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Author Cormac McCarthy booklist (click here)

Book Review By fran laniado
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

In the 1840's a governor offered $50 per native american scalp. Groups of bandits formed, riding throught the west, murdering and scalping native americans. Into this world comes the protagonist, known only as "the kid". The kid is a fourteen year old boy who has run away from his father, and set off on his own. He joins the gang, but it is clear that he doesn't fit in with them. He has a quality which the other members of the gang lack: mercy. This captures the attention of the leader, "the judge". The Judge is a ruthless, merciless man who kills for sport. As the judge begins to take more notice of the kid they embark on a hunt from which only one of them will escape alive.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - depressing/sad
Time/era of story:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 60 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 0 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 %
Western Yes
Story primarily about - fighting Injuns

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - a teen
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Motive of antagonist - kicks
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters

Setting
United States Yes
Mountains/Cliffs Yes
Mountains: - climbing on trails - falling off
Desert? Yes
Desert: - dying of thirst, sunburn - funny heat-delusions

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture
Unusual forms of death - dropped from large heights - diced - decapitated - perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - little dialog
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