All the Pretty Horses

Alright, I have to admit something right here and now:

I am Texan.

And this fact may greatly influence my impression of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy.  But I am not really sorry for the fact of my birth and the love of that land borne into my heart.  As I am endeavoring to read the Border Trilogy by Cormac (we are on a first name basis now since I have read two of his books and seen at least one screen adaptation of his work); I am, indeed, congratulating myself on the place of my beginnings again.

My love for all things Cormac (or pretty much all things I have experienced thus far of Cormac) dovetails nicely with my endeavor not to spoil anything in the reviews on this blog.  So I will attempt to review All the Pretty Horses (book one of the Border Trilogy) without giving anything away.

Ready?  I have two primary thoughts about the book:

1. You know those people who you hear sing and that saying, "I could listen to them read the phone book."?  That is Cormac McCarthy for the written word and the lesser things of life.  Cormac is that guy who has so observed the world that he has discovered the nuances of objects and events.  And he takes those observations and translates them into some of the most beautiful prose I have read.  He does it with the most mundane things.  In All the Pretty Horses, he does this whilst describing the heaves that come with vomiting.  I had to read that paragraph twice, just to revel in it.  And he does it again in AtPH describing the feeling of waking up and not knowing where you are in a land where fear is the default emotion.

2. This is my second time through AtPH.  And this time through I was noticing a prevalent theme I don't think I noticed or remembered from the first read.  The theme is the contrast between a God-like plan (or fate) and the choices of man.  The characters talk a lot (as much as characters talk in a Cormac book about anything), wondering if there is a God and if he is in charge of the events of men.  This is juxtaposed with some seriously questionable decisions on the part of many of the characters.   And then it is highlighted by the main character (John Grady Cole)'s need to set things right, to do the right thing, to have everything right (at least as he sees it).  Mix in some events that would make most men shudder and you have a basic man questions God story.  Does He exist?  How could He be good if things like this happen?  etc. etc.  Maybe I am reading a little too much of my own theology into this, but I definitely see the contrast and conflict there.

And I have a secondary thought:

The way that Cormac describes the shift of the world that happens when you fall in love at first sight is spectacular.  As a girl who in a way, fell in this manner for the love of her life, he captured it perfectly.  I am not even going to quote the things he wrote so as to encourage you to pick up this book and read it to discover these tiny nuggets of sensitive beauty set amongst finely-honed boulders of brilliant observation.

The book is basically a Bildungsroman for John Grady Cole, but even as you turn the pages, you will discover that he was very much a man before you opened the book.  Nevertheless, the fact that it remains a development of a boy into a man reveals that we are always on this journey of becoming more.

-L

Rating: 6 out of 7
This book fulfills 1/3 of the requirement for a "trilogy" in my current book reading challenge

Can you survive the Road?

In was a unique week for Our Year in Books.  Our roads converged, so to speak, and we ended up reading the same book.  Drew read it first and enjoyed it so much he encouraged me to get my hands on it.   The book in question:  The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  As we read through the book separately, I thought it would be a good idea to do a joint post.  The following is the result. 

I should say this is inspired by Inner/Outer Circle from my days in AP English - a practice I enjoyed and loathed with equal passion at the time.  Let's get going:

L:  This reading was inspired, in part, by our love of the movie No Country for Old Men.  Although they are different stories and different mediums, how do you think the style of McCarthy is similar in both works?

D - Considering that I'm basing this off the movie version of NCOM and the book The Road it might be a little off, but we'll see once we get to reading NCOM. I thought that the endings were incredibly similar. They aren't what you would expect from a movie or a book. First read/view, it's almost a let down! You are expecting something different. But after you go back and review it again you begin to see that there's a bigger picture involved. Dialogue felt similar to me - sparse, but enough. It really lent itself well to both novels. Between those two, it felt Cormac.

L:  The book deals with fear in different ways - the boy and the man, but also the reader.  Did you feel a sense of dread while reading?  And how do you think the way the characters dealt with fear pushed the plot along?

D - I don't think I felt a complete sense of dread as a reader. It was definitely creepy at points, and you did feel for the characters. I didn't get too emotional with this book; or as much as I was expecting to considering that it appears to be an emotional journey. The movie might do that more... we'll see. As the book progressed, I thought we saw more courage from the Boy and perhaps more fear from the Man. There was a sense of hope in hopelessness. It was fitting for their plight.

L:  That was another theme in the book - hope.  What do you think "carrying the fire" means?

D - Who knows if I'm right or not! This comes from my thoughts on the last question - I believe it meant that they carried humanities hope. If they thought they didn't need to go on, it was lost. If they resorted to what the rest of humanity had become(or what they saw of humanity) then it was lost. The fire was what carried them that far. Faith in the good guys.

L: To that point, was their hope misplaced?

D - No. I didn't feel that the Man ever lost faith in the Boy. There were points where he might have been helpless in the desolation, but he was always looked after by something greater(perhaps he felt it was coincidence). The Boy never lost faith in the Man although I've read a couple reviews saying that he ended up being alienated by some of the choices the Man made. I never saw that. He always ended up trusting the Man's decision. The Boy also had hope even at the conclusion. It was probably the most redeeming portion of the book. The fire was carried.

L:  Ok, so what about the mention of God in the book?  At one point the man says that the boy is God.  Do you think Cormac's created world has a god?  If so, what kind of god is he/she?

D - I don't know if Cormac truly had a God/god by the end of the book. The Man put all his desires into his kid. He lived for the Boy so it was easy to see why he saw the boy as all there was. In the end, I think Cormac felt that the good side of humanity was a god of sorts. I'm biased though. If you capitalize God there is only one conclusion... I don't think his was the same.

L:  Last one: There is one (ONE) paragraph in the book that is written in the first person (narrator: the man).  Why?

D - I have no clue! I didn't even notice it when I was reading. It was a flashback so maybe he was trying to illustrate the story from someone elses perspective. My guess is that he forgot what he was writing for a paragraph and then forgot that he had been writing in first person when he transitioned back to third. I'm guessing you were the only person that noticed.

Finally, the ratings:
Leah: 5.5
Drew: ^ what the heck? 8.2! But I *heart* all things apocalyptic.