Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, a novel set in the late 1940s, kept me spellbound from beginning to end. John Grady Cole’s grandfather has just died and the family’s east Texas ranch is for sale. His parents are separated, his father is ill, and it is evident that John Grady, 16, is now on his own. He and his best friend Lacey Rawlins, 17, begin a journey on horseback to Mexico. Along the way, they meet up with Jimmy Blevens, 13, a wild, strange boy who rides an obviously valuable horse. The three ride together for awhile, but along the way Jimmy disappears.
John Grady and Lacey eventually make their way to a large ranch in Mexico where they are hired. John Grady speaks fluent Spanish because of Spanish-speaking help on the family ranch. He and the rancher’s daughter, Alejandra, fall in love.
A tangled web ensues, and trouble for John Grady and Lacey follows. Their former association with Jimmy Blevens creates repercussions and they are suddenly in a situation with little hope.
Author Cormac McCarthy’s writing style kept me captivated throughout. I found his vivid descriptions of the Mexican countryside and its people lyrical. Ever present are the horses, the mainstay of John Grady’s life.
Much of the writing in All the Pretty Horses would make a high school English teacher blanch. There are no quotation marks in dialog; try as you might, you won’t find an apostrophe. The text is riddled with vague or ambiguous pronouns, yet the meaning is always clear. The dialect between the cowboys is natural, and therefore usually grammatically incorrect. Spanish is frequently used, but unfortunately there are no translations though meanings are usually subtly clear; other times I gave it my best guess. Proper nouns like “French” or even “American” often are not capitalized. There are rambling sentences with 65-plus words. As a writer, I found myself mentally correcting the obvious omissions, but in no way did these transgressions diminish my enjoyment of the book.
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. I highly recommend this novel for people who love horses and who enjoy an authentic western experience.
What an interesting dilemma—you describe the punctuation, grammar, and dialogue as needing constant mental correction—but how can one not read this when you and your other responders are so enthusiastic? Sign me up!
The language puts you right in the middle of the story. Some people looked up the Spanish words, or knew them. I didn’t bother to do that–I could pretty much guess what was going on. In any event, it would be short passages in Spanish. I loved this book.
Definitely Brad Pitt. He and Matt Damon were friends, evidently both liked the book.
It’s wonderful when the reader feels like a part of the book. That would be a good vacation audio to get.
This was the first Cormak McCarthy novel I read, and it carried me through four more. He is compelling.
It’s the first for me, but there will be others!
I remember listening to this on audio as we were driving in the car. It was so good, I could almost see the story happening on the dash.
I’ll be audio would be fascinating, especially if the reader was good.
The reader was Brad Pitt, he was great!
Oh, my goodness! Hard to beat Brad. Still, I wonder why Matt Damon didn’t read it, since he was in the movie. I guess I don’t know how those things are worked out.