Blood Meridian Audio Book

The Mookse and the Gripes » Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian, Or ...

(1985), On previous attempts I failed to read this book through due to the violence.  It’s on every page.  While I recognized the quality of what I was reading, I just wasn’t in the mood for it at the time.  Even when I stopped reading it before, though, I always knew I’d return to it.  I’ve finally done it!  What changed?  Well, I’ve a bit more reading under my belt, both of McCarthy and in general, so my ability to understand (not just recognize) the brilliance was enhanced.  But probably the most significant change this time around: I read we meet another orphan: the kid.  The first sentence is, “See the child.”  He’s actually not an orphan when we meet him, and in the first paragraph we get an interesting line about his heritage: “His folk are known for hewers of wood and drawers of water but in truth his father has been a schoolmaster.”  The Biblical allusion to “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” a reference to the curse Joshua places upon the people Gibeah after they’ve beguiled the Israelites, hearkens violence of Biblical proportions as well as the curse that followed.  It’s also suggestive of the profound issues McCarthy will be juggling through the book.  Following the allusion, we meet the kid’s father briefly when he says,

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