So you think you're a man? To be considered a real man you have to read Blood Meridian all the way through without once grimacing. I made it halfway before I found myself pulling a face at one scene.

This is quite a philosophical book, full of metaphors, I'm certain I've not fully grasped everything. The main character is "the kid", the weird thing is for a lot of the book he is mainly in the background, a witness for the acts that are happening around him. You then have "The Judge" a 7ft tall, 24 stone, hairless giant....a twisted, perverted, violent Sociopath. At one point the judge makes a pact with Glanton, he is good at everything, he keeps popping up, seemingly stalking the kid...combined with the last scene my theory is he was the devil .

I've enjoyed this book, one of the most violent books I've ever read, makes American Psycho seem tame....and that's one of the problems I've have with it. After a while I became numb to the violence, it started to feel like a poor slasher movie that gets silly after a while as it tries hard to shock you. Some of the language was a bit suspect, at one location there are "Transvestites", I don't think that term existed in the time the book is based, it's just been thrown in to cause a little shock. Some scenes though were stunning, the dancing bear was so sad I got a lump in my throat.

My first Cormac McCarthy book, considered his masterpiece, I can see that, even with the flaws, it has that epic feel to it that all masterpieces have.