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