Annotation Number Five-Westerns

  

Well, this was quite a way to end my five annotations for the semester...If you have read it, I'm sure you know what I mean.  If you haven't, be forewarned.  It is gritty in a way I'd rarely previously encountered, filled with violence and little hope or happiness.  That's not to say its not a worthwhile read, but I'd certainly say it is not your average western. 

Title: Blood Meridian, or, The Evening Redness in the West 

Author: Cormac McCarthy

Genre: Western

Publication Date: 1985

Number of Pages: 351

Geographical Setting: Mexico and Texas (mainly)

Time Period: 1850’s and on

Plot Summary: Blood Meridian tells the story of ‘the kid,’ a teen who, with nothing better to do, decides to join an “army” whose purpose seems to be to take back America.  The troupe sets out traveling the desserts along the Texan-Mexican border looking for trouble.  There is an incredible amount of violence along the way, but philosophical musings and a parcel of curious characters help carry the story, which is based loosely on actual events that happened in those times and at those places.  This book is also a TIME Magazine 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 selection.

Subject Headings: (From Novelist & WorldCat)

The Fifties (19th century)
Outlaws -- United States-Mexico border region
Massacres -- United States-Mexico border region
Apache Indians -- United States-Mexico border region
Teenage boys -- United States-Mexico border region

Mexican-American Border Region -- Fiction.

Indians of North America -- Fiction.

Historical fiction.

Glanton Gang -- Fiction

Nineteenth century

Appeal:  Disturbing, Atmospheric, Stylistically Complex (from Novelist)

3 terms that best describe this book: Bleak, unsettling, rambling.

Similar Fiction Works (From Novelist): 

True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2001)  Ned Kelly, the legendary nineteenth-century Australian folk-hero, describes how he, his brother, and two friends led authorities on a twenty-month manhunt, marked by widespread populist support, before his capture and execution. (Plot similarities include time period and the story of outlaws, but the titles also share the writing style and storyline.)

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1999) The archbishop in Santa Fe aids in the growth and development of the Southwest. (Plot similarities are limited to time period and the tone is uplifting rather than disturbing but similar storylines and genres make these two read alikes.)

Falconer by John Cheever (1977) Tells the story of a man named Farragut, his crime and punishment, and his struggle to remain a man in a universe bent on beating him back into childhood. (Many shared appeals including writing style [lyrical], tone [bleak, disturbing], and storyline [character driven]).

Relevant Non-Fiction Works (from WorldCat):

The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century by Paul J. Vanderwood (1998) The author explains a series of 1890s uprisings in Tomóchic, in the border state of Chihuahua, against the Porfirians' determination to dictate who would control the land and the future. Pushed forward by the belief in folk saint Teresa Urrea, indigenous people and mestizos led by Cruz Chávez fought government troops to preserve their way of life.  (Similar time period and same locations as in Blood Meridian)

Cormac McCarthy by Robert L. Jarrett (1997) In this astute and learned analysis of McCarthy's fiction, Robert Jarrett looks at all seven of the novels published to date and responds to much of the current (and proliferating) critical thought about McCarthy.

And for something a little less horribly depressing: Cooking the Cowboy Way: Recipes Inspired by Campfires, Chuck Wagons, and Ranch Kitchens by Grady Spears and June Naylor (2009) This collection of almost one hundred recipes is not only the result of Grady's journey across North America, but also the cowboy's journey through history.In Cooking the Cowboy Way, you'll have a ringside seat at the rodeo as Grady wrestles down new recipes from some incredible cowboy cooks and kitchen wranglers who know what hungry cow folks want to eat. And in the process, you'll be carried away by the magic of starry nights by the campfire and seduced by the heritage of the chuck wagon and ranch kitchens, where the menus are still stoked by the traditions of the Old West just as they have been for a century or more.