The first volume in McCarthy’s Border Trilogy is the story of 16-year-old John Grady Cole, the last in a long line of Texas ranchers. I highly recommend this novel for people who love horses and who enjoy an authentic western experience.Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, excerpted in the March 1992 issue of Esquire, marked a new chapter in the career of a writer already recognized as one of America's finest storytellers. I happened to see the 2000 movie All the Pretty Horses before reading the book, and imagining Matt Damon in John Grady Cole’s role obviously added to my enjoyment of the story. As a writer, I found myself mentally correcting the obvious omissions, but in no way did these transgressions diminish my enjoyment of the book. There are rambling sentences with 65-plus words. Proper nouns like “French” or even “American” often are not capitalized. Spanish is frequently used, but unfortunately there are no translations though meanings are usually subtly clear other times I gave it my best guess. The dialect between the cowboys is natural, and therefore usually grammatically incorrect. The text is riddled with vague or ambiguous pronouns, yet the meaning is always clear. There are no quotation marks in dialog try as you might, you won’t find an apostrophe. Much of the writing in All the Pretty Horses would make a high school English teacher blanch. Ever present are the horses, the mainstay of John Grady’s life.
I found his vivid descriptions of the Mexican countryside and its people lyrical. Their former association with Jimmy Blevens creates repercussions and they are suddenly in a situation with little hope.Īuthor Cormac McCarthy’s writing style kept me captivated throughout. He and the rancher’s daughter, Alejandra, fall in love.Ī tangled web ensues, and trouble for John Grady and Lacey follows. John Grady speaks fluent Spanish because of Spanish-speaking help on the family ranch. John Grady and Lacey eventually make their way to a large ranch in Mexico where they are hired. The three ride together for awhile, but along the way Jimmy disappears. Along the way, they meet up with Jimmy Blevens, 13, a wild, strange boy who rides an obviously valuable horse. He and his best friend Lacey Rawlins, 17, begin a journey on horseback to Mexico. His parents are separated, his father is ill, and it is evident that John Grady, 16, is now on his own. John Grady Cole’s grandfather has just died and the family’s east Texas ranch is for sale. Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, a novel set in the late 1940s, kept me spellbound from beginning to end.
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