Customer Reviews
Not enough stars to do this justice - By: Bob Salter, 02 Dec 2008 
To try & do justice to these wonderfully original worksin a few lines is an impossibility. The three books together make up what turns out to be a magnificent odyssey. It is a strange but ultimately rewarding journey you make with these characters. You get to know the characters well & enjoy their dry laconic wit. But the most striking feature is the main characters are so likeable. They are the best of American manhood. They stand up for all that is goodin the star spangled banner. In fact they simply stand up for all that is good. If I could ride, which I can't worth a damn, then these are the young cowboys I would be happy to ride with if they'd have me.
In "All the pretty horses" we meet young John Grady Cole who with his companero set off South of the border on a whim. They meet a character called Blevins who seems like trouble & sure enough turns out to be trouble with a capital T. A mexican ranch & a pretty senorita are involved but the spectre of young Blevins comes back to haunt the good old boys. They end up suffering under Mexican justice. The rest I will not spoil other than to say it is a rollicking good read.
In "The Crossing" we meet the equally likeable Billy Parham & his younger brother. This is my personal favourite of the three books. The material is unpromising but McCarthy weaves magic with it. The boy Parham captures a wolf & decides to return it across the border to old Mexico where he stays for a bit longer than intended. On his eventual return he finds his parents have been murdered. He pauses briefly to pick up his brother & they head back over the border to hunt for the murderers. The book takes up an epic feeling as the journey takes on a never ending quest. Parham becomes a strange Quixotic figurein an alien landscape. Although he speaks perfect Spanish he & his brother seem like " Strangersin a strange land". The finale is a heart rending affair.
In the final book "Cities of the plain" Billy Parham & John Grady Cole are brought togetherin a magnificent story of tragic doomed love & friendships that run deep. Again much of the story takes place South of the border. It is a fitting finale to the trilogy.
All three books are breathtakingin their scope & ambition. One reviewer I read compares McCarthy with Hemingway. I will commit heresy here by saying that McCarthy is far better. His examinations of friendship, family ties & a love that crosses boundaries of state & the human heart simply amaze. All the characters are heart rendingly real. They are all too human. McCarthy will one day be recognisedin the pantheon of the Worlds great writers. I love these three books as I grew to love the charactersin them. That is the effect they have on you. This is a remarkable trilogy.
Be warned that Spanish is used liberallyin all the books. My only knowledege of the language is through watching too many Westerns. So it would not get me farin old Mexico. Personally I found this only enhanced the feel of the book. I would also add that some knowledge of the American West is an aid, although not essential. The ghosts of the past loom quite largein his books.
My recommendation is to read this trilogy before you die.
Great literature - By: The Outsider, 29 Oct 2008 People who say the novel is dead, or that no one writes great literature anymore should read Cormac McCarthy, & the Border Trilogyin particular. Having read all of his books, these are clearly his best for the writing, themes & storytelling. Like all great literature, the context is involving, & the subtext thrilling. I would single out The Crossing (the middle book) as one of the best books I have ever read. Instead of giving the Nobel Prize for Literature to obscure Romanian poets, why not a thought for the elderly McCarthy?
Just plain wonderful - By: Clive Williams, 10 May 2007 As others have said the lack of punctuation is odd to begin with but does make sense.
The stories just flow & you find yourself "held" as with all good books.
However, the stories capture the bleakness of the life. You will not find Hollywoodin these pages. The characters are real, often frightening, even if they are doing apparently little. The potential for violence is there, though these books are far from blood lettings.
I know that a film was attempted of one of these books, with Matt Damon but never gained much box office success. A bit like Lord of the Ringsin that various attempts were made before the Peter Jackson Trilogy. I suspect that for the right director these stories will become a fantastic film but at the moment the books themselves are astounding.
The Border Trilogy - By: Demob Happy, 11 Feb 2007 Cormac McCarthy is a unique voicein American fiction. His flowing polysyndetic prose forms a poetic vision of the American West that is almost Biblicalin its rythmns. The Border Trilogy is a fable about a last generation of cowboys - John Grady Cole & Billy Parnham - drawn into Mexico on dark odysseys that belie the bloodthirsty beginnings of their own country. It is a voyage that goes way beyond a revision of the Western genre & the re-evaluation of its good vs evil paradym, but into the heart of myth & legend itself -in particular that rooted at the heart of the American experience. Its use of parable, its sense of impending apocalypse & its strangely histrionic dialogue amount to a kind of imagined Biblical testament to the evolution of American culture. A landmark work of literature that left this reader feeling forever changed.
one of my best books ,ever! - By: , 30 Jan 2001 all the pretty horses is incredibly irritating at the beginning- a lack of all punctuation -but you very quickly get used to this, & subsequently all the other books you read seem overloaded with it.this book has the very best fight description (though the prison scenein tom wolfe's 'a manin full' runs a very close second), of any book i've read. this is an incredible, exhilarating read; people who object to the spanish bits they don't get.....well, that's probably the point-the book is not meant to be obvious.
