All the Pretty Horses: Amazon.co.uk: Cormac McCarthy: 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"

Sunday Times
‘A uniquely brilliant book, told in language as subtly beautiful as its setting’ --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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28 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
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4.4 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mesmerising read, 5 Oct 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy) (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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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Once upon a time in Mexico, 6 April 2006

By	Demob Happy "jamesewan" (London / Grenoble) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy) (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 clich�d 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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10 of 11 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

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

5.0 out of 5 stars Cormac, on top form. Must read!
This is the first in the trilogy and I couldn't put it down. Perfection. Totally gripping. If you haven't read this guy, I recommend you start here!The Road

Published 3 months ago by Verve

5.0 out of 5 stars Awful title but wonderful writing
Even if you have never liked the western genre - film or book - most readers will enjoy the use of McCarthy's surreal-like imagery and tight story telling. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Philip Eley

5.0 out of 5 stars An epic love story - and that's just the horses
This is such a good book and so well written, with every character superbly drawn and hardly a word out of place. Read more

Published 5 months ago by T. C. Hogg

5.0 out of 5 stars and I don't like cowboys
I never read this kind of book... American, outback, mean, tough. I never write reviews. I read constantly. This novel is wonderful.Beautiful, spare language. A great read. Read more

Published 5 months ago by hazel

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding .. what a story
I've read 'The Road' and 'No Country' but this is better - much better.
On the face of it its a road movie (on horses) but this is also about love, friendship and a... Read more

Published 11 months ago by A. J. Sudworth

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishingly good
There is a power in the words of Cormac McCarthy, a power that can take a reader up to the high ground and show him the land around and the people in it and make that reader know... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Melmoth

3.0 out of 5 stars A lot
I yawned a lot, there was a lot of going to sleep and waking up. There was lot of walking for miles on horseback, dropping rifles, picking them up again and I yawned a lot. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Mark Dickens

4.0 out of 5 stars Western for the 20th century
Adventure, full-hearted love, revenge, the majestic wilderness, and of course horses: the western-movie staples are what moves this novel. Read more

Published 13 months ago by reader 451

4.0 out of 5 stars Evocative account of boys, horses etc
Beautiful style, wonderfully told story. Not as tremendous as some reviewers seem to have thought, but well worth reading and has made me want to do the rest of the trilogy.

Published 15 months ago by Jezza

5.0 out of 5 stars The importance of Borderlands in All The Pretty Horses
This novel depicts both a physical journey and a metaphorical one. The motivation of Cole to travel to the borderlands was born largely from naivet� and a belief that to travel... Read more

Published 17 months ago by N. Turner

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Blood Meridian: Or, the Evening...

" McCarthy is a writer to be read, to be admired, and quite honestly... Read more

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	61% buy the item featured on this page: All the Pretty Horses 4.4 out of 5 stars (28)
	16% buy The Road 4.3 out of 5 stars (330) �2.99
	15% buy The Border Trilogy �6.04
	4% buy Blood Meridian: Or, the Evening Redness in the West (Picador Books) 4.4 out of 5 stars (27) �4.79


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All the Pretty Horses (Paperback)

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