New Book

For the second selection of Guys Who Read, I have selected something a little more contemporary, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer Prize winner. I struggled with the task selecting a follow up to All the Pretty Horses it seems that the majority of novels that are not required reading for high school are either detective novels or westerns. Following a western with a western seemed like a good way to narrowly define our blog. Additionally, following detective Virgil Flowers for 200 plus pages does not interest me, my apologies to John Sandford. That being said there was a limited selection to choose from and at this point I felt that biographies and auto-biographieswere not an option. My wife helped narrow my selection by suggesting Michael Chabon and after having discovered that he was the author of Woderboys, a movie I enjoy and reccomend, I looked closer at his novels. At this point I need to point out that all books are better than their movie counterpart. Not being too sure of what to expect from Chabon, I had to discount the detective themed Yiddish Policeman's Union and I choose The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. 
The story of two young men creating comics interested me right away. I must admit that as a young boy I collected comic books and still to this day have a kept a few comics of those comics, first issues and anniversary editions etc. With New York City and WWII as the background to the boys adventures it promises to be a good story. Enjoy.

-jake

All The Pretty Horses- Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts on All the Pretty Horses
As a story I find it completely incomplete. If John Grady Cole was looking for adventure, he found it. McCarthy gave us lovable characters that I became truly interested in plus there were a few twists to keep it interesting. There were gunfights, knife fights, high speed horse chases, capture and escape, and a touch of the human condition. The story's pace began to slow after the prison, I feared it was going to turn into a love story. I was not looking for a love story and with the easy departure of Alejandra it did not; begging the question was the girl just to be filler?? To that end what was her character's real role in the story except to free the boys from a Mexican Prison. I think that McCarthy could have freed them another way if that was the case. Maybe we will see Alejandra in the third novel. Matt, you mis-understood me, book tow doesn't have the same characters, but we see John Grady in the third book teaming up with the main character of book two. Not sure about the girl. The story picked up it's pace again as John Grady tangled with the Captain, got shot and recovered the horses, again escaping. John Grady's escape from Mexico, in my opinion, could have filled another 200 pages. I would have enjoyed them all, again completely incomplete as a truly good story.
John Grady's adventure is tragically charmed, with his ability to escape and survive situations that can only be found in the worst case scenario handbook. It appears that McCarthy 'ran out of steam' after the boys escaped prison. The adventure took a straight path back to the start. On the trip home the situations go from bad to worse in less than a half page, and within two more pages John Grady has escaped and is fixing for the next tragedy, only to quickly escape that jam too. Obviously, he was going to survive, but there were too many close calls narrowly missed.
I would be interested to hear about Lacey's trip back home and how his parents took it. Did they try to tell John Grady's mother? Was anyone looking for the boys? What happened at home?
What happens to Alejandra, does she go to Europe? Stay in Mexico? Don Hector?
How bad ass was John Grady sticking the fire hot pistol barrel into his leg? Holy shit!! That was a Jack Bauer moment!!!!
     Matt- I am assuming that there is some reason for Jimmy Blevins the radio healer, or was it just one of those strange encounters on the trail?
If McCarthy's intention in the first installment of the Border Trilogy was to leave enough loose ends to add detail and clarity in the next two books, possibly having several character cross paths again, then I say mission accomplished. If not than I say shame on him, and perhaps he is using the term trilogy a little too loosely. Additionally, I think that his comparison to Larry McMurtry is a little loose. Yes both stories are westerns, comparison complete. McCarthy fails to paint the whole picture and leaves too much up to the readers imagination. All that being said, and despite the incompleteness of the first book, I am interested in reading more and will most likely finish the trilogy on my own. I did enjoy the story, although this will not make my top ten I would recommend All The Pretty Horses to a friend.

Jake

All the Pretty Horses - Final Thoughts - Matt

Here are my final thoughts on All the Pretty Horses. At times, I thought it was spectacular, at times I found it absolutely maddening, and overall, I thought reading it was worth my time. I loved the protagonist, John Grady Cole. I liked his demeanor, his passion for horses, and the fact that he seems to have a yearning for times gone by even though he is sixteen. You do not often hear about a man in his youth longing for the "olden days" but it is feeling I can relate to, and something I think that those of us who love the natural world sometimes feel. As somebody who just learned what a "blog" was a couple weeks ago, yet often fantasizes about thriving fish populations and unspoiled fishing spots, at times, I can not help but feel that I missed out on some things by virtue of my late birthday. It is sixteen year-old John Grady's search for a way of life that he fears may have passed him by that most endears him to me.

As I mentioned earlier, at times I could not put the book down, and that is almost entirely due to the fact that I was fully invested in John Grady. I found the other characters interesting, but I wanted to know more about them. Rawlins was good, but what do we know about him? Alejandra was mostly a mystery and Don Hector had potential but was left unexamined. I liked John Grady's father, what we saw of him, and thought Jake's criticism of him was largely undeserved, but we never get to find out what he is really made of.

My thoughts on McCarthy's style and writing are largely unchanged since my first entry. I think the run-on sentences and general lack of punctuation are tough to take. His lack of quotation marks is confusing and I see no stylistic reason for their omission. At best, his writing is beautiful, and at worst, its complexity renders it confusing and totally meaningless. There is plenty of both in All the Pretty Horses.

McCarthy's tendency to leave the reader confused through his writing (and frequent use of Spanish) is at times tough to take, but when he leaves out chunks of pertinent information, the ones mentioned in prior posts and other, I find that inexcusable.

I would have read the entire "Border Trilogy" if it where in fact a real trilogy and I could expect to see John Grady Cole again, but I do not think I will pick up another one of them (unless of course one is made an official selection of Guys Who Read). It is not worth it to get invested in a character such as John Grady, only have most of the big questions unanswered, the big issues not addressed. It is also a very tall order to put up with the difficult and annoying aspects of McCarthy's writing.

I am looking forward to hearing your final thoughts.

Until Next Time,

Matt

All the Pretty Horses, in entirety - Matt

First, to address the “men of the country,” I have no idea who they are.  I assume the Captain’s malice and misdeeds extend beyond John Grady, Rawlins and Blevins, and that these people are taking him away to answer for his deeds.  They strike me as a lawless group, and that is hinted at later when John Grady assumes the Captain is dead.  The biggest question is why do they leave John Grady alone?  He has several horses, including one very valuable one.  I find nothing in the text to explain this.

Much like my problem with a pistol going off at a random time, McCarthy leaves us totally in the dark and if there is some kind of stylistic or literary reason, I certainly don’t see it.

In my post after they go to jail, I remarked that I hoped the book did not turn into a “thrill-ride” and to my dismay that is just about exactly what happened.  I do not mind the action at all, but it seems to have taken place at the expense of more interesting themes that were developing in the novel.  Just for instance, we know it is at Alejandra’s insistence that John Grady is bought out of jail, but we never really see her struggle.  Does she ever truly consider leaving Mexico with him?  Is she staying because she loves her family?  Is she staying because she likes to be wealthy?  She just hops on a train and leaves.

What I was looking forward to even more was John Grady’s meeting with Don Hector.  Don Hector immediately takes a liking to John Grady, but does it all evaporate upon finding out he has had an affair with Alejandra?  Perhaps it was not out of fear of losing Alejandra, and perhaps he was trying to come to terms with it?  Perhaps as Ryan said earlier, he sees something special in John Grady and can not forget it.  We never find out.  And Perez, I predicted we would see him again, and that was not the case.  Why introduce his character to great extent only to have him play no role beyond jailhouse intermediary?

I assumed that as part of the “Border Trilogy” we would see these characters again, and while there were too many loose ends for my liking to end even a portion of a series, I thought that many of the questions would be answered in future books.  However, Jake tells me that the characters do not appear in the other two books, which makes me question why it is called a trilogy.  Is McCarthy responsible for that too, or was it some kind of publishing gimmick?  Either way I am not pleased about it.

John Grady’s meeting with the judge is very interesting, and I thought a nice bit of storytelling.  What is the significance?  Why is it important to hear John Grady say that he is haunted by his deeds?  The entire adventure was a disaster.  Is this final admission necessary to show that the adventure left him emotionally damaged as well as scarred physically and broken hearted?  The rotten icing on the big crap-cake?

What do you make of the encounter with the other Jimmy Blevins?

Is there a silver lining?  Is there anything positive that comes from the trip?

All The Pretty Horses - through the end. Ryan

Let’s start with how things end with the Captain.  Three “men of the country,” as they refer to themselves, dressed in serapes and carrying pistols, come upon John Grady and the Captain while Grady is asleep.  After a short exchange, they end up taking away the Captain, still cuffed, off into the night, leaving Grady to head north in the morning.  So who are these fellas?  Any ideas?

Moving on, Grady arrives in Los Picos for a much needed rest.  The locals are preparing for a wedding, which commences a little later following a morning rain.  The proprietor of the café where Grady stops for a meal voices his approval of the upcoming festivities, noting “that 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.”  I thought McCarthy might be making an important point here – this being Grady’s last encounter in Mexico before he crosses back into Texas.  Not that long ago Grady was young – at least in spirit – and now we find himself heading for home, without his bride, hauling a broken heart.  Above all else, he is no longer a child.  And yet you never get the sense that he had any second thoughts about any of the choices he’s made, about how anything played out…until his conversation with the Judge.

 

For me, this series of events, culminating with the final scene between him and the Judge, shed a different light on Grady.  For once, he second guessed himself.  I must say that was a relief; it would have been a bit hard to swallow had he remained the committed, unflinching cowboy from start to finish.

And finally, what did you both make of the final meeting between Grady and Rawlins.  This was a bit of a stretch for me. 

Rawlins: Sum buck…blah, blah…sum buck – oh – you found Junior.  Thanks

Grady: No problem.  Well, see ya.

Rawlins: Ok. Bye

Not exactly verbatim, but come on.  I know we’re not dealing with emotional types here, but after all they’d been through together: the highs, the lows, jail, and the reality of death right around the corner, you mean to tell me we’re not going to even get the slightest glimpse of something more than a ‘see you on down the trail pardner.’  Not buying it. 

Departing from my usual unabashed approval of the storytelling in question, I can’t swallow this ending whole.  I was hoping for something a little bit more here, truth be told.  -Ryan     

All the Pretty Horses through p. 272 - Matt

The pistol trick was a little MacGyverish, for sure, and I too am willing to defer to McCarthy on such matters.  But it is not the how that I am interested in, it is the why.  Through what McCarthy describes, I can believe that the pistol will go off at some point in the future, that much I understand.  What I do not understand is why?  Why does having a pistol go off at a random time after his departure disrupt his pursuers to the point that we never see them again?  What role does the horse play?

All the Pretty Horses through pg. 272 Ryan

I’ve been a bit negligent this week with regards to posting.  I’m chalking that up to a vicious cold, a neurotic dog, and the lack of accessible wi-fi in the United States.  That said, forgive me if I backtrack a bit and address some of Jake and Matt’s observations before sharing a few of my own.

First, I’ll admit the cigar trick sounded a bit MacGyver-esque.  However, given my inexperience with revolvers, horses, trick fuses, and being pursued by a posse of deranged federale impersonators, I’ll defer to McCarthy in order to stay true to my apologist leanings thus far.

As far as McCarthy’s use of Spanish goes, again I took it in stride.  I felt that he was “keeping in character,” as opposed to rubbing our noses in his bilingual abilities.  For instance, during an exchange with the Captain, John Grady’s – in a near exhaustive state – begins barking out commands in English, after which he forced to repeat himself in Spanish given that the Captain doesn’t understand what he just said.  He probably would have just relied on his Spanish from the get go had he not been in such a dismal state.  For me, McCarthy’s explicit use of this transition from English to Spanish is just one example of how his use of Spanish just reflects life on the border.    

Given our own collective failures in Spanish (I think I recall Prof. Tresnak telling our friend Paul, if not the rest of us, that she would only pass him on the condition that he never attempted to butcher the Spanish language again) perhaps the extent to which this upsets us is just sour grapes.  Having taken 8 fruitless years of Spanish myself, I sometimes find myself still chafing at its use in public.  Is that just some underlying jealously on my part?  I’m just saying.

What did you both make of the Perez character?  Interesting fella…I thought the entire series of exchanges between him and John Grady highlighted Grady’s idealist nature, as opposed to say Rawlins, the Captain, even the Aunt, who are all strict pragmatists in my view, perhaps to a fault.  In speaking to Grady, Perez alludes to the difference between Grady and himself, chalking it up to the difference between gringos and Mexicans, but I don’t see it.  I think it’s more than that.  I’d also put Blevins in the idealist camp as well, and look where that got him.

And how about the way in which Rawlins split for Texas?

He turned and handed his ticket to the driver and the driver punched it and handed it back and he climbed stiffly aboard.  John Grady stood watching while he passed along the aisle.  He thought he’d take a seat at the window but he didn’t.  He sat on the other side of the bus and John Grady stood for a while and…

Given that Rawlins opposed taking along Blevins, while also voicing his concern over John Grady’s affair with Alejandra – both of which played an equal part in their incarceration in my view – this final scene between these two might signal the fracturing of their relationship.  Then again, maybe Rawlins just needed to get the hell out of Mexico, and was afraid for Grady and what might happen to him, and that’s why he couldn’t look at him as the bus took off.

Finally, now that we’ve learned from Alejandra why the greyhounds were up in the mountains that night with the Don Hector, why do you guys think Don Hector didn’t go through with killing them?  Was it a practical fear, maybe that Grady’s death would have driven Alejandra away from him forever, or something more emotional; perhaps Don Hector empathized with Grady, his love of horses and the ways of the past, and saw a lot of himself in Grady – in this remarkable boy.  I keep forgetting that Grady hasn’t even turned eighteen throughout our story.  I don’t remember breaking broncs or cauterizing my own gunshot wounds when I was a senior in high school.  Maybe Don Hector just couldn’t bring himself to snuff out someone that special.  -Ryan         

All the Pretty Horses through p. 271 - Matt

I went ahead and plowed through to the end last night, a testament to McCarthy’s characters.  I could not sleep without knowing what was going to happen next.  I will save further comments until we have all finished up and begun the discussion on the book as a whole, but I have a quick question I need some help with.

On the pages leading up to 271, this is what I gather is happening and please correct me if you believe I am mistaken: John Grady, with the captain as a hostage, is being trailed, I assume by people from the Hacienda from where he stole back his horse and Blevins’ horse.  He is looking out at open territory, and he does not have enough time to get across it without being overtaken or least without giving away his position.  As a means to delay his pursuers, he makes an elaborate booby-trap whereby the Captain’s pistol will fire when the cigarette burns through the makeshift string holding the hammer back, and he abandons a horse.  To what end is this done?  How is abandoning a horse and having a gun go off at a seemingly random time going to help his cause?  We are left with the impression that it worked, because we do not see the pursuers any more, but what happened?

McCarthy has created great characters, and has written a decent story, but his tendency to leave the reader befuddled is vexing to say the least. 

All the Pretty Horses through p. 208 - Matt

Some big happenings since last time, and I certainly did not see them coming.  I expected to see Blevins again, for sure, but I expected Blevins to somehow come back into the lives of John Grady and Rawlins, rather than them being delivered forcibly back to him.  From the start Blevins was character that spelled trouble for our heros.  At first I was rooting for him to be removed from the story as quickly as possible, and hopefully without causing too much harm to John Grady and Rawlins (obviously, that was not the case).  That changed however when Blevins quickly insists to take the road alone, and allows John Grady and Rollins to escape through the wild.  That selfless act endeared Blevins to me, and I was sad to see him go.

I am considering several new questions at this point, and look forward to hearing your thoughts.  First, what significance, if any, does the sighting of the greyhounds by the fire in the mountains have, especially as relating to John Grady and Rawlins being hauled away?  I assume at this point that the events are somehow related, but how?  John Grady states the greyhounds would not be up in the mountains alone, but why would Don Hector or anybody else be there?

Why did Don Hector not protect John Grady and Rawlins?  Was he unable to help them, or unwilling to help them because he knows of John Grady’s affair with his daughter?  I suspect the presence of the Mexican Rangers at the hacienda on the occasion prior to John Grady and Rawlins being hauled may mean that they never would have been hauled away without the compliance of Don Hector, and he was at least compliant with, if not responsible for, their incarceration.

I very surprised that the book took a hard turn into action with a jailing, knife fights and murder attempts, whereas before the boys were taken off the jail it had been a more subtle examination of their relationships and conditions.  I did not mind the action, and certainly being kept off-balance is a good thing, but I do hope the rest of the book does not aspire to be a “thrill-ride” for lack of a better term.

I am enjoying the book very much, but I often feel that is in spite of McCarthy’s writing and not because of it.  Take a look at these two sentences from page 179 and let me know your thoughts:

Yet the Captain inhabited another space and it was a space of his own election and outside the common world of men.  A space privileged to men of the irreclaimable act which while it contained all lesser worlds within it contained no access to them.

I think of myself as an intelligent man, I am highly educated, and I read often, and I have no idea what these two sentences are saying.  I have read it many times in and out of context, and it seems to me to be a slapdash amalgamation of impressive words with no point whatsoever.  To be frank, I think it is self -indulgent nonsense.

            I find McCarthy’s use of Spanish excessive.  Let me say first, on a semi-related political note, that most pro-English stuff turns my stomach.  Bumper stickers and the like saying stuff like “I shouldn’t have to press 1 for English” and that sort of crap are the worst kind of ignorant and I think the people sporting nonsense like that should be reminded daily that all of their ancestors probably did not arrive in the United States speaking perfect English.  I also understand that stylistically, it plays a role here.  John Gray’s ability to speak Spanish paints him as an intelligent and street-smart leader.  Also, it smacks at true.  Spanish would be spoken much of the time under the circumstances in the novel.  However, my own lack of ability to understand all but the simplest of Spanish hampers my understanding of the plot.  Does McCarthy intend for me to read with a Spanish/English dictionary at my side?  Does he want to try and better me by teaching me a little Spanish?  Does he intend for his average reader to be somewhat in the dark?  Is the book written primarily for a bilingual audience?

If the intended affect is that the reader be somewhat in the dark, just as someone in the situation without the ability to understand Spanish would be in the dark, then it is a brilliant method, but most of the time I just get the feeling that McCarthy is just shoving it in my face that he can write Spanish and I can’t read it.  Any thoughts on that?

Going forward, I anticipate answers to some questions, especially as to Don Hector’s role in their ordeal with the authorities.  I also wonder if Perez, the powerful man of means from the prison, will make another appearance.  I predict we have also not seen the last of him.

Until next time,

Matt

All the Pretty Horses thru p. 135- Jake

What transpired in Texas to make John Grady Cole venture off into Mexico is not known, but I don't think that it was a crime. It is impossible to know what the trigger was, but I think that something his father did disgraced the family and being the heir to that name the young man became undesirable? Didn't he say at one point that in one sitting he won $26k. That is no small pot. I propose that his father got into some gambling debts, and his grandfather settled them; in doing so lost all of what could be profitable on the ranch. Additionally, in the first few pages the narrator points out that the last Cole died with the Grandfather. Not having an abbundance of male offspring, I unknowingly assume, would decrease a ranch's chances of success.This doesn't help me to understand why his mother wont entertain the idea of him running the ranch. When the two boys decide to break the horeses and La Purisima we clearly find out that he is more than capable and so is Rawlins.
In addition to the other many relationship questions I have about John Grady Cole, I am trouble in particular with the one regarding his mother. She seems to have no interest in the boy at all. She lets Luisa raise him while she is off acting and entertaining gentlemen callers. His father is clearly a delinquent, yet she doesn't appear to even attempt to take him along. Did either of you find it odd that when he went down to see her that he didn't even speak to her? I mean, sure, he went to the hotel, but seriously?
I would again like to take the opportunity to apologize for thinking that Rawlins was weak. He has proved himself to be a rock. I think that as far as refering to himself as 'dad' is only turning a phrase, I don't think that he is in anyway a father type to JGC. In fact I think that JGC is some kind of man child. You know, the type of kid that you went to high school with, who while you were still playing wiffle ball and worrying about chemistry tests he was learning about how the word really works. Anyway, back to Rawlins, why he is in this  is not clear. It seems that Rawlins comes from a decent background, after all he does have his own horse. I think the only logical choice for Mexico is that a man hunt will fall short at the border and thus enabling the boys to have a true adventure.
Blevins, I thought this kid was trouble from the start. He is good shot with the pistol, but I would not be surprised if it came out later that it was dumb luck that he hit the billfold dead center. As they get drunk on the cider he turns into a bit of a mental patient. I can't say that I was sad to see he chased away by the people he tries to get his horse back from, and I think that it was a smart choice to not go looking for him. Do you think that we will see him again?
This is draggin on a bit more than I had intended and would like to talk about the girl and the kind of trouble she poses. Especially after the boys broke the dozen plus horses in 4 days, thus endearing themselves to Don Hector. So I pose to the two of you what do you think will come of John Grady Cole's crush on the girl?

All the Pretty Horses through p.119 - Matt

I am glad the first selection for the club is a hit, and despite my early criticism I am hooked as well.  I suspect my mind was elsewhere and I was not as focused on the reading as I could have been through page 20, and that accounted for some of my early feelings about the writing style.  I am fully invested in the characters at this point, and I look forward to my next reading session to the point where household chores have begun to suffer.

I am still not willing to let McCarthy off the hook for the lack of quotation marks.  Ryan, are you saying that common Texas cowboy dialect does not have quotation marks so McCarthy should not either?  No dialects have quotation marks, they are a feature only of the written word, and regardless of the grammar-capabilities of Cowboys in general (by the way, I think it is unfair to paint them with a broad stroke), I think McCarthy is a writer, and therefore he should use quotation marks.  My discussion of ambiguity was only to point out what Cisneros said she was doing, and the only decent explanation I have ever heard for the omission of quotation marks.  I do not think ambiguity is the intended result of McCarthy, but I do think the lack of quotation marks results in ambiguity and takes away from the writing.

In regard to the passage you sighted, I took note of the passage you sighted as noteworthy on my first read as well.  I will not say that I immediately liked it as much as you, but I did notice it, and like it more now that you have highlighted it.

Here are a few questions I have at this point going forward.  As of page 119 we still do not what precipitated the trip to Mexico do we?  John Grady’s grandfather dies and his mother plans to turn the ranch into cash against the wishes of John Grady, but do we know why he had to go to Mexico?  Why not just work at the ranch next door, or another ranch in Texas, where his considerable abilities may have already been known?  I get the sense that some crime has been committed from their early morning departure, but is there anything to suggest what kind of crime?  Was a crime necessary to leave and why?  I would like to hear your thoughts.

Do you think McCarthy purposely leaves these questions unanswered to keep me turning the pages?  I do, and I think it is effective.

I am also interested in his relationship with Rawlins.  Why did Rawlins throw his lot in with John Grady, what is he leaving behind in Texas?  Why does Rawlins, on two occasions, once at the café in Texas and once where they bought the cider in Mexico, refer to himself as John Grady’s Dad?  Is that some kind if joke that I am missing or some kind of term of endearment?  Do you make anything of it?

Until next time-

Matt

All the Pretty Horses through p. 115 - Ryan

Apologies for my late arrival.    The old man is turning 65 and I blew into town for his shindig aboard an oversold Amtrak train seated across from a foul smelling dog.  I will not bore you with the details of an otherwise uneventful trip, so let’s dive right in…having never read anything by McCarthy, I was not sure what to expect, but being well aware of his reputation (and that of this book in particular) my expectations were high.  Thus far I have not been disappointed.  He sets the stage beautifully; I was immediately invested in the life of John Grady Cole.  Sorry fellas but this is already a “he had me at hello” type love affair with this novel.  Doubtful you’ll hear a critical word from me on the subject, should McCarthy continue to deliver as expected. 

What has struck me thus far is the manner in which the story will apparently unfold.  The unidentified narrator’s use of plain speak run-on thoughts, along with era appropriate aphorisms is an approach I find rather seductive; I find myself seemingly closer to the storyline than I imagine I would have otherwise been if the novel was conveyed using a more contemporary approach.  I’ve attributed the lack of punctuation and overall unconventional style to this fact – having never read anything else by McCarthy am I off base on this?  And I’m not buying the ambiguity rationale Matt postulated earlier, because he seems to insert just enough “so and so” said to stave off any real confusion as to attribution.

Are you both telling me that you guys didn’t climb aboard after seeing how McCarthy infuses this catch as catch can style with the use of rich metaphorical prose in describing the life of a ranch hand in Texas?

    

The boy who rode on slightly before him sat a horse not only as if he’d been born to it which he was but as if were he begot by malice or mischance into some queer land where horses never were he would have found them anyway.

That is slick.  Couple this with the way in which the context of the story unfolds not in the backdrop via the narrator, but through snippets of conversations between John Grady and his old man, or Rawlins, the lawyer – whoever – and we’ve got the makings of one hell of a yarn. 

Ryan

All the Pretty Horses through p. 1?? - Jake

At the on set of this book, knowing nothing of the plot, I thought it was going to be a soul searching adventure through a series of encounters and mishaps. Not the case, the boys get separated from Blevins who turns out to be a little bat shit crazy, did not see this coming, anyone else? Also falling into the ranch and JGC being singled out as the favorite to the Don Hector seems a little formulaic. Although the story is a good one and I am willing to overlook JGC's quick gaining of trust and favor, after all he is the main character. I would like to take this time to recant my statement about Lacey Rawlins being a weak person, he turns out to be a stalwart individual.

Carr?? Still looking for some input, I know you have read a considerable amount at this time.

All the Pretty Horses, through page 50- Jake

To begin, I echo Matt's thoughts regarding the western genre a story of horses and cowboys is no way to win my heart, but from the onset and the first glimmer of an intro to John Grady as a character it appears that this will be more than a western. The story as introduced is clearly focused on JGC and his relationship with his family, which appears to be strained although not clear why. In fact I read the first 12 pages twice. John Grady Cole also appears to be what the hippies refer to as an old 'soul.' This becomes more apparent as we figure that his dad is a gambling drinking delinquent and mother appears to have separated and found love elsewhere because of it. JGC also appears to be slightly tormented as well, he is quiet and reserved, but appears to have a lot on his mind. This is perhaps what spawns the trip to mexico with Rawlins, his best friend and his only friend?  Rawlins seems to be a bit of a fool, but not in a dangerous way; it is my opinion that when the going gets tough Rawlins will desert JGC, because he is weak. The trip could be a part of a scheme to get the family's 18k acre ranch profitable or it could be JGC's  search for himself. I am not sure what to make of Blevins as of yet, he appears ambivalent to both the two boys and the trip they are taking, but is going along all the same. Blevins could also be a liability on this trip, in a dangerous way. I am interested in what comes next for the trio in Mexico as it appears that Blevins can shoot a handgun (not a bad guy to have around) and JGC is the only one who appears to speak any Spanish. 


After reading Matt's post I think the lack of punctuation is a little annoying, but not too disturbing. I did find that after the ambiguity of the first handful of pages the following pages were much more clear. I think that McCarthy's lack of clarity in the onset of the book helps to define the mind set of the young JGC, he is only 16.


-Jake

All the Pretty Horses- through page 20, Matt

I dove in last before I went to bed, and I have a few thoughts.  It took nearly twenty pages before I really wanted to read more, but at this point I am hooked and I am looking forward to returning to the book and to John Grady Cole.

I find the reading to this point to be laborious.  I often finish a sentence, especially a longer one (of which there are plenty real whoppers) only to find myself wondering what the hell the sentence was about.  This necessary review is one reason beyond my own tiredness of why I am only to page twenty.  Perhaps the problem is mine more than McCarthy’s, but I am more of the school that great writing does not have to be confusing, and the best writing is almost certainly not.  I look forward to your points of view, and whether you also find the reading laborious or if the problem lies mostly with me.

The lack of punctuation, particularly quotation marks, is a major complaint I have.  In my college writing workshops, leaving out the quotation marks seemed en vogue amongst my classmates, who seemed to do it solely because they were in their first free thinking writing workshop setting and there was no longer a high school English teacher to put them in with a red pen.  I did not like it then and I do not like it now.  I am no grammar expert, which I am sure will become abundantly clear to anybody reading this with regularity, or a stickler for perfect grammar.  I do feel though, that if you are going to break a rule of grammar on purpose (I assume that McCarthy is familiar with quotation marks and their omission was not an oversight), you should have a good reason for doing so.  I wonder what McCarthy’s reason is, and I have ever heard only one good one for their omission.  In Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street she does not use quotation marks, and she wrote in an introduction to a later release that they were omitted to purposely leave ambiguity in who said what.  The ambiguity exists, and it is real, and Cisneros wants the reader to decide who is saying what when there is more than one option.  That explanation makes sense to me, and I think it works in the vignettes because there is not a tradition plot you need to follow.  By omitting the quotation marks, McCarthy creates ambiguity and it adds to the laboriousness of reading his already verbose prose.

I thought it started slow, the lack of quotation marks is driving me slowly mental, and I find it tough to slog through at times, but all that being said, the bottom line is that I am looking forward to picking it up again.
Until Next Time,
Matt

On the Selection of All the Pretty Horses

For the first book of Guys Who Read, I have selected All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.  I settled on the highly acclaimed novel because it came highly recommended by a few English teachers at Nantucket High, and how that recommendation came about is worth mentioning.

I am a huge Larry McMurtry fan.  As a junior at Nantucket High, Lonesome Dove was assigned, and luckily, the teacher was intimidating enough that I actually read the thousand-plus pages, although I think I was totally hooked after about ten.  After I finished Lonesome Dove, I went on to read The Streets of Laredo, Dead Man’s Walk and Commanche Moon, and have been a lover of anything Lonesome Dove every since.  I was always a reader, even as a youngster, but McMurtry is probably responsible for kicking my reading addiction into high gear.  In the past couple years, I have been working my way through McMurtry’s other works, including selecting The Last Picture Show for the book club I am in with the Nantucket High English Department.

All the Pretty Horses has been part of the Nantucket High curriculum for a number of years, and a number of them agreed that I would like the works of Cormac McCarthy, and in particular, All the Pretty Horses.  Contrary to appearances thus far, I am not a big western guy.  I certainly do not dislike them, but neither do I search out books with cowboys and horses.  I regard Lonesome Dove as a great book that happens to be a western, and not as a great western.  I point this out merely as a way of saying the McCarthy has big shoes to fill having been compared to McMurtry and the presense of horses and other things western is not a surefire way of endearing me to his work.

A major contributing factor to starting Guys Who Read is that in recent years, I have read a number of great books, and upon finishing a great book, I immediately want to discuss it, and most of the time that has not been possible.  I look forward to revisiting some of these great reads with Ryan and Jake and Guys Who Read, but for our first selection, and as we begin blogging for the first time, I think starting out with something that is new to everybody is somehow more appropriate.

I am looking forward to the book and the conversation,

-Matt