Da Webster, much pestered by me finally purchased Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarfy cos I needed a new bedtime story for him to reads to me cos I was so impressed by Da Road.

Like Da Road, Blood Meridian is an important novel, it is also brutal merciless an' 'orrible, but unlikes Da Road in which we sympathise wif da struggle of a man an' his son tryin' to endure wifin an unendurable post apocalyptic word, Blood Meridian is sets in da days of da wild west an we sympathise wif no ones. No ones at all. Well perhaps a bear, but more on dat later.

Whereas Da Road is written in a way which makes ye feel like all of society has been blown away, Blood Meridian has a very different style, and is all fancy words an' ideas poetic yet infernal philosophical treatise.

Da basic story is dat we follow da adventures of "Da Kid" an arrogant brutal, semi-literate gunslinger. Dere isn't much point in givin' a summary of what follows really save to mention da fascinatin' an' I finks often misunderstood character of Judge Holden.

Da Kid first bumps into Holden at a religious revival, where Holden, who is very tall, obese and totally bald accuses da Reverend of kiddie fiddlin' and bestiality. which leads to a lynch mob chasin' da Reverend out of town. Holden then confesses to da Kid dat he mades it up and den we is left wif da Kid as he gets into a vicious fights wif a barman an' den is recruited by a guy to invade Mexico!!!!

Da Mexican adventure goes disasterously wrong an' most of his crew is butchered by indians. He gets busted by da Mexicans, but is let out of prison wif his pal Toadvine who is working wif John Joel Glanton an' his mob. Glanton's gang are scalphunters and his second in command is none udder dan Judge Holden. As da Kid joins dem he enters a world of increasin' depravity, justified articulately and eloquently by the monstrous Holden. Fings gets out of control wif da gang and eventually they go scalpin' anyone dey can, leavin' a trail of dead indians, butchered mexicans are raped and murdered kiddies in dere wake before circumstances gets worse and dem dat is left begins to turn on each udder.

I isn't gonna say much more 'bout dis udder dan at da end of da book dere is a VERY interestin' scene at a dance. Much has been written about da end of da book, but da scene I am gonna speak is not it. Da Kid, all gown up and aimless witnesses a family who have, on stage a dancin' bear. Dis poor creature has been half tortured into madness by it's owners who makes it dance which dere little girl plays a barrel organ. Seemingly appalled a cowboy shoots da bear and da poor fing begins to dance faster and cry in pain, so he shoots it again, an it collapses in a bloody heap at which point da little girl abandons her organ and sobbing goes up and hugs da dying animal.

Dis is one of da saddest and most complicated fings scenes for me. To reduce a bear to da state where it has been tortured so much it dances is really nasty. To den kill da bear might seem like a mercy, but da cowboy doesn't seem to do it for any moral reason, he seems insulted by the performance. This compounds da horror, yet at da same time at least da bear is released from it's misery. However da bear bein' shot has deprived a little girl of her beloved pet which can be seen as an act of cruelty in itself an' like much of da book we are left in a state of either bein' conflicted or acceptin' da nihilism which da kid seems to personify.

It's not an easy read, dere is no potential for happy endin' here. Dis book and it's characters revel in the worst aspects of humanity. McCarthy has served us up a lunch more naked than Bill Burroughs could ever order.

Exceptional. Buy it and read it or you are an arse. Simple as that.

Score. ALL Thumbs up.