All the Pretty Horses

An excellant book. The imagery of riding a horse through the wilds of Mexico. Watching sunrises and falling for a loving girl. It makes me want to ride a horse in the fresh air.

I wasn't very impressed by this book. First it was difficult to read since there were no quotation marks. And 'he' or 'the boy' could refer to any character. The plot was basic and somewhat predictable.

This book was recommended to me by no less than three people. They all enjoyed the book. I however, cannot share their praise for it, at least not as much.

The story is a slow one, which often times is good, but this time, the author wasn't able to hook me. The way he describes the settings, to me, was a very frustrating method. I have never read a book using the word 'and' as much as this one. This word, is used many times within the same sentence. Also, using the word 'and' or not, some sentences take up half a page. I found this to be draining.

It may appear that I have just criticism for the writing style of the book...But I didn't really care what happenned to the characters. I wasn't all that interested in the plot (ranchers go to Mexico to work, one falls in love, they are thrown in jail...). Perhaps this is one occasion where the movie will be better than the book, since beautiful scenery is a given.

I don't know how so many people managed to love this book to the degree to which they do.

Not knowing much about McCarthy, I bought the whole trilogy(All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain), based on discussions with three friends. Having read the first book, I really don't feel like reading the next two.

I had heard a lot of good things about the book and thought what better way to get to know the story than with Brad Pitt. Frankly I was disapointed in his reading. I really liked his gravelly southern drawl, but found it hard to distinguish between the characters. The story centres on two boyhood friends who ride off together to seek their fortune and end up in a mess of trouble. A true story of lost innocence and the journey to adulthood.