Blood MeridianBlood Meridian
Score Classic
What it's about
In the 1840s a fourteen-year-old boy, known only as the kid, runs away from Tennessee and drifts west into Texas. He falls in with the Glanton gang, a real band of scalp hunters paid to kill Apaches along the Mexican border, who soon kill anyone at all. Presiding over them is Judge Holden, a huge, hairless, brilliant man who dances, preaches and never seems to sleep.
Why it's worth reading
It's on TIME's list of the 100 best novels and is often called the greatest American novel of the last fifty years. McCarthy's prose is biblical and the Judge is one of literature's most terrifying villains.
You'll love it if you liked
The Road
Lonesome Dove
The SympathizerGood to know
It is extremely violent from start to finish. The prose is archaic, with long sentences, little punctuation and untranslated Spanish. Many readers need two tries.
By the numbers
- Readers69 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics59 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller36 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #65 of the 309 literary novels we rank
- #186 of the 762 classics we rank
- #581 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Dark, Moving, Thought-provoking
More by Cormac McCarthy
If you like this, read next
The Color Purple
I, Claudius
War and Peace
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Catch-22Explore the best-of lists
All 36 best-of lists →
Quick answers
Is Blood Meridian worth reading?
Yes. It's on TIME's list of the 100 best novels and is often called the greatest American novel of the last fifty years. It ranks #581 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 77.4 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Blood Meridian about?
In the 1840s a fourteen-year-old boy, known only as the kid, runs away from Tennessee and drifts west into Texas. He falls in with the Glanton gang, a real band of scalp hunters paid to kill Apaches along the Mexican border, who soon kill anyone at all. Presiding over them is Judge Holden, a huge, hairless, brilliant man who dances, preaches and never seems to sleep.
How long does it take to read Blood Meridian?
About 9 hours (365 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Blood Meridian?
If you liked it, try The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry or The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen.