Just picked up Blood Meridian today. I look forward to cranking out a good chunk of it this weekend.
I read about 30 pages tonight and I'm immediately gripped by the writing. A lot of people have said it takes a lot of "work" but I find the writing extremely easy and almost familiar. Reminds me of Hemingway in the sense that he doesn't waste words. There's nothing that drives me out of a novel more than seemingly extemporaneous writing. This seems crafted, but in a way where I don't see the hand of the craftsman -if that makes sense? Give it a whirl, I'm really digging it. I feel like I'm there.
I had trouble in the beginning dealing with his lack of quotation marks and odd punctuation. It makes the reading flow in a different way, which I don't mind now that I feel comfortable with it, but I found the dialogue hard to follow in parts, especially conversations between more than two people, of which there are a few.
I agree, the lack of quotation marks took a little bit to get used to but it didn't take long. I don't want to yet refer to specific parts but there were definitely moments where I had to reread to get an idea of who was talking. The scenes and the dialog are so "of an era" that I feel very emersed. First time in a while that I can't wait to get home to read again.
Yeah, same. The way that the dialogue occurs and how the characters are sometimes introduced reminds me of walking into a room and sitting down, just doing my own thing and then looking up to realize there is someone else in the room and has been since before I entered.
If you finish the Signal and the Noise, check out Blood Meridian we're about to read it for the book club. You ever read any Cormac McCarthy? This is my first.
We can talk more about it in the proper thread, but I actually don't think it's all that difficult to read... yet. I'm only 30 pages in.