Some of the best-known works of American author Cormac McCarthy (1933 – 2023) are celebrated with exclusive editions from The Folio Society. The latest title to earn this distinction, ‘All the Pretty Horses', joins ‘Blood Meridian', ‘The Road' and ‘No Country For Old Men'.
‘All the Pretty Horses', first published in 1992, achieved both commercial and critical success (it was an instant bestseller and won the National Book Award). It is part one of McCarthy's ‘The Border Trilogy'. The second part, ‘The Crossing', introduces new characters. The third and final part, ‘Cities of the Plain', brings together the heroes from the first two novels.
‘All the Pretty Horses' is set in America in 1949. It follows the journey of John Grady Cole, a young Texan man. He travels to Mexico with his friend Lacey Rawlins as they seek work as cowboys. John Grady can speak Spanish, having been brought up among a Mexican family, and he is confident of his ability to carve out a new and better life for himself. However, they are adopted en route by a strange boy, Jimmy Blevins, who pretends to be older than he is. Riding a magnificent horse that clearly isn't his possession, Blevins spells trouble from the earliest encounter.
Both Rawlins and Blevins weave in and out of the story, but it's John Grady's fate that we follow. Once in Mexico, his ability to break horses is put to good use, and he quickly rises through the ranks at the ranch. There, he also falls in love with Alejandra, the ranch-owner's daughter, and they begin a passionate romance. But earlier events quickly catch up with John Grady and his two travelling companions, and their idyllic new life is quickly and violently challenged.
‘All the Pretty Horses' bears all of the hallmarks of McCarthy's work. Although it comes in at under three hundred pages, his economic writing style is dense, packing an extraordinary amount of detail and nuance onto each page. This rewards close readers: as so often with McCarthy's work, I found myself reading the text at a slower speed than I would usually approach a novel, so as not to miss the richness he embeds within the details. Dialogue is stripped to the bare minimum, without even customary speech marks. The violence, when it arrives, is graphic and visceral. John Grady is a typical McCarthy hero: self-contained, laconic, a survivor with a certain charm, yet in so many ways unknowable and occasionally amoral. Although set less than a century ago, the world of the story feels like it belongs to the era of the Wild West, and it certainly leans into the western genre.
Although ‘All the Pretty Horses' is rightly regarded as a fine piece of literature by one of the most influential authors of the Twentieth Century, and its subject matter ensures it can be considered among the great American novels, it doesn't quite have the same punch as some of his other novels. This is perhaps because it lacks a memorable villain such as Judge Holden of ‘Blood Meridian' or the intelligent psychopath Chigurh of ‘No Country for Old Men'. Rather, the threat comes from faceless rangers led by a nameless captain who inflicts pain and suffering upon the trio of young American men. Whereas the evil characters in other novels compel you to read on, ‘All the Pretty Horses' relies more on the narrative voice. Perhaps, in the final analysis, ‘All the Pretty Horses' is just more of a straightforward read than McCarthy's works generally tend to be, with a linear and relatively unsurprising, if solid plot.
Even if not McCarthy's most compelling work, he is always an author with a strong voice whose stories should be added to any reading list. For newcomers to McCarthy's canon, I wouldn't suggest ‘All the Pretty Horses' as the best place to start, but point them to a self-contained story like ‘Blood Meridian' or ‘No Country for Old Men'. For established McCarthy fans, ‘All the Pretty Horses' will certainly deliver and meet expectations, and I am now curious to continue the Border Trilogy and find out more about John Grady's fate. If you enjoy stories about the small players who collectively shaped modern America, then ‘All the Pretty Horses' comes strongly recommended.
The Folio Society's exclusive new edition of ‘All the Pretty Horses' continues with the same design style as their earlier McCarthy titles. Artist Gérard DuBois, who has visually brought to life the other McCarthy titles, provides six full-colour illustrations to heighten the text of ‘All the Pretty Horses'. It is produced in hardback and in card slip case to the same high standard as the previous titles, ensuring that the range of The Folio Society's Cormac McCarthy works sit attractively together as a collection on your bookcase.
Publisher: The Folio Society Publication date: November 2024 Buy ‘All the Pretty Horses'
