All the Pretty Horses- book reveiw

Cormac McCarthy has written many novels including; The Road, No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian, and many more. All the Pretty Horses is the first book of his Border Trilogy. Following in the trilogy is The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain. After writing All the pretty Horses McCarthy became more of a western author. All the Pretty Horses is McCarthy’s best novel that he has written and will stay an American classic forever.

All the Pretty Horses takes place in the spring of 1949 in southern Texas. The book opens at a funeral of John Grady Cole’s grandfather. John Grady is the last of a long line of ranchers, and has spent his whole life on his grandfather’s ranch. With the death of his grandfather and the split of his mother and father the ranch is left to his mother who has no interest in the ranch any longer. As a small time actress she will sell the ranch to make some money. John Grady can not believe it and will not accept it. So to get away he decides to runaway with his best friend Rawlins to northern Mexico.

On the way they meet a boy, about thirteen, just outside the border of Mexico. His name is Jimmy Blevins. He rides an elegant horse and carries a Colt Bisley pistol. Rawlins is very skeptical of Blevins, but they carry on with his company. During a thunder and lightning storm Blevins looses everything including his horse, because of his superstition of getting stuck by lightning. So they decide travel to a near town where they spot Blevins horse and pistol. After stealing the horse back Blevins is still not satisfied because he did not get his pistol, so he decides to stay while John Grady and Rawlins continue south where they come upon a ranch.

At this ranch, Hacienda de Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Conception, the boys find good work and decide to stay. John Grady amazes everyone by breaking sixteen horses in a day. During their stay John Grady falls in love with the Don Hector’s daughter, Alejandra, the daughter of the rancher. This is the typical forbidden love that cannot be pursued. A few days later both John Grady and Rawlins are taken to jail. The only one that knows the whole truth about what is going on is Alejandra’s godmother, Duena Alfonsa. The book continues with john Grady’s quest to get Alejandra back and get back to Texas.

The book was written in the third person, meaning it is told through a narrator. One strange thing that I noticed when reading was that when the characters are talking and there is a conversation there are no quotation marks around the words. You can still read it clearly but at some points it may be hard to completely understand who is talking. But that does not affect the meaning of the story. Also at some points I had to reread because I thought I kept reading the same line over, but it is just how he writes. Otherwise the book is a fast and fun read.

After reading this book myself I would definitely recommend it to others. As long as you enjoy western cowboy stories you will love All the Pretty Horses and even if you just looking for an adventure story with kids in their teens. This book will keep you engaged throughout the entire story. Not only is this book great but it also was a National Book Award winner in 1992.