“Books lie, he said.
God dont lie.
No, said the judge. He does not. And these are his words.
He held up a chunk of rock.
He speaks in stones and trees, the bones of things.”
A prose epic that follows a character referred to as “the kid” in his journeying with a band of scalpers lead by Glanton and more deeply by the judge, a Mephistopheles-like character whose boundless capacity for evil is enabled by his endless array of skills, and whose expositions on the nature of man and his circumstance comprise some of the most fascinating passages I’ve ever read. By tracking the demonic acts of Glanton’s entourage McCarthy exhibits the human potential for brutality, and the historical reality of the events portrayed made this reading experience moving in a way I have seldom felt before. The human inclinations which impelled the tragedies shown in Blood Meridian have caused and will cause all tragedies of warfare, and they are present within every person; one wonders if it is not the incumbency of every person to study them and their ramifications, so as to know them and try to rob them of the futures they crave.
McCarthy’s prose achieves a balance of beauty and clarity that I have never before seen. Every element is spectacular, and thereby the themes of the book speak with the power that befits them.
A profound meditation on life and death. I look forward to revisiting this one and unlocking more of its mysteries.
Banner image:
“Christ Asleep during the Tempest” by Eugène Delacroix, c. 1853 (CC 0).
“But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith?”
- Luke 8:23-25
