL MOVEMENT

The devil went down to georgia? Cmon man...take a more honest and sharper look at this masterful novel. They didn't burn down the hotel just because they could, did you even read the book? I feel like you should give this masterpiece another chance my friend. Yeah it's for sure not an easy read, but goddamn if aint satisfying once you ingest it in its entirety. Was hard to stop thinking about. A work of genius

Definitely not The Great American Novel but maybe The Great American Western. The great american novel probably hasn't been written yet but if it has my candidate would be The Great Gatsby. Yes McCarthy's prose is confusing and has been much criticized but to me Faulkner's is even worse which is probably why I'll never finish The Sound and the Fury. To sum up your review: it was repetitive, boring, confusing and overrated, right? Fair enough. It's a very American novel like A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exeley and some others I could mention so maybe it shouldn't surprise anyone the Euros don't get it. Harold Bloom had some faults but he really missed the point when he dismissed Stephen King as some kind of low-brow hack writer who doesn't deserve to be read. The POINT is King has gotten thousands of kids interested in books who might otherwise be playing vid games all day. As for the American celebration of violence and outlaws you could say it's a stereotype but like a lot of cliches there's much truth in it and it's getting worse. Now Repub members of Congress have started wearing AR-15 pins on their suit lapels. God help us all.

BLOOD MCCARTHY!

I didn’t find it that engaging but I loved it? Found it visceral and I thought it was written beautifully, the last 50 pages I thought were incredible.

Good, but overrated. It's a "western" if and only if the Carlos Castaneda books are westerns. The violence and scalps aren't out of line with, say, _Son of the Morning Star_ by Evan S. Connell, a history of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The conquest of the American West wasn't accomplished by sissies.

Great review! Personally I preferred Crip McCarthy

The “Great American Novel” is a dumb concept. I think Blood Meridian is a great novel, but I think your review analysis is entirely fair and kind of brilliant.

I disagree so strong I'm gonna hav ta unsubscribe

Why BM is a true work of genius is bcoz you can put so many lenses to analyse it and it will make sense and you will come up with new meanings and interpretations every time. Whether it be Judge mirroring the cold, ruthless, exploitative and blood (oil) thirsty United States or the novel being a commentary on Man’s place in nature ,God and the indifference of the two towards it’s creation et al. It’s the kind of novel and Judge is a type of character that seeps into your mind and continuously grapples with your thoughts long after you have read it. I don’t remember correctly but there’s a line that said violence / evil existing even before the men came or something being truly chilling. Need to read it again. Thanks for refreshing the memories.

you wouldn't know a good book if it slapped you in your chubby chase