All the Pretty Horses

Rating:
Summary: Tough writing style, sometimes harsh
Review: Hello folks, I'm James Drury. I used to play television's Virginian for many years, and I hope that gives me some kind of credit in reviewing this book.

I thought the book followed along well, but it was a pretty harsh, perhaps too harsh book at times.

Anyone interested in reading about the West but not necessarily what one would call "Westerns" might want to pick up books by Elmer Kelton, Kirby Jonas or Mike Blakely as well. And give Cormac McCarthy a try. You might as well see for yourself. It may be just your style.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent story, poorly written.
Review: McCarthy's intentional misuse of written English is annoying and doesn't lend anything to the story. The decision to omit quotation marks is particularly perplexing since it diminishes the immediacy of the tale. The Spanish language quotes are excellent for adding flavor, but too lengthy and non-contextual for those of us who aren't bilingual. Attributes are insufficient to keep track of who is speaking. The story is one of the finest I've read- and I've read a lot of excellent books- but it's a shame the author didn't respect his readers enough to write so that his work was a pleasure to read.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: All the Pretty Horses is an intriguing story about John Grady Cole's journey to find the only lifestyle he knows. When his mother decides to use their ranch to searh for oil, John and his buddy, Lacey Rawlings, set out for Mexico to search for the ways of their youth. Along the way they run into all sorts of trouble and find themselves struggling to stay alive. There is also the forbidden love affair between John Grady and Alejandra, the daughter of a very important mexican cattle rancher, to add to the excitment. By the end of the novel the two boys discover that thier search for a more "simple" life is actually the most complicated journey they will ever experience. McCarthy did an outstanding job of writing this piece. McCarthy was out to write a thrilling novel about love, violece, and horses. With the combination of all three, along with his descriptive writing it is no suprise to see why this book won numerous awards.

Rating:
Summary: ~good book~
Review: I am giving this book four stars rather than five for two reasons. First, it was hard as heck for me to adjust to the grammar style. Mr. McCarthy does not use quotation marks to signal when someone is talking. It was very annoying, and at some points in the book difficult to tell who was saying what to whom. The second reason I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that once I finished it, I hopped onto ... to read about/order the second book in the Border Trilogy, because I wanted to know what was going to happen to John Grady Cole during his next phase of life. But the other two books in the series have a whole new cast of characters, which I was unaware of at the time I finished this book. John Grady Cole is sadly gone with the last page of this book. (as far as I know, that is.)

Aside from those two little nuisances, I really did enjoy this book. Blevins, the boy that joins John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins on their journey to Mexico, was easily my favorite character in the book. He brought about a sort of humor to the story, as well as some conflict between Cole & Rawlins at times. This book was quick to read (after learning to deal with the lack of quotation marks!) and I highly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: some good points, but overall not worth reading
Review: the good points: the story itself is interesting and moves along for the most part making the book readable, and it's gets into some interesting detail and perspective in terms of mexican landscape and culture and horses, and it's not bad for an adventure story, which is why i finished it.

the bad points: the book is almost entirely emotionally shut-down (written at about the emotional level of a fifteen year old, and not a very mature one at that), it totally idealizes machismo (glorifies being emotionally detached and tough), gives no reason as to why the two main american boy characters are close aside from some "mysterious" bond of loyalty which seems not to grow or change throughout the book - and their occasional philosophizing is trite and silly

further bad points: the main character grows to comically mythic proportions by the end of the book, almost as if he's become immortal and cannot be killed by the silly and foolish mexicans - on their own turf no less!, which to me is not only unrealistically pro-american but idealizes the myth of the invincibility of youth, which is dangerous...

other trivial points that annoyed me: author's use of stylized grammar shifted throughout the book. for example, in the beginning ten pages in the prose (not the dialogue) he spelled the word "didn't" as follows - "didn't" - but then after that point, and for the rest of the book, spelled it "didnt", with no apostrophe. annoying! and also, i felt the author was a show-off and a tease with his use of spanish dialogue. as i happen to speak spanish it was fine by me, but i find it annoying when authors gratuitously use foreign languages at length and do not translate, leaving the reader potentially out in the wind...

Rating:
Summary: Grand Tale, Wonderfully Rendered
Review: I didn't realize until I looked at the ... site that Frank Muller has narrated so many books. They have 84 Muller listings here, primarily for Stephen King, John Grisham and other best-selling authors. The only other Muller audio-book I was familiar with was his rendition of King's <The Green Mile>, which was excellent. Muller surpasses that here, however, as he renders McCarthy's prose faultlessly. He captures the accents, whether they be Texan or Mexican, faithfully and unaffectadly. This is a great acting-job, natural, unassuming, perfectly in-flow with the narrative. His shift from character to character is seemless. Muller is the latter-day role model for anyone wishing to narrate books. There is ample reason why he is so prolific.

The story itself lends itself to being told orally. It is a myth of the west, but I mean that in the greatest sense of the word. Mythic here does not mean unrealistic. Far from it. It is mythic because it represents higher truths, but tells a human story in as truthful a manner as possible. I hate to use a hackneyed term like "describing the human condition," but it does. There are other high-school terms I could use, such as "coming-of-age story," "piquaresque novel," "story of initiation," etc. , but they would all short-change McCarthy's accomplishment here. McCarthy represents what is increasiningly scarce in modern American letters. He is a truly original novelist. Yes, we can trace his roots, but he has acquired his unique voice by dint of much effort, trial, delving, maybe even bloodshed. He is one of those authors that after reading one of his works, we are left to ask "How did he come by that knowledge?" He doesn't just research a work. He must have, at least in part, lived it. For instance, in this work, I was left wondering how he could have aquired such an encyclopedic knowledge of all things having to do with horses. I worked on the backstretch of racetracks for five years and didn't know my nomenclature with anything like the authority he does.

It would appear that Muller, like McCarthy has thoroughly done his homework. Never once in the course of this unabridged audio does he stumble over a word, much less a passage. He speaks Spanish almost as fluently as English, which is important for this work. In fact I would suggest that if you do not comprehend Spanish readily, you refer to the text-form of the book and maybe a Spanish dictionary before listening to this tape, though you can still appreciate most of it.

My estimation of McCarthy, which was already high, as well as my opinion of Muller, were greatly enhanced by the experience of listening to these tapes.

(This review refers to the unabridged audio-tape version of <All the Pretty Horses>. I prefer printed versions of good books, but see nothing wrong with listening to books when we dont have our hands free. Cars, obviously. I know what you were thinking!)

Rating:
Summary: Grand Tale, Wonderfully Rendered
Review: I didn't realize until I looked at the Amazon site that Frank Muller has narrated so many books. They have 84 Muller listings here, primarily for Stephen King, John Grisham and other best-selling authors. The only other Muller audio-book I was familiar with was his rendition of King's <The Green Mile>, which was excellent. Muller surpasses that here, however, as he renders McCarthy's prose faultlessly. He captures the accents, whether they be Texan or Mexican, faithfully and unaffectadly. This is a great acting-job, natural, unassuming, perfectly in-flow with the narrative. His shift from character to character is seemless. Muller is the latter-day role model for anyone wishing to narrate books. There is ample reason why he is so prolific.

The story itself lends itself to being told orally. It is a myth of the west, but I mean that in the greatest sense of the word. Mythic here does not mean unrealistic. Far from it. It is mythic because it represents higher truths, but tells a human story in as truthful a manner as possible. I hate to use a hackneyed term like "describing the human condition," but it does. There are other high-school terms I could use, such as "coming-of-age story," "piquaresque novel," "story of initiation," etc. , but they would all short-change McCarthy's accomplishment here. McCarthy represents what is increasiningly scarce in modern American letters. He is a truly original novelist. Yes, we can trace his roots, but he has acquired his unique voice by dint of much effort, trial, delving, maybe even bloodshed. He is one of those authors that after reading one of his works, we are left to ask "How did he come by that knowledge?" He doesn't just research a work. He must have, at least in part, lived it. For instance, in this work, I was left wondering how he could have aquired such an encyclopedic knowledge of all things having to do with horses. I worked on the backstretch of racetracks for five years and didn't know my nomenclature with anything like the authority he does.

It would appear that Muller, like McCarthy has thoroughly done his homework. Never once in the course of this unabridged audio does he stumble over a word, much less a passage. He speaks Spanish almost as fluently as English, which is important for this work. In fact I would suggest that if you do not comprehend Spanish readily, you refer to the text-form of the book and maybe a Spanish dictionary before listening to this tape, though you can still appreciate most of it.

My estimation of McCarthy, which was already high, as well as my opinion of Muller, were greatly enhanced by the experience of listening to these tapes.

(This review refers to the unabridged audio-tape version of <All the Pretty Horses>. I prefer printed versions of good books, but see nothing wrong with listening to books when we dont have our hands free. Cars, obviously. I know what you were thinking!)

Rating:
Summary: Pain, Beauty & "The Vision of a Single Flower"
Review: ALL THE PRETTY HORSES is about the beauty of horses, the pain of making irrevocable decisions -- especially where love is concerned, the implacability of honor, and the darkness that is at the heart of the Mexican temperament. It is an unusual combination, but one that works surprisingly well.

John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins are young cowpunchers who escape the postwar breakup of the range to head for one of the giant Mexican latifundos where one can ride a week before reaching the next estancia. Their work with horses and cattle is pure lyricism, such as the episode where the two promise to break sixteen wild mares in four days to get in good with ranch owner Don Hector and also for the sheer love of it.

Their idyll is broken twice, once by the irresponsible young Jimmy Blevins who insists on tagging along with them and causing a broad swath of disaster in his wake, and the other time by John Grady's falling in love in Alejandra, the ranch owner's daughter. There is a sinister linkage effected when the outraged rancher has the Federales pick up Cole and Rawlins as suspected accessories to Blevins's crimes.

For me, the culminating moment of the novel comes when McCarthy writes: "He thought that in the beauty of the world were hid a secret. He thought the world's heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world's pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower."

Cole and Rawlins's crossing of the Rio Grande was to be their initiation into a terrible knowledge whose consequences they barely escape with their lives. Blevins, on the other hand, is killed; and Alejandra, dishonored in the eyes of her family.

A very powerful and very great novel!

Rating:
Summary: John Grady Cole's Odyssey
Review: Many people compare, fairly or no, Cormac McCarthy's "All the Pretty Horses" to William Faulkner's literary work. What is neglected is the strain of Flannery O'Connor that runs throughout the novel as well. At any rate, "Horses" more than stands on its own as a startling achievement. It's prose is more accessible than Faulkner, and its themes less esoteric than O'Connor. "Horses" is an immaculate novel, dealing with the extreme facets of the everyday and the ways in which people become who they are.

John Grady Cole, a 16 year old boy, dispossessed of his family lands, wanders off into Mexico, accompanied by Lacey Rawlins, a close friend. Astride their trusted horses, Redbo and Junior, the two young men ride, searching for occupation and meaning. It may be somewhat idealistic that two ranch-hands like Cole and Rawlins should ride about, discussing throughout the novel things like the profundities of religion, life, and human relationships on so advanced a level, but McCarthy's grasp of vernacular - English and Spanish - makes the whole completely palatable.

McCarthy's writing technique leaves nothing to be desired - his evocative use of landscape draws the Texas-Mexico scenery off the page and into immediate experience. Impressionistic and yet utterly tangible, the cold of the evenings and the heat of the days is described as it is felt. McCarthy's characterization is just as remarkable. Minor characters like the various groups of laborers met along the way, Perez the mysteriously powerful political exile/prisoner, or children bathing in a ditch - all bring realism and depth to Cole's struggle into selfhood.

The most wonderful thing about "Horses" is that McCarthy doesn't beat you over the head with his major themes - they exist as constant undercurrents - humanity's relationship to tradition, the divine, to each other - these are the elements that course and pulse through the novel. Epic knife-fights in a Kafkaesque prison, emotional wounds that never heal, a covert love affair with Alejandra (the daughter of a powerful Mexican landowner), philosophical-historical conversations with her aunt Alfonsa, a problematic relationship with 'Jimmy Blevins,' a possessive young boy - all of these moments in the novel are saturated with fundamental thematic significance.

This is not a book to simply read. This book must be lived with, carried, held, gazed upon and treasured. Give it full reign of your mind and let the unknowable horses of your imagination take you into yourself.

Rating:
Summary: This Midwestern gal doesn't miss the good ol' cowboy days!
Review: I'm not knocking this book at all ... but I had a heck of a time starting it. Once I got into it, it was ok. It's not the best read which really disappointed me as I had been waiting for years to read this book. I also had a hard time reading it because of the lack of quotation marks, puncuations and so forth. I also lost track of who was who in the story. Otherwise, his description of Texas and Mexico, the lonely life as a cowboy, waxes lyrical. I would recommend this book for those who really likes cowboys and westerns. It just didn't appeal to me very much!