Scan barcode
A review by laura_eppinger
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
4.0
I'd made it this long without ever reading Cormac McCarthy; this was a lovely read, but I am cool with this being the one book I read by this author.
For all its grit: knife fights, gunshots, murder, cauterizing wounds with a hot pistol, and terrible campfire meals in the wilderness, this is a Romance book. Nostalgic for a time that probably never was, this is about forbidden love! But it also romanticizes being a white, hale, cis-het rancher in the 1950s, and the very Imperialistic urge to run wild in Mexico with no rules or consequences. (Spoiler: there are rules and consequences.)
The sentences are so stylized they are ALMOST unreadable, and yet, a joy to read. (I've been put off reading McCarthy himself for decades because I've read so many corny young dude writers *imitating* this style, badly.)
The horses here are very very pretty indeed, and good god did this book make me want soooooooo many cups of bitter farmhouse coffee out of an enamel kettle.
4 stars for fun escapism!
For all its grit: knife fights, gunshots, murder, cauterizing wounds with a hot pistol, and terrible campfire meals in the wilderness, this is a Romance book. Nostalgic for a time that probably never was, this is about forbidden love! But it also romanticizes being a white, hale, cis-het rancher in the 1950s, and the very Imperialistic urge to run wild in Mexico with no rules or consequences. (Spoiler: there are rules and consequences.)
The sentences are so stylized they are ALMOST unreadable, and yet, a joy to read. (I've been put off reading McCarthy himself for decades because I've read so many corny young dude writers *imitating* this style, badly.)
The horses here are very very pretty indeed, and good god did this book make me want soooooooo many cups of bitter farmhouse coffee out of an enamel kettle.
4 stars for fun escapism!