Great Blood Meridian Evening Redness West
... that I'd managed to live to be almost 40 before I read this novel. Now I have to spend the next 40 years telling others to read it.
I've avoided Westerns the way I've avoided Harlequin Romances, Andy Garcia Films, and the Ice-Capades. However, calling this book a Western is kind of like calling Moby Dick a boating guide.
True, all the stock and traditional of the typical Western are here (The silent loner, the gunfighter, the Indians), but they've been de-romanticized - forced to be viewed under the microscope of reality. The protagonist speaks very little throughout the book. Not because he's the strong silent type, but because he has nothing to say. The other characters (The Judge, Toadvine, Tobin, etc.) are a fascinating mixture of cruelty and humanity. McCarthy even manages to avoid the PC temptation to depict the Indians as noble savages.
The real power of this book lays it its sense of realism. McCarthy can describe a cantina down to the tiniest speck of dust, a mountain down to a single rock, and a gunshot wound down to the smallest drop of blood. Also, there are lines of dialog that you just can't shake:
The Judge: The freedom of birds is offensive to me. If I had my way, I'd see them all in a zoo.
Toadvine: That would be one Hell of a zoo.
Toadvine on the cruel Mexican guard: My biggest fear is that some evil might befall him. I pray to God, daily, to watch over him.
There's no way that I'm going to do justice to this wonderful / disturbing / thought-provoking / nightmarish work in a short review. Just buy it. Hurry!
Now, if only someone would write a dark and disturbing Harlequin Romance.
Get your Blood Meridian Evening Redness West Now!
What is your opinion of it?
ReplyDeleteWhich book should I start first? Are they all extremely good? Which ones are more popular?
ReplyDeletetell me the writer too please
ReplyDelete