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clayton_sanborn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Prose achievement of the century
gray_ghost's review against another edition
5.0
An incredible end to one of the greatest literary series written in the English language.
nickojow's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In this book, McCarthy's medievalism is just more obvious and daringly depressing than in his other works. Depictions of details and dialogues are, as always, top notch.
illustrious_drop's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
gabguerin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
_jpmh_'s review against another edition
3.0
A truly epic work, not without its difficulties. The prose in places is stunning, emotional, evocative, but some passages just ramble interminably to no great effect – in several places I found myself pretty much skim reading whole pages. There are also whole conversations presented untranslated in Spanish – if you don't know the language you could spend ages looking things up, which would be a total pain (I know Italian, which is similar enough that I could get the gist of them, but I'm sure there were still plenty of important nuances I missed). You do feel totally immersed in the characters, and get to know them so well, and the world depicted is absolutely fascinating – the Old West meeting the modern world. The collection ought to be absolutely magnificent, 5 stars, but it's just too much hard work getting through it, which really detracted from the enjoyment. As a recommendation, definitely do not attempt to read the full thing all the way through – take a break between each book, because you'll definitely get somewhat cowboy-ed out.
nadiaa3's review against another edition
5.0
PAINFULLY BEAUTIFUL, foudroyant, vertiginous,... the trilogy that changed my life and the way i would make decisions
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
5.0
‘Things separate from their stories have no meaning.’
The first two novels in The Border Trilogy feature different protagonists and are set roughly a decade apart. Both protagonists: John Grady Cole, in ‘All the Pretty Horses’; and Billy Parham in ‘The Crossing’, are young cowboys and each travels between the US southwest into northern Mexico. The third novel, ‘Cities of the Plains’, opens in the early 1950s with Cole and Parham together at a ranch in New Mexico, just north of El Paso.
‘It was vaquero country and other men’s troubles were alien to it and that was about all that could be said.’
Of the three novels, my favourite is ‘The Crossing’: Billy Parham’s doomed attempt to take a trapped female wolf ‘home’ to Mexico. Billy’s fight to save this wolf is heroic but like so much else in Billy’s life does not succeed. In ‘All the Pretty Horses’ John Grady Cole’s search to find the owner of Jimmy Blevins’s horse is also a doomed quest. And yet, the story itself is a masterpiece and a tribute to a way of life – a culture - fast disappearing. In ‘Cities of the Plains’, the way of life John Cole and Billy Parham are familiar with is coming to an end. The Army will be taking over the land. John has fought – and lost - his own battle to extricate his beloved from her life as a prostitute, and Billy Parham is alone. Again. Or still.
The fates of Billy Parham and John Grady Cole are inescapable. Their existence is simply an infinitesimal part of an infinite whole: the journeyers are less important than their journeys.
‘Our privileged view into this one night of this man’s history presses upon us the realization that all knowledge is a borrowing and every fact a debt.’
I am haunted by these stories. There is a power in the writing quite separate from the events being described that had me enthralled for hours. And yet there is nothing neat and tidy about the prose, nothing polished and complete about the journey. The people are in most ways far less important than the landscape they occupy and the times they live in – at least in my reading.
‘The world was made new each day and it was only men’s clinging to its vanished husks that could make of that world one husk more.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The first two novels in The Border Trilogy feature different protagonists and are set roughly a decade apart. Both protagonists: John Grady Cole, in ‘All the Pretty Horses’; and Billy Parham in ‘The Crossing’, are young cowboys and each travels between the US southwest into northern Mexico. The third novel, ‘Cities of the Plains’, opens in the early 1950s with Cole and Parham together at a ranch in New Mexico, just north of El Paso.
‘It was vaquero country and other men’s troubles were alien to it and that was about all that could be said.’
Of the three novels, my favourite is ‘The Crossing’: Billy Parham’s doomed attempt to take a trapped female wolf ‘home’ to Mexico. Billy’s fight to save this wolf is heroic but like so much else in Billy’s life does not succeed. In ‘All the Pretty Horses’ John Grady Cole’s search to find the owner of Jimmy Blevins’s horse is also a doomed quest. And yet, the story itself is a masterpiece and a tribute to a way of life – a culture - fast disappearing. In ‘Cities of the Plains’, the way of life John Cole and Billy Parham are familiar with is coming to an end. The Army will be taking over the land. John has fought – and lost - his own battle to extricate his beloved from her life as a prostitute, and Billy Parham is alone. Again. Or still.
The fates of Billy Parham and John Grady Cole are inescapable. Their existence is simply an infinitesimal part of an infinite whole: the journeyers are less important than their journeys.
‘Our privileged view into this one night of this man’s history presses upon us the realization that all knowledge is a borrowing and every fact a debt.’
I am haunted by these stories. There is a power in the writing quite separate from the events being described that had me enthralled for hours. And yet there is nothing neat and tidy about the prose, nothing polished and complete about the journey. The people are in most ways far less important than the landscape they occupy and the times they live in – at least in my reading.
‘The world was made new each day and it was only men’s clinging to its vanished husks that could make of that world one husk more.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
bomsen's review against another edition
4.0
"every man's death is a standing in for every other. And since death comes to all there is no way to abate the fear of it except to love that man who stands for us. We are not waiting for his history to be written. He passed here long ago. That man who is all men and who stands in the dock for us until our own time is come and we must stand for him. Do you love him, that man? Will you honor the path he has taken? Will you listen to his tale?"
chamberk's review against another edition
5.0
All the Pretty Horses: 5/5
The Crossing: 4/5
Cities of the Plain: 5/5
The Crossing: 4/5
Cities of the Plain: 5/5