All The Pretty Horses
March 19th 2007 20:59
Image: Random House
Young John Grady Cole’s world is about to be upended with the death of his grandfather and the selling off of the family’s Texas ranch - the ranch that John had every intention of owning and running one day. His independent spirit will not allow him to sit by and watch the departure of his dream, so it is to the Mexican border that the young man looks, leading his friend into the last surviving cowboy country. Trouble follows them over the border in the form of a young runaway whose rash and impetuous nature soon leads them all into a lawless and violent world where Cole must dig deep to unearth the man he intends to become.
Some reviews describe Pretty Horses as a coming-of-age novel set in a violent, good against evil world, and that is not a bad over-all summation. But through McCarthy’s ingenious prose that wipes the pages clean of any pretentious, flowery or over descriptive passages, you find a novel that portrays that which every young man feels to his core. The need to take control of his life. For throughout the whole book, cover to cover, that is exactly what Cole is looking for. From the minute he realizes the ranch and his plans are gone, he grapples with the controls. And faces a battle which encompasses his environment, his work ethic, his morality, his heart and his passion.
It is rare to find a writer who can depict the mind of a young male adolescence so convincingly, never mind that of a 1950’s cowboy. But I found the characterisation of John Cole brilliantly readable and believable. There are moments when reflection finds John, mostly in the nature of dreams or quiet sun-sets, but these are few and not totally without cause. The theme of horses, in particular wild horses is again completely acceptable in the context of the story without being overly romanticized.
I cannot recommend this book enough. The powerful prose and simple, yet compelling nature of this character’s struggle has giving me one of my most satisfying reads in months.
Earlier this year I spoke of what makes good literature. All The Pretty Horses is one of the best examples I have seen.
Postscript : The movie is passable, but without reading the book the characters do tend to be just Hollywood creations – though not on the worse scale I’ve seen. Some stories aren’t meant for celluloid. They come from somewhere deeper than that.
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