SOURCES:
New historical notes on Judge Holden, Glanton, Tobin, and the rest
Good thing is that we can confidently say that the real deal is burning in hell, unlike in the book.
Honestly? Judge Holden never even stuck out to me as the most horrifying aspect of the book. He was at home in a brutal landscape of racism, depravity and genocide, but not the architect of it. Everything about that book is horrifying. It’s horror twisted into macabre and often stunning poetry. I think the way it ends sort of spotlights Holden, but my feeling was that most of the characters vicious psychopaths. Maybe Holden only crossed the line on what skin color was acceptable to hunt?
Amazing book. Hope to get to read it again some day.
Holden is pretty heavily implied to kidnap and kill kids throughout, but yeah all of the characters are horrific. I’ve wondered if the book is a meditation on the violence of colonialism, but I’m not sure if McCarthy is cool enough for that.
