All the Pretty Horses

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Summary: The greatest living American novelist.
Review: Just like William Faulkner, whose greatness went unnoticed during his most productive years, so it is with Cormac McCarthy. One day, McCarthy will be recognized as the greatest American novelist of the late 20th Century. All the Pretty Horses is an outstanding book. Small portions of the dialogue are in Spanish. The translation can be found on the web site of the Cormac McCarthy Society at http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/

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Summary: A boy's heart laid bare in the Mexican desert.
Review: Cormac McCarthy's beautiful All the Pretty Horses places a Texas boy, John Cole, in the Mexican desert, and lays bare the soul of Americans in their search for love and life's meaning. No other recent book describes the restlessness of a nation, entwined in the story of a strong 16 year-old, with quite the power of All the Pretty Horses. At times heartbreaking and always fulfilling, John Cole's journey with his friend, his love affair with a Mexican aristocrat's beautiful daughter, and the landscape that scars Texas and Mexico are flawlessly described by Mr. McCarthy. Only one other book has moved me quite as much as this one, Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum.

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Summary: A lean border tale.
Review: While the charm of another western tale is enough to call this book enjoyable, the author's distinct style of writing makes a palpable impression. With a brevity and clarity somewhat like Hemingway's, McCarthy spins out this tale of a pair of boys in Mexico. His spare writing empthasizes the leanness of the characters and creates a vivid vista that comes alive in the reader's mind and unites them with the experiences of the characters. Not to be read just as a western, but for it's humanity.

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Summary: Wonderful, individual novel
Review: Easily his best, outshining 'The Crossing' by a long way, and more mature and less mythological than 'Blood Meridian'. His style is the main pleasure for me. Superb, economical and audacious writing that is impossible to imitate (I know because I've tried). He brings a real poet's ear to sentences that last till the end of the world and could easily become ponderous and pretentious. This man pulls it off every time. One of the few novels that I re-read regularly

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Summary: A coming of age tale of a young man's adventures in Mexico
Review: All the Pretty Horses, winner of the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, is fiction of the highest calibur. The story recants the travels of John Grady, a boy from Texas, looking for adventure and his future in Mexico. The journey to and within Mexico parallels the young Texan's own inner quest and search for self. Admittedly the book is lathargic in the beginning, but a particularly poignant passage in the last third of the novel in which an older Mexican woman offers her hard earned wisdom regarding life is well worth the wait. McCarthy has written a rare book which avoids cliche, predictable plot evolution and merely guides readers along as the climax methodically builds. Events and misfortune befall the unemotive John Grady yet he continues in stride, not out of hero bravado but rather because that is the only response he can muster. In the end, life has shaped John Grady into a man and his journey is complete

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Summary: Should have won the Pulitzer.
Review: I couldn't put this book down once I started it. Having grown up in West Texas close to where the story begins, it recalled many childhood memories. Mr. McCarthy's style is different, but he masters the language like no current author. This story is an emotional roller coaster, so be prepared. This author knows his subject, and the dialogue flows very smoothly indeed. I only wish that "THE CROSSING" had been a sequel, though it too, is outstanding

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Summary: Excellent Story!!!
Review: It took me several tries and for me to ran out of books, to continue reading this one, mainly because the punctuation style is unfamiliar, but how I regret the delay. This is simply a wonderful read. It's story is poignant, deeply moving and I couldn't put it down. I am not one for Western-type stories, but this one left me just a little richer about human nature and frailty

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Summary: A true western novel!
Review: Out of all of the novels I have read since the beginning of my high school career, this one tops them all. Never have I seen so much imagination rolled up in one book. A must for western lovers

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Summary: I couldn't put it down .
Review: The pain of growing up can't be matched when a sixteen -year-old goes on a wild and dangerous mission to Mexico by horseback! LUTHER BUTLE

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Summary: An engrossing, tobacco spittin', gritty yet insightful story
Review: This book called to my innermost spirit of adventure. I was ready to saddle up at a moments notice and ride side by side with John Grady Cole...he's a lot younger than me, but a true "cowboy old soul" at the same time...his attempt at clinging to his innate sense of who he really is, his cowboy's sense of honor, his magical way with horses, mingled with his naivete of life outside the realm of the ranch, made this a "can't put it down" novel for me...I can't wait for the second part of the trilogy