Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Mccarthy's trilogy was eye opening, depressing, and filled me with a new sense of respect for all the cowboys then and now. The books were about self revelations, friendships, differences in cultures, but most of all survival.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as other reviewers say...
Review: Okay, I'll start this review by saying that I'm glad I read this trilogy. However, I don't understand the 5-star ratings. McCarthy's writing is inaccurate. It's one thing to put poor grammar and incomplete ideas in the uneducated speech of the protagonists, but when the descriptions include these errors, it's quite disturbing. He LOVES subject pronouns (HE, SHE, etc) and at times the reader has no idea who "HE" is. The writing is surprisingly unclear at times, peppered with incomplete sentences. Also, the writing is full of Spanish sentences that he does not explain to the non-Spanish speaking reader. I speak Spanish, so this didn't bother me. However, the poor and inaccurate Spanish grammar in the mouths of Spanish speakers did.
Here is my breakdown of each of the novels:1) ALL THE PRETTY HORSES: I enjoyed the story, but the conclusion was weak and not convincing. 2) THE CROSSING: By far the most annoying of the three books. The random episodes, the ambiguity of characters, the philosophical meanderings of certain characters, and the stark and long descriptive passages were almost too much to handle. The first 100+ pages are about Billy and a wolf! Needless to say, not a very exciting beginning. 3) CITIES OF THE PLAINS: The fastest-paced story of the three and the most engaging. The novel's conclusion, however, is ruined by a HORRIBLE 25-page epilogue that mirrors the long, philosophical "meaning of life" passages that doom THE CROSSING. Without this ending, the plot of this novel is the most exciting.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as other reviewers say...
Review: Okay, I'll start this review by saying that I'm glad I read this trilogy. However, I don't understand the 5-star ratings. McCarthy's writing is inaccurate. It's one thing to put poor grammar and incomplete ideas in the uneducated speech of the protagonists, but when the descriptions include these errors, it's quite disturbing. He LOVES subject pronouns (HE, SHE, etc) and at times the reader has no idea who "HE" is. The writing is surprisingly unclear at times, peppered with incomplete sentences. Also, the writing is full of Spanish sentences that he does not explain to the non-Spanish speaking reader. I speak Spanish, so this didn't bother me. However, the poor and inaccurate Spanish grammar in the mouths of Spanish speakers did.
Here is my breakdown of each of the novels: 1) ALL THE PRETTY HORSES: I enjoyed the story, but the conclusion was weak and not convincing. 2) THE CROSSING: By far the most annoying of the three books. The random episodes, the ambiguity of characters, the philosophical meanderings of certain characters, and the stark and long descriptive passages were almost too much to handle. The first 100+ pages are about Billy and a wolf! Needless to say, not a very exciting beginning. 3) CITIES OF THE PLAINS: The fastest-paced story of the three and the most engaging. The novel's conclusion, however, is ruined by a HORRIBLE 25-page epilogue that mirrors the long, philosophical "meaning of life" passages that doom THE CROSSING. Without this ending, the plot of this novel is the most exciting.
Rating:
Summary: music of solitude, or the human condition?
Review: Reading this trilogy is a defining experience for anyone who has spent time face to face with the pensive Southwestern border landscape, or for anyone attuned to human solitude in various forms. I am particularly fascinated by the sparse, seemingly inarticulate dialogues. They generate a poetic rhythm rarely found in contemporary literature, a dazzling game of improvization against dark backgrounds. As a musician and immigrant from Europe (at odds with some current literary mannerisms) I find McCarthy's style powerful, pure, and highly stimulating.
Rating:
Summary: Tex Mex - don't you just love it!
Review: The abbreviated dialogue - reduced to monsylabic certainty - and the monumentality of the cowboys' actions mirror the unchanging landscape and eternal values of life, death and love. Meanwhile McCarthy's endless, slow, rythmic sentences sweep the mind like the desert wind. I just ache to ride the warm night, slim inamorata behind me in the saddle.
Rating:
Summary: Over the Border
Review: The books of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy have been well received individually, and yet none of them has been received well-enough... What we have in these three books are three works of genius, vivid, thrilling, heartbreaking, individual stories of astounding specificity and realism which nevertheless pull larger stories, the story of the American West, the story of unspoiled wilderness, the story of our own national romanticism, along with them. The protagonists are boys in love with the land, in love with an ascetic live on it, who are forced, through the series of stories, to watch that land change and whither and grow tame and bland. The boys quarrel, fall in love. They are prey to violence, to loss. They are, for the most part, taciturn, and yet McCarthy's extraordinary skill puts meaning into what they do not say, their silences, their gestures. I have read the first two books twice. I have not re-read the third yet because I have not recovered emotionally. But the reading of that third started a chemical reaction that made it seem as though I had read the first two a third time, and brought a new, fuller meaning to all my literary experiences with the trilogy. A great stylist, a superb story-teller, a poet, and a profound psychologist, McCarthy is, in my opinion, the best writer in America. I see him viewed and admired, in fifty years, as Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald are now. I would like to be one person who gets a jump on this eventuality. PG
Rating:
Summary: A Reread!
Review: The first time I read All the Pretty Horses, Volume I of the Border Trilogy, I read it so fast because the suspense was overwhelming to me. As soon as I finished the last page, I reread it - much slower and enjoyed the facinating language which Cormac McCarthy uses to describe and explain. He literally paints a picture for you to visualize in your mind. I can hardly wait to read the next two volumes.
Rating:
Summary: The best novels with a sense of place since Faulkner.
Review: These three novels should establish Cormac McCarthy as a worthy inheritor of the mantle worn by William Faulkner. The first, All The Pretty Horses is probably the best because it introduces John Grady Cole, who should join the ranks of legendary fictional heroes. His story is concluded in Cities of the Plain the last of the trilogy which contains an account of a knife fight that is almost unbearable in it intensity. The second novel,The Crossing is in my opinion, the weakest of the three,although the first 100 or so pages which describe the relationship between a boy and a wolf he has trapped is as good as anything in the trilogy. McCarthys description of ranch life on the New Mexico-Mexico border in the 1940s and early '50s is so pure that one can almost feel the icy wind as it cuts through the characters as they ride south to meet their fate in old Mexico. This is a great book and Cormac McCarthy is among the greatest novelists of our time.
Rating:
Summary: one of the most powerful set of books I have read.
Review: This set of novels is an unbelievable adventure with characters that are finely drawn. I do not know how anyone could walk away from this set and not love John Grady Cole. He is an American folk hero of outstanding proportions. The author's use of language is a thing of beauty. Everyone should read these novels.
Rating:
Summary: All the pretty language
Review: We loved every word of it. Nobody paints a picture like this man. As a long time San Antonio resident and Texas native, however, I can say that I have never known it to snow in San Antonio a full six inches as described in the book. San Angelo, yes, San Antonio, no.
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