Rating: 
Summary: Too much praise
Review: The reviews of this work leads one to believe it is a great piece of fiction. How it won the National Book Award is beyond reason. Though McCarthy paints a good picture in one's mind, the content does not flow well. The story is boring and leaves one hoping the end will come soon. The love story is not believable and goes nowhere. The book moves too slowly and lacks suspense. Reading this after any great classic is a mistake for it leaves one wondering what all the praise is about.
Rating: 
Summary: Best book I have ever read
Review: I Got this book at a Yard Sale. I am a countrygirl that was raised on a ranch. When I saw this book it just called my name so I bought it an could not put this book down it was the best book that I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Self-Absorption....
Review: When I was in graduate school, there was one writer on everyone's lips. Cormac McCarthy. "Cormac McCarthy is the next William Faulkner." Not so. He still has a ways to go. McCarthy has oodles and oodles of talent. There is no denying that. And, why would someone want to? The book is original. The characters are great. The dialogue is fantastic - it really is extraordinary. What a wonderful concept: A book about Cowboys, in a time period that is both somewhat recent conventionally, but has all the trappings of the violent Old West. Kudos to McCarthy on that. My problem, is with the novel's self-absorption. A problem that I think has recently plagued James Ellroy, as well. The prose has style, but after a while, the prose also begins to grit. This is the first book I've read by McCarthy. I wanted to save his work for a time when I craved an outstanding novel. And, I want to read more of his work. Some readers will have a problem with McCarthy's style. I know people who have read 40 pages, and then tossed the book in disgust. I found his lack of punctuation somewhat liberating. So - this is a good book. But I don't associate McCarthy with Faulkner or Melville, or any of the great literary minds of the past. It is what it is...
Rating:
Summary: Great literature!
Review: I read this book for summer reading for an American Lit. course in high school, and at first I found it awfully boring... so I rushed through the novel. But after reading it, I realized how great a book it is! The story is remarkable and there is so much to it. Read it, and you'll see what I mean!
Rating: 
Summary: Far far far better than the movie.
Review: Even if you've seen the movie, read the book -- for language that is gorgeous but doesn't get in the way of an adventure story limned with tenderness.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Book Ever ..
Review: I had to read this book for an Advanced Literature course I took last semester. If this book is any indication of how the rest of McCarthy's work is, I'd rather not read anymore. The first 100 or so pages of the book, the most exciting thing that happens is when they are riding through Texas and the tumbleweed rolls past them. If this book is supposed to be one of the closest adaptations as to the way the old west was, then we are being left with a lot to be desired.
Rating:
Summary: The Innocence of Alejandra
Review: In the novel, All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy creates an unpolluted, untainted image of his main character's love interest, Alejandra, through the use of diction and stylistic elements. McCarthy states that Alejandra speaks "english learned largely from schoolbooks..." (123). This depicts Alejandra as well-articulated and well read. She obviously has not picked up any slang, and therefore it is inferred that she mainly associates with poised, sophisticated society. McCarthy describes that her "hand was small and her waist so slight" (123). Through the utilization of imagery here, McCArthy creates an almost child-like image of Alejandra, a petite figure that has yet to blossom into womanhood. In one scene in the novel, Alejandra sneaks out late at night with John Grady Cole, the main character. John Grady decides to bathe in the "black and warm" (140) lake. As Alejandra begins to join him, John Grady notes her "clothing so pale, so pale, like a chrysalis emerging" (141) from the water. Since white is the universal symbol of purity, the repetition of its connotation, pale, emphasizes her innocence. The simile employed here compares Alejandra to an infant moth. By comparing her to a newborn, she again seems childlike and naive. Also, by linking her to a moth, which is usually pallid, McCarthy reinforces symbolism of the color white and continues his unsullied image of her. In the same scene, John Grady thinks "Do not speak to her. Do not call" (141). By means of stream of consciousness, McCarthy makes it clear that John Grady is painfully aware that if he calls his love into the dark water, he will take away sowme of her wholesomeness. By using another powerful simile, McCarthy demonstrates that Alejandra burns "like foxfire in a darkened wood" (141). By relating her to an illuminating, organic substance, McCarthy fortifies her pure white aura. Later, through personification, McCarthy describes Alejandra's hair "falling and floating" (141) on the water. This exemplifiew her celestial, angelic persona.
Rating:
Summary: A Great, Romantic, Suspenseful Novel
Review: I loved this book. The novel is about a young man and his friend who set out across the border of Texas and Mexico to become horse wranglers. However, their ideas of life in Mexico are abruptly changed through the happenings of romance, danger, and suspense. McCarthy has a great writing style that grips you into the novel. Through his dramatic descriptions of the Texas and Mexico ranch and trail life and his elaborate discussions of honor and reason, 16 year old, John Grady Cole, grabs you into the novel with the gripping sensation of wanting to continue to find out what happens next. McCarthy style includes no punctuation, making it hard to follow, but written well enough to grip the reader into reading on to find out the next dialogue sequence and the changing detail of the scenery. McCarthy deals with major themes such as: honor, religion, and death. For a boy of 16, these areas are hard to understand. Death takes a hard toll on a person regardless of age, however; it affects a younger age because they do not know how to handle the problem. Honor is an acceptance of manhood and maturity. As the novel develops, Cole is described as growing up and maturing. He knows honor to be sticking by his friend, Lacey Rawlins, and standing up for his rights and what he believes in. Religion is also a hard topic because a boy changes so much in his teen years that he has many doubts and fears of what truly exists. I highly recommend this novel to anyone that likes western novels with romance and gunplay.
Rating:
Summary: The Journey
Review: Cormac McCarthy creates an engrossing tale of two boys on a journey towards adulthood and a search for simpler times through his flowing style, dialogue, and imagery. John Grady Cole and his friend,Rawlins, explore the answers to the difficult questions such as religion and faith, love and death, good and evil. Cole finds love and romance with Alejandra which McCarthy skillfully portrays through Cole's eyes. Alejandra was "so pale in the lake she seemed to be burning. Like foxfire in a darkened wood. That burned cold."(141). The use of the fire metaphor to illuminate Alexandra's personality showed her fire and passion, but also how she lighted Cole's world. It also reveals one of the novels motifs, red or fire. The passage glimpses into Cole's mind like Hemmingway's stream of consciousness glimpses into the minds of his characters. The exploration of evil by Cole and Rawlins also characterizes the novel. Cole also contemplates fate. Does it really determine his life? He explores fate with the help of a conversation with Alejandra's aunt. She claims that "the world has always been more of a puppet show. But when one looks behind the curtain and traces the strings upward he finds they terminate in the hands of yet other puppets"(231). The metaphor creates an image of interminable puppets and no sign of a puppet master. McCarthy own views are reflected in those of Alejandra's aunt. Fate is often referred to as an indeterminable thing in the novel that the fated have no control over. A Mexican prisoner in conversation with Cole defines the meaning of evil from a Mexican perspective. Evil "is a true thing in Mexico. It goes about on its own legs. Maybe someday it will come to visit you. Maybe it already has"(195). The ominous prediction made by the prisoner comes true for Cole as he learns the many faces of evil through his own experiences. McCarthy uses the prisoner and other minor characters to teach Cole about the world. McCarthy's style of dialogue deviod of punctuation also helps the novel to flow traveling through his narration and his words spoken through the mouths of the characters. Cole struggles with evil throughout his journey trying to understand and come to terms with it. The questions the boys struggle with help them to grow and change them forever. Cole's travel to find himself embodies the greatest theme of American literature, the journey, which McCarthy skillfully weaves with his beautiful style into a poignant masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Very realistic and somewhat engrossing
Review: Not that I have a point of reference, but it seems that this book is extremely realistic and possibly autobiographical. The very detailed descriptions of horse husbandry, topographical details, and the culture of Texas and Mexico really wrap you into the story. The dialogue and actions of the characters also seem very authentic to the regions and customs. But that's not what the story is about. The story is about the meanderings through this countryside of a 16-year old boy and his maturation as he encounters people and events. There's no real plot to follow and anticipate (I would put the climax at 2/3 of the way through the book) but as John lives his life we see his development as a person. While at many times his command of Spanish and insights into people seem much older than his 16 years, his growth in responsibilites and consequences becomes the main highlight. I'd give it 3-1/2 stars if I could - at times, the story becomes bogged down in the details, but I was very satisfied with the book and, though not the most enjoyable of stories, is well written and worth the time, if just for the insight into the cultures and lifestyles involved.
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