Blood Meridian
Or the Evening Redness in the West
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Narrated by:
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Richard Poe
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By:
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Cormac McCarthy
About this listen
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Audie Award, Literary Fiction, 2016. The story of Jack Crabbe, raised by both a white man and a Cheyenne chief. As a Cheyenne, Jack ate dog, had four wives, and saw his people butchered by General Custer's soldiers. As a white man, he participated in the slaughter of the buffalo and tangled with Wyatt Earp.
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It's a Good Day to Listen
- By Dubi on 05-21-15
By: Thomas Berger, and others
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Death of an Eagle
- By: Kirby Jonas
- Narrated by: James Drury
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Mauled by a giant grizzly and left to die, 16 year-old Jose Olano's chances for life were remote. Then, like a guardian angel, came Robert "Gray Eagle" McAllister, one-time army scout and sometime outlaw. In his flight to escape a posse, he finds the brutalized body of Jose. Knowing his decision to help Jose may mean his own death, he stays and brings Jose back from the brink of death. Thus began one of the greatest companionships ever known to the Idaho frontier.
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Amazing Story and Narration
- By Jake J2 on 11-24-17
By: Kirby Jonas
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Brighty of the Grand Canyon
- By: Marguerite Henry
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Brighty, a shaggy young burro, lives wild and free in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. He roams the steep cliffs with the squirrels and rabbits. But his favorite friend is Old Timer, the prospector who shares hot biscuits and calls him Bright Angel. One day Old Timer doesn't answer Brighty's loud "Eeeee-aw!" Instead, the friendly animal encounters a ruthless claim jumper. Will Brighty be able to bring the killer to justice and make the wilderness safe again?
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My Boys Loved It!
- By troubleT on 03-19-17
By: Marguerite Henry
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The First Mountain Man 1-3 Bundle (Dramatized Adaptation)
- By: William W. Johnstone
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- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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On nothing more than a lark, he leaves his family and begins a journey from Ohio westward. Along the way, he runs up against badlands and bad men, loses his freedom, gains his freedom and learns the first rule of the frontier: Do whatever it takes to survive. With ruthless enemies after him - both White men and Indians - he’ll head for a place as brutal as it is beautiful - the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.
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Really enjoyed this particular weastern.. ☺
- By PUBLICENEMY#1 on 01-21-22
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The Emperor's Railroad
- By: Guy Haley
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Global war devastated the environment, a zombielike plague wiped out much of humanity, and civilization as we once understood it came to a standstill. But that was a thousand years ago, and the world is now a very different place. Conflict between city-states is constant, superstition is rife, and machine relics, mutant creatures, and resurrected prehistoric beasts trouble the land. Watching over all are the silent Dreaming Cities. Homes of the angels, bastion outposts of heaven on Earth.
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THE GONE BEFORE
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 04-09-18
By: Guy Haley
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Way of the Wolf
- The Vampire Earth, Book 1
- By: E. E. Knight
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel, E. E. Knight (Introduction)
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come.
On this pitiless world, the indomitable spirit of mankind still breathes in Lieutenant David Valentine.
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Its what you expect, and thats not a bad thing.
- By Kevin McLaughlin on 11-26-08
By: E. E. Knight
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The Legend of Bass Reeves
- Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West
- By: Gary Paulsen
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
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Cowboy stories and movies about the Wild West are full of amazing characters. Yet many of the lawmen we think of as heroes were anything but - some were violent scoundrels and outlaws themselves. Among all the lawmen of the frontier, one man stands out as a true hero: Bass Reeves. In his day, Bass Reeves was the most successful federal marshal in the United States. True to the mythical code of the West, he never drew his gun first. He rounded up hundreds of outlaws and was shot at countless times but was never hit. Bass Reeves was born into slavery.
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Real hero of the Wild West
- By Michael Wood on 02-11-15
By: Gary Paulsen
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What listeners say about Blood Meridian
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joe
- 01-24-14
What more can be said?
Every list I examine of Best Books of the 20th century, Scariest Books, and Best American Books have Blood Meridian on them. And the book deserves each accolade. The word dystopian barely describes the desolate and baseless landscape these characters inhabit. It will thrill you, terrify you, excite you, and oftentimes depresses you, but you will never be bored.
This is the novel of a hired band of mercenaries who head into the southern states and through Mexico, hunting the native Indians. The land is lawless and without any moral code to speak of. Our main character is a nameless kid who has been on his own since his early teenage years. He strikes up with the band and survives amidst the chaos and depravity.
You haven't read any other book like this and it's time you did. The plot is unreal, the characters strange, and the narration is dead on - if you'll pardon the pun.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 02-11-13
The Hobbesian natural condition of mankind
If you could sum up Blood Meridian in three words, what would they be?
Brilliant, poetic, violent.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Blood Meridian?
"The kid" and the expriest hide in the rocks, hoping to not be discovered by the monsterously brutal Judge Holden who has been trailing them. "The kid" has not one, but two opportunities to surprise and kill Judge Holden. It is the only point in the novel when I wanted a character to commit an act of violence. Despite the urgings of the expriest Tobin, "the kid'" passes on both opportunities. He lives to regret it.
What does Richard Poe bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Richard Poe's narration is, as always, outstanding. I can imagine myself giving up on a challenging book like this without a great narrator to pull me along.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. As much as I admire Cormac McCarthy's brilliant, powerful and often lyrical prose, I needed occasional breaks from the unending depictions of violence and brutality.
Any additional comments?
I have ambivalent feelings about this novel. The writing itself is brilliant. For that alone, the book merits five stars. However, this is, after all, a fairly nasty story about a marauding band of white scalphunters killing and taking scalps throughout northern Mexico and the southwest United States circa 1849.
I struggled at times to find a point to these depictions of violence, If the point is simply to deromantisize the Old West, it is, pardon me, overkill. However, I think that McCarthy may have had something bigger in mind, At one point in the novel, the despicable Judge Holden disapprovingly tells the other scalphunters the following: "Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak." I suppose that McCarthy's point is that without the rule of law, we would find ourselves in what Thomas Hobbes referred to as the 'natural condition of mankind' where it's every man for himself without regard to others. Maybe I need to reread Hobbes' Leviathon in order to better appreciate the themes of Blood Meridian.
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Overall
- Stephen
- 07-03-07
Entertaining Historical Listen
They say McCarthy's knowledge of history is excellent. If this book is an indication, our western history was really tough on those that went through it. This book is the most gruesome one I have encountered. Not as good as McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, but well worth the entertaining listen.
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- Lipton101
- 10-02-22
Terrifyingly beautiful
As the last words rang out, hairs on my arm stood on end. This is a book of duality. Terrifying and brutal with prose painted and beautiful. Be warned, the violence is unthinkable. But the story itself; it’s thought provoking nature is undeniable.
Judge Holden. Look him up. Perhaps the most terrible villain ever committed to page or film lives within these words. Beware his presence. Behold the grace of which his existence is captured.
This is truly a 5 star novel
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- Dennis
- 09-11-18
Disappointed.
I had a hard time following this book. it was full of violence, in fact unnecessary violence. Sure, the early West was tough but balance the violence with a great story. I found this to be only a fair to good story. The central character, the Judge, was totally annoying and rambled on and on to the point where I was hoping he would be shot or run down by a herd of wild and crazed goats. narrator was very good but for me what I will remember most about the book is that it didn't end soon enough.
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- Jeff Koeppen
- 08-01-23
The Most Violent Fiction Book I've Ever Read
Wow. This was the most violent and disturbing fiction book I've ever read. I've read violent books before but nothing like this. Human depravity was the constant thread in this book, and it was all described so thoroughly and completely with McCarthy's fantastic prose that it was hard for me to not look away (or hit the "stop" button) despite it being so often dark and disgusting.
Set in the 1840s in Texas, Mexico, the American Southwest, and California, the story follows the main character, a fourteen year-old boy referred to as the "Kid" who flees his troubled life in Tennessee and ends up with joining some bounty hunters in Texas who collect Indian scalps. Basically, they ride through the desert and ruthlessly slaughter anyone they come across - Indians, settlers, other wanderers. Villages are burned. Scalps are collected and ears are collected and displayed on necklaces. Scalps are turned in for money in towns, and the group enjoys a drunken (often violent visit) for a few days in these towns before setting off again. On their rides no life is spared - innocent men, women and children and butchered without a second thought, and animals are stolen or killed to be eaten, or sometimes tortured or just shot and left to die. There was even a scene where one of the gang grabbed two babies and violently killed them in a disgusting fashion. And all of this is described in great detail. It was shocking. I almost drove off the road a few times.
The antagonist (the worst of the antagonists I should say) is a fellow named the Judge. Described as giant bald hulk, this guy is a psychotic murderer and rapist; however, he is also highly educated and extremely intelligent and teaches the gang of knuckle-draggers about the Bible, astronomy, evolution, the natural world, and general philosophy. He takes notes and draws interesting things in a notebook. While he and the Kid often separate and go their own ways, sometimes fleeing from Indian attacks, he always seems to find his way back to the kid and in the middle of the plot.
Also described in great detail were the Mexican and American Southwestern settings and the brutal climate, and these seemed like characters themselves. There was never enough water and day-to-day survival was sometimes difficult especially after suffering wounds during attacks or being attacked by Indians.
There is a lot of Spanish spoken in this novel and I think I missed out on a lot because I didn't understand any of it.
This is certainly a Western, but spends it's time on the dark side of life in the West. The gang is ruthless, viscous, and covered in dust and dried blood most of the time, and on the verge of starvation and dehydration regularly. All the dark facets of humanity are display in this well-written but disturbing novel.
I'm going to give this four stars. It's like nothing I've ever read and is so well written that it will live in your head but at times too over the top for me. There is a part at the end about a family and their pet dancing bear that almost did me in.
I've got some more McCarthy on my shelves and I can't wait to read it.
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- Hans Ritter
- 06-23-23
An American Classic
Inscrutable, apocalyptic and genocidal. McCormick at his apex. This classic American novel is read with gusto and verve. Amazing.
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- Doff
- 09-09-19
Good story, CHAPTER BEGINNINGS.
The book itself is pure McCarthy. A whole lot of awful stuff happens and is met with apathy by the characters. He did a good job of writing "in the shoes" of an 1800's settler type. Descriptions are both vague yet specific. My only complaint, for this reading, is the chapter overviews. They led to broken concentration and spoilers. The narrator did a fine job.
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- Klowbi
- 06-16-23
Just okay
I probably would’ve liked it more if the narrator didn’t make so many mouth sounds that kept grossing me out. Couldn’t get over that lol
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- Gary
- 10-31-18
A captivating and disturbing story
Beautifully written. Magnificently narrated. Tough to listen to. Though I'd seen the movie based on McCarthy's novel, No Country for Old Men, that didn't prepare me for the frequency, amplitude and sheer senselessness of the violence in this book. As much as I appreciated his craft, I was relieved when it was over.
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