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All the Pretty Horses (Vintage International) [Paperback]

Cormac McCarthy (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 1 Dec 1999 | Series: Vintage International
Now a major motion picture from Columbia Pictures starring Matt Damon, produced by Mike Nichols, and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.

The national bestseller and the first volume in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, All the Pretty Horses is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself.  With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.  Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.

Product details

  • Paperback: 301 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage International Ed edition (1 Dec 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679744398
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679744399
  • Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 1.8 x 20.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 649,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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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" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

‘A uniquely brilliant book . . . told in language as subtly beautiful as its desert setting. One of the most important pieces of American writing of our time’ Stephen Amidon, Sunday Times John Grady Cole is the last bewildered survivor of long generations of Texas ranchers. Finding himself cut off from the only life he has ever wanted, he sets out for Mexico with his friend Lacey Rawlins. Befriending a third boy on the way, they find a country beyond their imagining: barren and beautiful, rugged yet cruelly civilized; a place where dreams are paid for in blood. All the Pretty Horses is an acknowledged masterpiece and a grand love story: a novel about childhood passing, along with innocence and a vanished American age. Steeped in the wisdom that comes only from loss, it is a magnificent parable of responsibility, revenge and survival. ‘A darkly shining work . . . executed with consummate skill and much subtlety – the effect is magnificent’ John Banville, Observer ‘An exhilarating, exceptional novel’ Spectator ‘In a single stride it takes McCarthy to the forefront of contemporary American fiction. All the Pretty Horses is indisputably a masterpiece’ Financial Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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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
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Once upon a time in Mexico 6 April 2006
By Demob Happy
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.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A mesmerising read 5 Oct 1999
By A Customer
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.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book full of rugged but beautiful prose 15 April 2001
By A Customer
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
3.0 out of 5 stars Well crafted but a little dull
I am a bit of a fan but had to say this was a little dull. In many ways a pastiche of No Country and Blood Meridian, I expected a little more. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Grant F Ferguson
3.0 out of 5 stars Trainspotter writes a novel!
If you enthuse about horses & are thrilled by ropes & knots & have all the time in the world to enjoy the scenery while he gets round to making up a plot then this is your book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. J. Redwood
5.0 out of 5 stars All the Pretty Horses
My first go at Cormac McCarthy. Absolutely spell binding. Couldn't get enough. So now for the rest of his books. Can't wait!
Published 1 month ago by Ken Simpson
2.0 out of 5 stars *Spoilers*
A young Clint Eastwood and his trusty sidekick decide to leave their one-horse town and find their fortune elsewhere. Along the way they meet Billy the Kid and ride into Mexico. Read more
Published 1 month ago by bobhopeless
5.0 out of 5 stars All The Pretty Horses
As I have said about The Crossing - Part of the triology. Just great. I just hope there are plenty more of his books on kindle.
Published 1 month ago by ann jackson
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Pictures...
....in the mind of the uncomfortable life and death between sibling countries in border lands, epic! Stays long in the mind and soul after.
Published 4 months ago by Rob Leahy
5.0 out of 5 stars All The Pretty Horses
All The Pretty Horses. Superb. The words of a master. You know you're reading McCarthy the minute you turn the first page- there's no one else like him.
Published 5 months ago by catcam
5.0 out of 5 stars Six Stars
I'm not going to try too hard on this. It's one of the best novels I've ever read. It has the density of literary weight yet the emptiness of life itself. Read more
Published 6 months ago by PA
5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling adventure
Very brief review: This book grips you from the very start with it's wonderful, descriptive language. Read more
Published 6 months ago by marcillac25
3.0 out of 5 stars It's OK, nothing more
Almost every book I've bought from Amazon has more 5 star reviews than lower ratings, reviewers seem keen to over hype anything they've read, perhaps as self gratification for... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Stressed Mike
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