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humanodon  ·  3734 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Book Club: Blood Meridian: Discussion 2

    I truly feel like McCarthy discovered this Judge character in his head one day

I agree with this . . .

    and created a place for him to exist in equilibrium, and that place was Blood Meridian.

but not with this. One reason, is that for the whole narrative, McCarthy builds up the mystery of why the Judge meticulously documents things and then destroys them, while alluding to his superhuman abilities of speaking any language he needs to, his fiddle playing and numerous other skills.

Also, I don't think equilibrium is the word, since this book is pretty clearly about what happens when equilibrium is lost. The Kid is not a foil to the Judge: The Kid seems to represent the everyday evil that is complicity.

thenewgreen, I definitely feel like this book was more style than substance (which I sometimes don't mind) but in this case it left me feeling like I've missed something. That said, I don't feel compelled to work out what that is.