- Paperback: 301 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (20 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330488430
- ISBN-13: 978-0330488433
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13.2 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 975,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
All The Pretty Horses: Volume One of The Border Trilogy
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Product Description
Review
"'A uniquely brilliant book... as subtly beautiful as its desert setting' Sunday Times; 'The finest action writer since Hemingway... a darkly shining work... immensely entertaining... executed with consummate skill and much subtlety - the effect is magnificent' Observer; 'One of the great American novels of this or any time' Guardian"
Sunday Times
‘A uniquely brilliant book, told in language as subtly beautiful as its setting’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THE CANDLEFLAME and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
THE CANDLEFLAME and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'd never been greatly compelled to read a book in such a typically cinematic genre, but this is incredible. It combines the bloodthirsty epic sweep of the great Sergio Leone spagetti westerns with the harsh realism of later revisionist works such as Unforgiven. All this described in a language born of the genre - McCarthy has developed a kind of pure-Western prose seeped in the rugged, open country, the tough men trapped in their interior worlds, their bleak fatalism and capacity for violence. Its envisioning of Mexico as the new frontier for a dying breed of ranch men (ie., cowboys) is realised with unromanticised poeticism. The writing - like the cowboy dialogue - is economic yet vast in its capacity to evoke the landscape and its protagonists deep respect for it. McCarthy also has a great ear for dialogue that enriches what might otherwise be perceived to be rather clichéd characterisations, such as the ruthless Mexican captain. The first in McCarthy's Border Trilogy - this has also been adapted into a movie by Billy Bob Thornton that I haven't yet seen.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an astonishing and spellbinding book, a triumph of writing and storytelling. The first sentence is sufficient to draw the reader into a journey from a father's deathbed to the wild plains of the American West. But the time could be the present with its drab towns, unemployment and men either too intelligent or too stupid for the lives they are trapped in. The author can describe the American landscape with an honesty and lyricism that echoes the finest ancient literature. He does this in a unique style that sounds like the voice of a hardened cowboy who understands deeply his horses and his land. This book leaves Hollywood versions of the west behind in the dust. For McCarthy's world is tragic and poetic, blackened with brutality and rotten justice as much as it sparkles with the beauty of nature. Its heroes are tough, battered and compelling to the last page.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In the first instalment of his border trilogy, Cormac McCarthy has distanced himself somewhat from the bleak and dark themes and characters he created in his first novels, such as The Orchard Keeper and Outer Dark, and reset his prose in western America, in the border country that divides America from Mexico. Into this landscape of harsh beauty, he puts John Grady Cole, our protagonist, and his friend Lacey Rawlins, two old school cowboys who see the western life that they love changing, and decide to leave for Mexico in search of work as 'Vaqeuros', ranchers. On their way they encounter Blevins, a dangerous young boy with a keen shot riding a stolen horse. Their experiences shape the story into what i believe to be one of the finest books written by an American author in decades. McCarthy's prose is a joy to read, and the dialogue is often poignant and hilarious. And he also delivers what is probably the greatest fight scene in contemporary literature. Poetic, beautiful, funny, and at times almost unbearingly sad, read this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Terrific book but ... I trust it's taxed in the UK if it's bought in...
McCarthy's novel reinvigorates the Western brilliantly and his tough, sparse prose is well suited to the genre, to the men he depicts and and to his exploration of loss. Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. Cordle
pure and enticing
Cormac McCarthy has to be one of the greatest American novelist's of our time. I have read the border trilogy and his use of words still linger, this book is a must for an... Read more
Published 3 months ago by JoeE
A great intro to the boarder trilogy
All the Pretty Horses is essentially a coming of age story. After his mother sells the Texan ranch he has grown up on, sixteen year old John Grady Cole loses everything and sets... Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Willis
Some great prose yet highly frustrating
Published to great acclaim in 1992, I had always wanted to read McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses, without being particularly sure why, I just really liked the title I think. Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. A. Davison
Not the easiest ride, but worth it
"All The Pretty Horses" is a masterpiece, no doubt about it. It's also a tad pretentious, with all those 200-word sentences with a dozen "and"s in each. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Patrick Neylan
Hocum
Compulsive and readable and full of the names of plants and bits of horses and horse kit and so many "ands" and ultimatley tosh (and you might want to have a spanish dictionary to... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Whirlybird
All the pretty horses
This book was chosen by a member of our reading group and although it was highly rated as a modern American classic, I struggled half-way through and then gave up as I found it... Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. Staveley
Big spaces, slow pace...
I started reading this before the film, "No Country for Old Men", was released. the Cohen Brothers are perfect partners for McCarthy.. Read more
Published 12 months ago by The Dragonfly
All The Pretty Horses
There have been many bad reviews for this book stating that the editing is awful and the sentences are too long. I bought this anyway as I am huge fan of Cormac McCarthy. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Daniel Bowman
Blood And Sweat, But No Tears
"All The Pretty Horses" is essentially a Western tale set for the most part in Mexico during the middle of the twentieth century. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Dr. Bojan Tunguz
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