All the Pretty Horses

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It's a hit!

John Grady Cole is 16 years old when his grandfather dies. He has grown up on his grandfather's ranch in Texas, but when he learns it is about to b... (show more)

John Grady Cole is 16 years old when his grandfather dies. He has grown up on his grandfather's ranch in Texas, but when he learns it is about to be sold, he and his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, head south to Mexico, hoping to find work as cowboys. Along the way they meet a teenager named Jimmy Blevins and he accompanies them to Mexico.

Eventually they find work on a large horse ranch in the Mexican state of Coahuila. John Grady begins a romance with the
ranch owner's beautiful daughter, Alejandra. He dreams of marrying her and things go well at first as her father brings him into the house and gives him extra duties. In the meantime Blevins has shot a man and been executed by a small group of rouge cops who have been bribed by the dead man's family. Alejandra's father becomes alarmed at the relationship she is developing with the young Texan and has Cole and Rawlins arrested and thrown into jail, where they are tortured. Alejandra finds out about their arrest and has them freed and arranges for the boys to return to Texas. She and John Grady have one last meeting. He begs her to join him and Texas, but she decides to stay in Mexico with her family.

This novel of one of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. It is a brilliant novel written in his unique style which drops punctuation marks from dialogue and polysyndetonic syntax, which means that several conjunctions are used in a sentence (The children ran and jumped and had tons of fun). McCarthy has his own unique style is one of the masters of modern fiction. My only complaint is the explicit violence his books are splattered with. (show less)

 

 

by Jimmy D. Clark

No, it's a flop!

I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy this one. I am not a big fan of westerns and I found the author's style hard to read. The lack of the use ... (show more)

I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy this one. I am not a big fan of westerns and I found the author's style hard to read. The lack of the use of quotations to separate dialogue from narrative really bothered me, but I did get used to it after a while. I could not really relate to the story of two young men who journey to Mexico to work as cowboys. They meet another young man who brings down a rain of trouble upon them. I found the story reasonably realistic, but could not relate to the characters. (show less)

 

 

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  I never thought of myself as a lover of westerns but after McCarthy's trilogy beginning with all the pretty horses, I fell in love with these books...his style is so readable, flowing, and poetic, and so hard to put down, I actually forget I am reading instead I experience an escape to a place of fierce beauty and hardships only the young can possibly appreciate or endure...You will be there with John Grady Cole as he persues his dream of wild horses and his gifted style of breaking them, yo... (show more)

  I never thought of myself as a lover of westerns but after McCarthy's trilogy beginning with all the pretty horses, I fell in love with these books...his style is so readable, flowing, and poetic, and so hard to put down, I actually forget I am reading instead I experience an escape to a place of fierce beauty and hardships only the young can possibly appreciate or endure...You will be there with John Grady Cole as he persues his dream of wild horses and his gifted style of breaking them, you'll feel the aches and sorrows, as well as the triumphs and love...( My high school spanish classes all came back to me in this book it helps to have a little knowledge of the language.)
  You'll see the beauty through his eyes, of a whole different world than most could ever hope to see, as well as a true brotherhood of friends,and the limits one is willing to go to for those friends... John is a man of few words but with deep rivers of thought, and a passion he is willing to laydown his life for. I have always loved McCarthy's writing, and I just loved this trilogy. (show less)

   

   

  by Gini Collins Burdette on Sep 17, 2009 at 10:20PM

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  I haven't read Cormac McCarthy before, and I was immediately struck by his beautiful use of language and the way he uses words to suggest setting/environment. There's nothing fancy in this Western epic ... it begins as teens leave their homes early in the 1920s (?) to find adventure in Mexico and ends on a continuing journey. The great Western themes of land, horses, possession, justice and passion are all here, suggested and illustrated with words rather than sermonized. That which we fin... (show more)

  I haven't read Cormac McCarthy before, and I was immediately struck by his beautiful use of language and the way he uses words to suggest setting/environment. There's nothing fancy in this Western epic ... it begins as teens leave their homes early in the 1920s (?) to find adventure in Mexico and ends on a continuing journey. The great Western themes of land, horses, possession, justice and passion are all here, suggested and illustrated with words rather than sermonized. That which we find beautiful and puts meaning in our lives can also be our downfall... another Western tradition.
  The magnificent setting of Mexico, dust, heat, and lush oases in-between are the overarching reality of the story. There are times you become so immersed in the prose, setting and plot that you don't notice that last sentence was about 10 lines long. It shimmers on the page like heat waves off sand and makes you pause to consider. This is writing at its best.
  John Grady Cole is the last of a line of west Texas ranchers who cannot continue the family business because his parents divorced and his mother can't stand the life of struggle. He finds adventure riding and camping through Mexico with his best friend and eventually they find work at a large ranch with a hacendado. Cole proves his talent with horses and is promoted to assist the hacendado with breeding, training and developing 'perfect' ranch horses that would be sure to catch on in that country and Texas. He meets Alejandra and his whole life, and that of his friend, change. Cole can't continue his Texas tradition nor join the hacendado life as an equal, and so his fate is open at the end of the book. Can't wait to read the next one!
  You'll enjoy this tale if you like Westerns, cowboys, horses, Mexican culture... it helps if you know a little Spanish! Well done. (show less)

   

   

  by Rebecca A Yockey on Jul 29, 2009 at 05:41PM

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