Even though I found Blood Meridian tedious, I had already reserved All the Pretty Horses from the library plus, my wife had read it, so I figured I’d give it a go. It is better than Meridian. McCarthy lays off the heavy use of run-ons, got rid of his thesaurus (see my review of Blood Meridian for his obnoxious thesaurus-itis in that book) and the plot has enough elements to it (most of the time) that it kept my interest. There are several extended scenes that kept me reading later than I would have, wherein the fate of the protagonist is in doubt. Again, the descriptions are the forte, and in this case, the focus is not all on horror, but the beauty of a Southwest and Mexico which no longer exist.
TL;DR: A kid (again…) that loves horses goes off to Mexico (Cormac pattern here…). Hooks up w/buddy and one bad ‘un. Gets in some trouble. Gets work, falls in love with rich girl (of course) who (of course) loves him back (why we never know…no romantic development). Lovely descriptions, not so bad run-ons (see Blood Meridian if you want horrific use of run-ons). Kid gets in serious trouble, almost dies, gets paid off to leave girl alone. Goes after his horses, which nearly gets him killed. Deus Ex machina several instances. At the end, he rides off into sunset. Really. It’s a lot of reading to set an atmosphere and I think that’s what McCarthy is after (as his plotting is minimal and characterizations unchanging): setting a longing for a time that never was (for most of us).
Some notable quotes (CM likes to go deep): “it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they’d have no heart to start at all.” Cheery, as is his wont. He gets a bit less depressing with this gem: “That all courage was a form of constancy. That it was always himself that the coward abandoned first. After this all other betrayals came easily.” Still, he has a talent for taking a positive characteristic, in this case courage, and viewing it from the negative.
And sometimes he’s surprisingly mundane: “In history there are no control groups.”
Also, he is REALLY into horses: “The horse had a good natural gait and as he rode he talked to it and told it things about the world that were true in his experience and he told it things he thought could be true to see how they would sound if they were said. He told the horse why he liked it and why he’d chosen it to be his horse and he said that he would allow no harm to come to it.” CM could have called this the Horse Whisperer.
All in all, it kept me interested, though at times frustrated at dearth of character development. His style does not delve extensively into their self-reflection. Their motivations speak through their actions and in the dialogue (which is minimal, in truth). In this book, McCarthy does lay foundations, such as the protagonist’s relationship with his father, his family’s ranch (which he loses), his way of life and even the ranch hands he grew up with. But I really do not see him tie them together into a coherent whole that motivate the character. Sometimes the protagonist seems to do things because the plot requires them and I don’t buy it.As I said above, Deus Ex Machina raises it’s head several times. And there is some Mary Sue here as well. I really do not see how a sixteen year old would have amassed the life wisdom to pull himself out of all those scrapes. These issues keep this book out of my 5-star camp. Still, it’s a good book and worth reading.
