Power

Some stories make us laugh. Some stories make us cry. Some make us angry. Some make us frustrated. Important stories touch us in some way, evoking emotion in our heart. I've read stories that have had that kind of power before, but none has impacted me in the same way that Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian has. The power in that story to inspire dread, horror, and a sense of utter futility defies description.

I can't even put a finger on how the author accomplishes that power. The story isn't that different from a dozen other westerns, even if it's told in a unique way with a different point of view. Usually, when a book sucks me in, the characters to most of the work: I become emotionally involved because I relate to the people I'm reading about. Not Blood Meridian though, I can't think of characters that could be more alien. I don't feel empathy for them. But the plot still drives into my heart like a spear thrust.

The story is almost hypnotic, drawing you further and further into madness, and at the end, I felt like I was staring the devil in the eyes. It was an uncomfortable feeling. That slow revelation of dread and insanity works well. It isn't so bad at first...and it gets worse...and worse...and then, by the end, I put the book down without comment. I haven't been able to read sense then. It shook me. I still turn it all over in my head, trying to make sense out of what McCarthy was saying with Blood Meridian.

What story was he trying to tell, and what moral lurks in layers of peeled madness? I haven't riddled it out yet. I'm just now beginning to be able to reflect on the how he accomplished that emotional power. I'm not quite ready to understand the why yet.