The Green Horseman

Don’t fear Death.
Its only gonna help you die faster,
its not gonna help you live.

Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

OVERVIEW:
Recently I had a suggestion to read a book called “All The Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy. I learned McCarthy was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and the book had even won a National Book Award.

My library had the audiobook on the Libby app so I picked it up and listened to it.

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All the Pretty Horses follows John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old rancher, who sets out for an adventure. With his friend Lacey Rawlins they come across another new face, Jimmy Blevins.

The book begins very light-heartedly. The boys joke and sass. They get drunk and tease each other. In fact, during one of the “scenes,” I heard a familiar dialogue. Any horse-lover who has ever scrolled through TikTok might have seen video clips where a man is heard saying “Can you ride or not?” The question is answered by “Hell yeah I can ride, I was riding when I fell off.” When I heard this exchange it sparked my memory of some of those clips…which led to me learning that the book had become a movie 23 years ago in 2000.

I swear I don’t live under a rock.

As the boys cross the United States border into Mexico they meet others along they way.

The names of entities that have the power to constrain us change with time. Convention and authority are replaced by infirmity.

― Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

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The boys find themselves training horses, falling in love, and getting in trouble. The boys land in a Mexican prison on accusations of stealing a horse.

Eventually John Grady Cole earns his freedom and returns home after his harrowing adventure of love and loss.

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.

-Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

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Final Word:

I really enjoyed All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I learned it is the first of The Border Series. The books include in the Border Trilogy include:

1. All The Pretty Horses
2. The Crossing
3. Cities of the Plain

Although this wasn’t entirely about horses but I think it still belongs here in the book club. It’s a nice western historical fiction. Different from what I’ve been reading lately.

The book had humor, friendship, action, love, and lessons learned. It was well written and easy to follow. I’m excited to get the movie to watch too!

Looking over the country with those sunken eyes as if the world out there had been altered or made suspect by what he’d seen of it elsewhere. As if he might never see it right again. Or worse did see it right at last. See it as it had always been, would forever be.

― Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses