515 ratings (3.31 avg)
298 reviews

Aditya

Add friend

Aditya’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (15)
currently-reading‎ (1)
read‎ (516)

did-not-finish‎ (0)
favorites‎ (25)
robicheaux‎ (20)

scudder‎ (18)
edgar-winner‎ (17)
booker-winner‎ (5)

short-story‎ (5)
pulitzer-winner‎ (4)
movies‎ (2)

Stats | More…

Aditya is Currently Reading

Aditya is currently reading

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

by Cormac McCarthy

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in July 2020

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Aditya said: " Did not finish. Quitting 1/3 rd of the way in.

McCarthy writes literature's version of snuff porn. Plain and simple. Sure he sprinkles ten dollar words but you know a snuff porn with Brando is still a snuff porn. This is not bleak or deep just titilla Did not finish. Quitting 1/3 rd of the way in.

McCarthy writes literature's version of snuff porn. Plain and simple. Sure he sprinkles ten dollar words but you know a snuff porn with Brando is still a snuff porn. This is not bleak or deep just titillating. I am dumbfounded that so many readers consider him an original voice. There are two approaches to writing about bleakness. I prefer the first one, McCarthy prefer the second one. Now you decide what you like.

Approach 1 : Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.

Approach 2: Detailed Murder, Detailed Decapitation, Detailed Head Bashing with the butt of a gun. Rinse Repeat. Ohh sometimes for variety's sake detailed head bashing with other blunt objects.

That's the whole book or at least the part I read. No depth in characters, no interesting dialogue, no hint about what characters are thinking. Just pages and pages of descriptive texts about barren landscapes and violence. Not violence as a tool to assist with characterization, not violence as a tool to make the reader feel or relate; because the victim is often a character introduced for the sole purpose of meeting a gruesome death. But simply violence for violence's sake, as an all consuming abstract. Absolute evil is as boring to me as absolute good. So the famous Judge (though I must say he has not come into his own at the point I quit) is as interesting as Superman. Give me moral complexity which McCarthy does not supply here.

It could have worked as a thriller but needed a sense of humor or better plotting. It could have worked as a drama but needed better characters. Now it only works as kindling.

James Ellroy was once quoted saying that he quit McCarthy saying why does this motherfucker not use quotes. And this motherfucker writes pages of Spanish. It is good Elroy quit because if he had continued reading he would have probably asked 'How is this motherfucker considered literature while I am considered a measly crime author?' Read James Ellroy or James Lee Burke (Burke incidentally was also nominated for the Pulitzer which McCarthy won) to see how writers with a much better sense of style (Ellroy) and way better prose (Burke) handle violence. Hint: They don't make it the sole defining feature.

If you want mature bleakness, watch something like The Pawnbroker (1964) or Requiem for a Dream (2000). If you want you bleakness with an air of theatricality/ melodrama chose any of the great modern playwrights from Tennessee Williams to Arthur Miller to Eugene O' Neill to Edward Albee. If that doesn't satisfy you, you want bleakness with a hint of pulp watch They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). Basically don't read this and conclude it says something deep about the human condition because of its bleakness. Because it does neither.

5 years ago I would not have rated a book I did not finish. I would have thought that it is unfair to the author. But I soldiered on for weeks and it is beyond me, I value my time a lot more now and frankly the world is unfair which is something McCarthy would understand. Rating - 1/5 ...more "

progress:

(20%)
"Really struggling with this one, no idea why McCarthy is considered so good" — Jun 29, 2020 03:12AM

Jul 02, 2020 04:19AM · see review

Aditya’s Quotes

“Getting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk. It took away the obvious and maybe if you could get away from the obvious often enough, you wouldn't become so obvious yourself.”
― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

152 likes

“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.”
― Horace Walpole

tags: comedy, emotions, life, perspective, thinking, tragedy

1608 likes

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, Different Seasons

tags: life

9537 likes

“I hate you, God. I hate you as though you actually exist.”
― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

tags: god, hate

317 likes

“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”
― Charles Bukowski, What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire

tags: fire, flame, isolation, laughter, loss, sacrifice

7845 likes

More of Aditya’s quotes…