Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West is a historical novel by Cormac McCarthy, set in the American West during the mid-19th century. The audiobook version of this novel, narrated by Richard Poe, is an unforgettable experience, both hauntingly beautiful and brutal.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy – Audiobook Summary
The story follows a teenager from Tennessee, known only as “the kid,” who joins a group of mercenaries, the Glanton gang, as they massacre Indigenous Americans and others for bounty, sadistic pleasure, and eventually out of nihilistic habit. The role of the antagonist is gradually filled by Judge Holden, a physically massive, highly educated, preternaturally skilled member of the gang who is extremely pale and completely bald from head to toe.
The narrative is disturbing, and the violence is graphic, but it is not without purpose. McCarthy’s prose is hypnotic, and the book’s scenes are affecting not only because of their horror and violence but also by their eerie beauty and lyricism. The descriptions of the American frontier, its landscapes, and its people are evocative and poetic.
