In the wake of WWII, in the late 1940s, 16-year-old John Grady Cole is living on his grandfather's rapidly declining ranch in San Angelo, Texas. When his grandfather dies, and the ranch is sold, John Grady and his friend Lacey Rawlins decide to head south to Mexico, on a harrowing adventure across the plains.
Let's start with the fact that All the Pretty Horses is outside of my typical genre for reading. I enjoy western / western adventures, but I generally lean toward thrillers and mysteries. That being said, I had heard and read resounding praise and acclaim for McCarthy's writings, hence the idea to kickstart a book club devoted to his novels. With all of that in mind, let's get into the book itself.
John Grady is a fascinating character, trying to navigate his way in the South. He is oh so fallible, but he holds promise. And drive. He lives a morally ambiguous life, but even so, he muses on life, death, and where he lives in that grand scheme. He is sparse with words, which I think is atypical of how protagonists in novels are, and overall, this lends itself to McCarthy's writing style -- a style I've never read.
The writing has very little punctuation, and more generally leans toward the use of 'and' to connect thoughts and sentences. I think this slows down the pace of the novel, which may as well be the intent. McCarthy weaves sparse punctuation and in many ways sparse words, with stark, enrapturing descriptions. Every word feels like it's put on the page for a very specific, singular purpose. All the Pretty Horses leveraged every word to its full capability, no fluff. Every word was placed for maximum impact. The descriptions of the settings, the horses, and even the violence is beautifully written, creating vivid images that span the course of a paragraph.
All the Pretty Horses is a stunningly beautiful novel that touches on many aspects of the human condition. For anyone interested in dipping their toes into the world of Cormac McCarthy, I believe it's a great place to start.
If you're interested in joining the Cormac McCarthy Book Club, you can either start with All the Pretty Horses or jump straight in with the second book in the Border trilogy, The Crossing, which will be the read for February.
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