Jaline's Reviews > All the Pretty Horses

The Border Trilogy – Part 1 of 3

His name is John Grady Cole and he is 16 years old. His world shifted and changed radically from what he knew and what he expected while growing up in San Angelos, Texas. He and his best friend Lacey Rawlins (17) decide to ride to Mexico and see if they can find work on a ranch.

On their way there, a younger boy, possibly 14 (although he lay claim to 16 years) named Jimmy Blevins joins them, although neither is particularly keen to have the fellow along. For starters, his name is the same as a preacher on the radio so the two older boys doubt that he even gave them his real name. He also has a large, expensive looking horse.

However, they appear to be stuck with him – until a series of incidents splits them up. Shrouded in the black thunderheads the distant lightning glowed mutely like welding seen through foundry smoke. As if repairs were under way at some flawed place in the iron dark of the world. Both the younger boy and his big horse happen to have a huge fear of lightning.

All three of the young men meet up again a few weeks later, but their circumstances are much harsher than the rough living of their journey. They do meet some characters along the way, and they all have stories: Buddy when he come back from up in the panhandle told me one time it quit blowin up there and all the chickens fell over. John Grady also falls hopelessly in love with his boss’ daughter and she with him. This is yet another event that converged with others to result in all three young men struggling to stay alive.

This story is set mostly in Mexico in 1949-1950 and is jam-packed with action, adventure, and misadventure. The writing is excellent and its pace is well suited to the story: it takes an ambling gait through parts of the story interspersed with wild gallops in-between. Again, there is no punctuation to show when people are talking, and at times I was compelled to pay attention to context to know who was actually talking. Another hurdle for me is that several conversations take place in Spanish; however, I took it as a given that the summary of those conversations followed in the ever-moving flow of the story.

I cared very much for the characters in this book and found empathy in my heart for pretty much everyone. Although none of the boys ‘come of age’ in this novel, it felt to me like they had already done so years before. Their lifestyle wasn’t the easiest choice in the world, but it was one they chose to do their best at. And who am I to say they didn’t succeed?