McCARTHY, Cormac. All the Pretty Horses. 320p. Knopf Doubleday. 1993. $15.00. ISBN 0679744398.
Ride with John Grady Cole through pre World-War II Texas into Mexico in McCarthy’s first installment of the Border Trilogy. When sixteen-year old Cole realizes his estranged mother is selling their home and that he is the last of a long line of ranchers, he sets out for a better life in Mexico. Cole and his buddy Rawlins meet a young man of questionable character along the way and disagree about whether this stranger will cause them trouble.
McCarthy has created an original, memorable coming of age story. His lyrical style takes a few pages to adapt to, yet the effort is worthwhile. Not a stickler for proper punctuation, McCarthy often writes in a train-of-thought rather than in complete sentences. He does not quote his dialogue, but readers adapt to his style early on. Descriptions of the Texan landscape and Mexican villages leave readers feeling as if they are riding alongside the characters. “They came up out of the river breaks riding slowly side by side along the dusty road and onto a high plateau where they could see out over the country to the south, rolling country covered with grass and wild daisies” (38). McCarthy’s depiction of old Mexico is harsh and raw, yet also full of beauty. Due to some graphic language (swearing, sexual scenes) and violence, this book is appropriate for older high school readers. The violence seems gratuitous yet fits in with the time period, setting and plot. Readers who enjoyed McCarthy’s The Road or are looking for a memorable series will enjoy this National Book Award winner. ( )

Great coming of age story in the west. Well developed characters and interactions ( )

More user-friendly than The Road and No Country for Old Men ( )

Delusione. McCarthy - a mio parere - è uno dei più grandi scrittori viventi. Nei suoi libri ci sono semptre una padronanza perfetta della materia narrativa, un assoluto controllo del linguaggio, un uso sapiente delle parole, dosate e spesso centellinate ma proprio per questo ancora più incisive. In questo libro queste caratteristiche - invece di produrre un congegno letterario a orologeria - hanno dato vita a una narrazione che spesso mi pare gratuita e priva di mordente. ( )

I first "read" this book as an audiobook years ago. I loved it then, but I have to say, I loved reading it much more. McCarthy has some incredibly large, beautiful sentences throughout this book. His sense of feeling and detail permeates even the most rough scenes in the story. This will truly sit in my rereading list.

A few noteworthy observations (spoiler alert!!): The character Lacey Rawlins clearly holds Jimmy Blevins in contempt at the beginning of the book; this is witnessed repeatedly and John Grady Cole is the voice of reason and caring. It struck me late in the book, after Jimmy is no longer around, how it becomes clear that Lacey really did care and felt the weight of sadness and guilt on the way life unfolded for him. McCarthy captures these feelings with a minimum of text and a maximum of power. ( )

Cet ouvrage m'a été conseillé par Andad, suite à ma lecture de La Route by Cormac McCarthy . Andad me suggérait de le lire en anglais à cause de la richesse de l'écriture, mais j'ai choisi la facilité. C'est le premier tome d'une trilogie initiatique, ça se passe entre les US et le Mexique, il y a des cow boys qui ont des sentiments et des femmes mexicaines qui discourent (entre autres).
Je fais un méchant raccourci mais c'est livre riche en péripéties et en caractères, une écriture très poétique. ( )

Certainly destined to be an American classic. ( )

Certainly destined to be an American classic. ( )

Certainly destined to be an American classic. ( )

Pretty Pictures in a Harsh World ( )

The best of Cormac McCarthy's books. ( )

Cormac McCarthy has written in several different styles throughout his career. From lean, polished as in "The Road" to colloquial, prosaic, and vivid as in "Blood Meridian".

"All the Pretty Horses" falls in between.

All the Pretty Horses is the first in "The Border Trilogy" and is an account of the idealized cowboy as the protagonist. This story sets up the larger picture that can only be seen by reading the entire trilogy.

The second book in the trilogy-"The Crossing"-gives the less romanticized account of another adolescent cowboy. "Cities of the Plain" brings the two cowboys together and the reader witnesses the idealism and realism as personified by the young cowboys and the only possible ending that fate allows.

Throughout the trilogy, the beautiful and harsh environment is the everpresent protagonist and antagonist; as are fate and chance. Fate and chance coexisting? Is fate an end of a journey of chance? Or is chance just luck? These are questions that I think of when reading Mr. McCarthy.

Mr. McCarthy's style has been compared to Faulkner and Hemingway. I can't comment on that since I haven't read Faulkner...yet. And it has been a while since I've read Hemingway whom is a favorite.

Why read Cormac McCarthy? So that you can form your own opinion instead of accepting mine. Go ahead read it! ( )

I came across CM through the movie No Country for Old Men. My friend praised his work so I made a note to read some of his works. All the Pretty Horses was the first I chose from my local library. Overall impression is that he is not for me; I will wait for the movie versions of his books. ATPH is a book where in the first half you wonder where this story is going, and little from the writing style and use of language to encourage me to keep going, but it was redeemed to some extent in the second half with a powerful punch. I appreciated the sense of foreboding evil in the Blevins character in the first chapter and the sense of "the calm before the storm" of the second. Its the third chapter that came alive for me where the naive youths come face to face with the brutal reality of the place where they, being Americans, don't really belong. The moral of the fourth chapter I guess was not to leave the strands in your life unfinished. The horses in the novel appear to provide a consistency and loyalty that is mostly missing in human relationships, that is only established with those few people we make a strong connection - be it lover, friend or family. CM's style of not using quotation marks and not translating the Spanish dialogue was unsettling, but in hindsight was a useful device to make the reader feel some of the disorientation the characters must have been feeling. The hero of the story was made to be some kind of young Superman with skills, talents and an understanding far advanced for his years, but when we are young we come to a time when we think we know all there is to know in the world and sometimes feel invincible. I was left with a sense that the story was unreal and had little reward from the writing for my efforts of persisting to the end. ( )

It's hard to read this after No Country for Old Men, The Road, Blood Meridian, and Child of God. For most of the story there is none of that trademark blunt violence, but that is no reason to dislike the book. It is just hard to let loose my expectations for a Cormac McCarthy book while reading. Because of this, it took me awhile to get into it, but once you get caught up in it (for me, it wasn't until the aunt first spoke -- she always has interesting things to say), it is hard to let go. It's a great adventure and probably a great starting place for newcomers to McCarthy's world. ( )

Cormac McCarthy is an amazing writer. His descriptions, word choice, and inclusion of Spanish, add considerably to the power and realism of the story. His characters are both believable and yet (in the case of John Grady) larger than life. I have never met anyone, yet alone a 16 year old, as tough or hard as this book's protagonist. This is not a typical, flat YA Adventure written for Middle School students. This book should be reserved for older High School students. The complexity of the language and the darkness of the themes are not appropriate for younger readers. Also, as is true of all Cormac McCarthy novels, there are no quotation to indicate when someone is speaking. This would be very confusing for younger readers. ( )

I don't like books that are swooned over because of a unique voice. This book has a voice and a story and some characters and pacing and. . . . ( )

This is a true American classic. A coming of age story that is unpredictable and wonderful. ( )

Cormac McCarthy is officially my new favourite author. I am so glad I discovered his writing this year, as All the Pretty Horses his the third book of his that I have read this year, and probably the best. Luckily it is the first is a trilogy, so I have two more books to which I can look forward!

All the Pretty Horses takes place, like No Country for Old Men, around the Texas-Mexico border. The protagonist is John Grady Cole, a sixteen year old boy who decides to leave his home in Texas for the unknown of Mexico. Along with his cousin Lacey Rawlins, John Grady travels over the border with the plan of working on a Mexican ranch. He is a master with horses, an unrivaled rider, and above all, a naive young man frustrated with the world. His mother has left his father, who is dying, and his girlfriend has found happiness with another man - and so John Grady feels that Texas holds nothing for him.

While riding to Mexico, John Grady and Rawlins meet a young boy named Jimmy Blevins, who forces his company on them. Blevins is rash and angry; Rawlins is certain that he will cause trouble, and this prediction proves true. Soon the three boys encounter danger, violence, and the corrupt nature of Mexican officials.

McCarthy's novels are far from cheery - the stories are bleak and depressing, the violence is real, and the characters meet with many misfortunes. However, his novels are also beautiful - in writing, in story, and in message. John Grady suffers, but he also loves, and grows. He begins the novel a boy, and ends it a man with many life experiences. McCarthy's writing is rough and sparse at times, lyrical and descriptive at others, just like the landscape that he so richly describes.

At the centre of All the Pretty Horses are the ideas expressed in this passage:

"The boy who rode on slightly before him sat a horse not only as if he'd been born to it which he was but as if were he begot by malice or mischance into some queer land where horses never were he would have found them anyway. Would have known that there was something missing for the world to be right or he right in it and would have set forth to wander wherever it was needed for as long as it took until he came upon one and he would have known that that was what he sought and it would have been" (23).

This idea - that we all need something to be whole, and that we would instinctively search for it until we found it - is what drives John Grady. It applies not only to horses, but to his search for a country that is "his country," his need to right Blevins' wrong, and his continued love for a girl beyond his means. I find this concept fascinating - are we all on a journey to find the thing that makes us whole? Are we all destined to find it, or is it the search that is important?

McCarthy's novels are not for everyone - they are violent, and rough, but they are beautiful too. ( )

There is the love story of course, which many take to be the central element in this tale, and while I think it is an important part of the novel, in my opinion the story rests on the encounter with a mere child. As our protagonist John Grady and his cousin Rawlins reach Mexico on their horses, they are followed by, and then meet a young boy claiming to be sixteen, astride a horse which looks much too good for him, which leads John Grady and especially Rawlins to assume that he has stolen it. The boy, who has a gun but no provisions nor water nor money claims his name is Jimmy Blevins and soon trails along with them in Mexico. Rawlins takes an instant disliking to him, claiming Blevins will surely get them into serious trouble. As we soon find out, Blevin does in fact inadvertently instigate a chain of events which fuel much of the drama and adventure throughout the novel, which is a Western story above all, one about men, guns and horses, and one exquisitely told. ( )

http://sarahbbc.wordpress.com/2009/03... ( )

Except for his rather precious avoidance of standard punctuation, I loved this book. ( )

McCarthy's novel follows John Grady Cole, a Texas cowboy, as he travels south to Mexico with his best friend. Mexico turns out not to be as idyllic as they had hoped, as they soon come to find out that it is a place where, as the back cover says, "dreams are paid for in blood". I can't reveal much else without spoiling the plot, but know that the Mexico they encounter is far different from the traditional Western frontier Mexico the boys dreamt of.
John Grady is undoubtedly the hero of the novel, both traditionally and... not. He is traditionally heroic in his cowboy code--the unwritten, honorable creed by which he lives. A hopeless romantic, he clings to this code despite all the bad things he experiences in Mexico. In all his heartbreak and "defeat", he stoically clings to his cowboy code. John Grady is the old West, honorable, meeting obstacles in this strange land which he cannot overcome. His heroism comes not from his actions and consequences, but from his universal goodness and stoicism.
I would definitely recommend this novel. It's a different read, with McCarthy using a ridiculous amount of compound sentences and omitting quotation marks. He also jumps back and forth from English to Spanish as the characters converse with the natives, which some might find frustrating. These things only made me love the book more. His unique style is incredible, and his imagery as vivid as I've ever encountered. I absolutely loved this book. ( )

If it hadn't been for the quality and the pace dropping off a little towards the end, I would have given this five stars. Beautiful, tough, totally unpretentious yet full to overflowing.

As with all the books I enjoy most, this filled me with a desire to become what I was reading. Safe to say I'll never be John Grady Cole, a strong, silent Texan who smokes and drinks coffee at every opportunity, and seems to be the kind of man who can get away with just looking at people instead of speaking.

The novel has a sweep which defies too much focus, but I particularly enjoyed the journey into Mexico and the prison, but most of all the descriptions of smoking, eating and talking (or lack of it).

The start of Rawlins' and Cole's journey is described in a paragraph, page 30 in the Picador edition I read, that begins with the sentence: "They rode out along the fenceline and across the open pastureland." The passage just incredibly hugley big, without puffing itself up to be so - maybe it comes close, but it does not cross that line. There are several others, too many to cite, but another I can remember is an encounter with some friendly Mexican farmworkers. "And after and for a long time to come he'd have reason to evoke the recollection of those smiles and to reflect upon the good will which provoked them for it had it had power to protect and confer honor and to strengthen resolve and it had power to heal men and to bring safety long after all other resources were exhausted." A rare glimpse of benevolence in McCarthy's world, but what a glimpse. I'm not sure why he chose to dispense with speech marks along with most punctuation, though I can guess, but by gum if you can write like that you can just do what you like.

this is the second mccarthy book i've read. after finishing the road i picked this one up and thouroughly enjoyed it. not my usual read, it's styled after a western but reads more like an biography, in a way. the detailed description of the landscape - down to the habits of the native flora of remote mexico - and the just the rawness of the characters' emotions: the author is obviously recalling past experience. a co-worker, who owns horses, read a page out of the middle and was so moved he wrote down the isbn and bought this book that same day. he said that anyone can write about saddling a horse but mccarthy is obviously a horse lover. the way he described putting down the horse blanket on its' bare back and smoothing it just so. he puts so much into it. great book. ( )

Summary: It's 1949, and sixteen-year-old John Grady Cole's grandfather has died, and his mother has sold the family ranch, which she has no interest in maintaining. John Grady and his cousin and friend Lacey Rawlins decide to cross the border into Mexico, looking for work as cowboys, and possibly some adventure along the way. They join up with a younger boy who is riding what looks to be a stolen horse that he swears is his, although he's unwilling to provide any details. When that horse gets lost and stolen, a chain of events is set into motion that includes horse thievery, breaking of wild horses, the seduction of (or maybe by) the beautiful daughter of a Mexican landholder, some time spent in jail, and more than one gunfight.

Review: Cormac McCarthy seems to be somewhat of a divisive author; people seem to either really love or really hate his books. I'm somewhat in the middle, although I'm leaning towards the negative. A lot of the people who are hardcore fans are so because of McCarthy's writing, and it is incredible, there's no denying that. (Although I quickly determined that reading his prose in print form would drive me batty in about a page and a half, so I've only ever listened to audiobooks of his works - let the narrator deal with the run-on sentences and sort out where there are supposed to be commas and quotation marks.) McCarthy's language is sparse and almost brutally precise, perfectly mirroring the landscapes he's describing - both the language and the images it conjures are beautiful in their bleakness.

At least for me, however, interesting and beautiful writing has never been enough on which to hang a novel. There was plenty of stuff happening in All The Pretty Horses that should have been exciting - Wild horses! Mexican prison! Getting shot! - but inexplicably, it comes out as dull. I had a hard time telling where the story was going, a hard time figuring out how (or whether) each event fit together into a cohesive story, a hard time telling what the point was, and a hard time caring. Maybe I just missed the point altogether, but as it was I had a hard time making myself go back to listen to more of this book. Pretty language (although if you don't speak Spanish, be warned: there are large untranslated sections), but the characters and story just didn't do anything for me. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Fans of McCarthy's, or people who really enjoy Westerns will obviously disagree with me, but I could have given this one a miss. ( )