Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

Cormac McCarthy

Aug 2010 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION • From the bestselling author of The Passenger and the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road: an epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the Wild West.

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, Blood Meridian traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.

Look for Cormac McCarthy's latest bestselling novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris.

Ratings and reviews

Blood Meridian is a challenging read. McCarthy's unconventional style – minimal punctuation, unclear speakers – can be frustrating. Certain characters, like the "idiot," seem to lack purpose, and overall character development feels minimal. The gang's aimless journeys and overly detailed descriptions of the landscape can be tedious. Despite this, the novel is strangely compelling, particularly the enigmatic Judge. However, the ending proved unsatisfying. While I appreciate McCarthy's skill, his style may not suit me.

Respected literary professor Harold Bloom called Blood Meridian "the ultimate Western". It is and it's much more than that, it may be the ultimate novel. I don't think I've read or will other read another book that truly captures the essence of what we are as humans more than Blood Meridian. The constant, indescribable violence and depravity that is this novel cannot be summarized, you havew to read it for comprehension. I don't think I've read or will ever read another book that is as well written as Blood Meridian. You read McCarthy's descriptions of the landscape, his character's dialogue, and his eerie prose and you can't help but look up and wonder in complete awe. The Biblical-style writing is so soaring and incredible you don't know how it was written. And his characters, his characters- the kid, who takes the horror of the world around him so passively, and the Judge, who is the greatest character in the history of fiction- again, so evil it's indescribable. Basically, if there's one book you have to read in your lifetime, it's Blood Meridian.

Goddammit, Blood Meridian, you sumbitch! You was long, and you was hard, and you was good. Chock full of the brutalities of man and nature. All overseen by a fat, nasty, pink baby man-god. I'm glad to finally be quit of you! As for that fancy author, Cormac McCarthy, I'll let him know just what I think of him face to face on down that road.

About the author

The novels of the American writer, CORMAC McCARTHY, have received a number of literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men—the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. He died in 2023.