"All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy (1992)

"They rode out along the fenceline and across the open pastureland.  The leather creaked in the morning cold.  They pushed the horses into a lope.  The lights fell away behind them.  They rode out on the high prairie where they slowed the horses to a walk and the stars swarmed around them out of the blackness.  They heard somewhere in that tenantless night a bell that tolled and ceased where no bell was and they rode out on the round dais of the earth which alone was dark and no light to it and which carried their figures and bore them upinto the swarming stars so that they rode not under but among them and they rode at once jaunty and circumspect, like thieves newly loosed in that dark electric, like young thieves in a glowing orchard, loosely jacketed against the cold and ten thousand worlds for the choosing"

"All the Pretty Horses" is the first book in McCarthy's Border Trilogy, a trio which also includes "The Crossing" and "Cities of the Plain."  I have read all three books in this series, though I have read the first book last.  I must say that I'm a bit sorry about this, because I think "Cities of the Plain" would have been even more devastating if I had read the books of the trilogy in their proper order.

In "All the Pretty Horses" John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins set out for Mexico on horseback.  What follows is a series of adventures that prompt both of these characters to question the very essence of their respective realities.  There is death along the way, and also love, and a fair amount of philosophizing from various perspectives.

It is an excellent book.  I liked it more than "The Crossing," which was a bit too existential for me, but not as much as the earth-shattering "Cities of the Plain," which is one of the best books I've ever read.  My only complaint about "All the Pretty Horses" is the monologue delivered by the aunt near the end.  This monologue seems little more than a vehicle with which McCarthy tries to get more philosophical musings across, and it takes the reader too far outside the narrative.

The section detailing their stay in a Mexican prison, however, is amazing.  I cannot think of any other part of any other book that communicates such desperation, and it really is a stunning achievement.  It also anticipates an important development in "Cities of the Plain," and it would add a lot of gravity to that development if you read the trilogy in order.

Anyone who thinks they don't like Westerns needs to read this.  It does what any truly great book does, it transcends the setting of the story, it transcends the limitations of the characters, and it shows us the Very Large that inevitably comes to exist inside the Very Small.

"Cities of the Plain" by Cormac McCarthy

"Cities of the Plain" was first published in 1998.  It is the last book in McCarthy's Border Trilogy.

I cannot really put into words how much I liked this book, and how much more I liked it than its predecessor, "The Crossing."  Compared to "The Crossing," which is a bleak novel about existential cowboys, "Cities of the Plain" is much more concise, much less philosophical, and much more human.  This might seem a strange thing to say of a novel that is essentially about predestination, but compared to "The Crossing," this novel is a vast improvement.

The plot of the book centers around John Grady, a New Mexico ranch hand in love with an epileptic Mexican prostitute.  Billy Parham from "The Crossing" is also present, as his best friend and voice of reason.  The novel resembles Romeo and Juliet in many respects, though McCarthy takes the story to places that even Shakespeare could never have anticipated.

It's a great book.  One of the best I've read in a long time.  And no, this one didn't remind me of Faulkner.

"The Crossing" by Cormac McCarthy

"I am here because of a certain man.  I came to retrace his steps.  Perhaps to see if there were not some alternate course.  What was here to be found was not a thing.  Things separate from their stories have no meaning.  They are only shapes.  Of a certain size and color.  A certain weight.  When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name.  The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place.  And that is what was to be found here.  The corrido.  The tale.  And like all corridos it ultimately told one story only, for there is only one to tell."

"The Crossing" is the second book in McCarthy's Border Trilogy, following "All the Pretty Horses" and coming before "Cities of the Plain."  It was first published in 1994.

I read McCarthy's "The Road" several years ago, and didn't understand what all the fuss was about.  It was a decent book, but far from brilliant.  I think the craze for that book stemmed primarily from its readability.  It could be disposed of in an afternoon, and didn't require much effort from the reader.

"The Crossing," on the other hand, is a densely written book, containing stories within stories.  Much of this novel is also in Spanish, and those (like me) unfamiliar with Spanish will probably find many scenes in this book difficult to understand.  Even so, the inclusion of Spanish in the narrative makes a lot of sense, and adds a dimension to the story that other, similar books lack.

The novel begins in the 1930s, on a ranch near the border between New Mexico and old Mexico.  The protagonist, Billy Parham, catches a wolf, and then decides to take the wolf back to Mexico.  Billy spends the next several years there, embarking on a journey that seeks to define the boundaries between life and death, good and evil, knowledge and ignorance.

It is a weighty book, and at times McCarthy's novel invites uncomfortable comparisons to Faulkner.  It tries very hard to say things about human beings and the world they live in, but there is a sense of having been here before, in other books, by other people.  I'm not saying that "The Crossing" is bad, or that it wasn't masterfully written, just that it reminds me of other books that I liked better.  Faulkner's "The Bear" was the first book that came to mind, though later chapters also reminded me of Patrick White's "Voss."

This said, I really enjoyed "The Crossing," and I consider it far superior to "The Road."  I'm now reading the sequel, "Cities of the Plain," and I'll be writing about it here next time.