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