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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/469571.All_the_Pretty_Horses?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy, Vol 1)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1204745310m/469571.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/469571.All_the_Pretty_Horses?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">All the Pretty Horses</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4178.Cormac_McCarthy">Cormac McCarthy</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3453534?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>All the Pretty Horses is a beautiful and brutal book told in a simple, matter-of-fact tone, and it marks my first encounter with Cormac McCarthy. A friend of mine told me before I'd read it that McCarthy continues in the masculine tradition of Hemingway and Melville, and I agree that this is an apt comparison. John Grady Cole, the central character in this novel, is the strong silent type, who lives by a the code of honor with which he was raised on his grandfather's cattle ranch (a code which prepares him for the difficulties he is faced with after setting out with a friend to look for work in Mexico) but which has not yet come to full maturity through life experience. <br/> <br/>Essentially, what we have here is a coming of age tale set against a vivid and breathtaking landscape, and a violent background of lawlessness, betrayal and murder. The central themes are made clear in a speech involving an older Mexican woman (the aunt of the girl Cole falls in love with) near the end of the book, and it boils down to the rather simplistic but no less important idea that in order to survive, one must be willing to kill or be killed, but in order to be able to appreciate the beauty this world has to offer, one cannot sacrifice his humanity in the process. Although the woman ultimately rejects Cole as a suitable suitor for her neice, he is the embodiment of these principles. He, much like the book he carries, is thoughtful but not verbose and intelligent without being flashy, and like the novel, a reader can't help but admire him and his journey to adulthood. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/156760?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>