All the Pretty Horses

A lot has already been said about this novel, so I'll address my review to those unfamiliar with Mccarthy's work. If you've never read Mccarthy before, this is a great place to start. The plot is tight, engaging, and easy to follow, and the language is gorgeous. If you enjoy this book and want to move on to others, read the others in the border trilogy before tackling "Blood Meridian." Some people will take issue with... Read Full 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... Read Full Review

I found this book on an empty, dusty bookself at the back of my high school library, it's cover and first few pages torn away and the corners burned round. I thought that either someone was very bored and destructive or frustrated by the difficulty of the first few chapters (this only after flipping it open to find out it's title, the side being illedgable). After reading it I realize it could even more easily have come... Read Full Review

All the Pretty Horses grabbed me from the outset by its alternately terse and unusually descriptive prose. The hero, John Grady Cole, appeared to me as the apotheosis of young manhood--valiant, honest, and smart--and seemed at times to have been blessed with the noble soul of a fabled knight. That McCarthy highlighted Cole's fallible traits--such as naivete and (occasional) recklessness--eased my own ability to find strains... Read Full Review