This is a National Book Award winner (for fiction). It is a beautifully written book. We all enjoyed it very much - we being myself, my father & my husband. Highest recommendation to those readers who enjoy well-written, well-developed stories.

western. the plot was engaging, but i did not like the writing style. however, it is a national bestseller, won 'the national book award for fiction' and 'national book critics circle award for fiction', and received rave reviews, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

This is good reading! A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER and NATIONAL CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD and after a few pages you will begin to see why this is such an acclaimed novel. This is a modern work of fiction set in the Texas badlands and Northern Mexico. Today it is still cattle ranching country and the region clings to the romance of the "Wild West". The story begins when a sixteen year old boy, devastated by the death of his grandfather and the inevitable sale of the family ranch, decides to run away to Mexico. He convinces his best friend to accompany him. They take only their saddle horses, light provisions and their cowboy skills. The boys discover that life isn't as kind or idyllic as they envisioned. There is a lot of conversation in this novel, lots of it in basic Spanish, which is not clearly translated. I think this was a clever ploy by the author to let the reader feel the confusion the two boys experience. It will not interrupt the flow of the story, it fact, it makes it come alive. There is factual description of ranching life and the desert regions with great attention to detail. At times funny, other times gut wrenching, this is the story about these two boys coming to grip with the reality of life, which is often cruel and unfair. The adventure is full of horses, gun play, bad guys and romance. Somewhere along the way, the boys become men. I really liked this book. I would highly recommend it for young adults. It is a great book about the rites of passage from childhood to adult hood.

Cormac McCarthy's sage of a two young friends set out to Mexico for an adventure that leads them to love, prison, murder, and growing up. The poetry with which this man writes leaves awesome pictures of the countryside he loves as well as the horses. An true western.

Wonderful realistic adventure set in the 1930's - of two young men who journey by horse down into Mexico, sometimes funny, but moving and heartrending in places. Cormac McCarthy's writings are very authentic. If you haven't seen the movie, you must read this first.

I'm not usually into westerns, but this is very literary. Great characters, nice imagery, easy and enjoyable read.

A wonderful book. Deserving of every award it won. A delight to read.

A must read.

I tried to read it, but couldn't get into it. It comes highly recommended, though, and the movie was interesting.

I was anxious to read a good book about the Southwest US/Mexico, and began reading this book soon after it arrived in the mail. I hadn't read many pages before I realized that the language was going to be tantamount to trying to walk through the barnyard without picking up manure on my shoes. I'm sure there was a pretty good plot and development of characters somewhere in those pages, underneath all the cursing and barnyard words. It depends on your appetite, of course; but I have no stomach for such language. Why is it that so many modern writers rely on empty, blathering curse words to fill in their stories, while early authors of the classics could simply tell an amazing story in 'the King's English'? I do not recommend this book to anyone who does not enjoy immersing their self in a steady string of profanity.

Read All Book Reviews of "All the Pretty Horses Border Trilogy 1"

This book was just "ok" to me. I didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. The best part was the dialect the characters used. I felt almost like I was listening to the characters talk in real life. The author doesn't use quotation marks and many times doesn't indicate who says what, which is annoying at first. He also uses a lot of run on sentences that made me cringe at times. If you can get past that, this is a pretty interesting story. Just don't expect all loose ends to be tied up at the end of the story. This is part of a trilogy but I didn't enjoy it enough to read the other two in the series.

National book award winner.Like new.

Beautiful book!

Looks like a good book and one I would enjoy, but I couldn't get past the writing style. This book is registered at bookcrossing.com

A modern day Western full of horses and gunplay and romance. Winner of National Book Award for Fiction.

a "new western classic"

"A modern-day Western full of horses and gunplay and romance, it transcends the bounds of its genre. A National Book Award for Fiction Winner."

The story of two young men trying to find their way in the West. Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and a national bestseller.

knopf = publisher; 1992 = copyright date

Now a major motion picture from Columbia Pictures starring Matt Damon, produced by Mike Nichols, and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.

The national bestseller and the first volume in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, All the Pretty Horses is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood. Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.

Read All Book Reviews of "All the Pretty Horses Border Trilogy 1"