English teacher Brandon Kendall has spent the past few months re-reading an old favorite, “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy.
“[McCarthy] uses very archaic and obscure words, but it actually adds a unique flavor to the book,” Kendall said. “For instance, every piece of narration, not just dialogue, in the book is period accurate.”
“Blood Meridian” follows the story of an unnamed kid who travels with a group of American scalpers who were hired by the governor of a Mexican town to kill as many Native Americans as possible.
The Native Americans were on a territory with lots of gold the governor wanted. So for every scalp the scalpers got they earned 100 gold coins until they were all dead and the governor could have the gold. The book takes place in Southern Texas and Northern Mexico around 1849 and is based on true historical events.
“There’s a movie called ‘No Country For Old Men’ and I loved the movie. I found out it was based on a book written by Cormac McCarthy. I read the book and I loved it,” Kendall said. “I dove in and essentially read all Cormac McCarthy’s books and this was the one I enjoyed the most.”
American writer Cormac McCarthy has written many books in his life from his first, “The Orchard Keeper,” to his last, “The Passenger and Stella Maris.” McCarthy also wrote “The Border Trilogy.”
“It is the most violent book I’ve ever read,” Kendall said. “People who are interested in history and American history or that are into westerns would like this book.”
At the end of the book, one of the themes is that violence is a part of all cultures and has always been around. We, as a society, must find ways to handle that.