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Jason Koivu's Reviews > All the Pretty Horses
All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, #1)
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by
This western of new antiquity flows with a horse's grace and bursts into furious and powerful charges. McCarthy's pen grazes upon lush words. His verbs gallop, his adjectives whinny and snort. There is a subdued, wild loneliness. The populous within the pages wander like herds or rally in a tense, motionless pack ready to pounce, while mere boys -more man than most- wander through them ready for love, ready for death.
These characters breath and sweat and bleed. The reader comes to know the true color of their blood. It flows down their filthy boots into a landscape vivid with an encompassing spectrum not seen in The Road. Here, the travelers cross the land and the land touches their painfully real feet, and from there a current spreads out, electrifying the hardscrabble Mexican countryside.
Kick the dust and sand off these words. Dig in and glory in their life-giving beauty.
Review Appendix: There's a band I've recently come across who write the kind of music that would make for a wonderful soundtrack to McCarthy's Border Trilogy. The Division Men (a husband and wife duo) play a music that sounds like Leonard Cohen lost in the desert. Take a listen: http://divisionmen.bandcamp.com/track...
Listen to the whole album Under The Gun here: http://divisionmen.bandcamp.com/album...
These characters breath and sweat and bleed. The reader comes to know the true color of their blood. It flows down their filthy boots into a landscape vivid with an encompassing spectrum not seen in The Road. Here, the travelers cross the land and the land touches their painfully real feet, and from there a current spreads out, electrifying the hardscrabble Mexican countryside.
Kick the dust and sand off these words. Dig in and glory in their life-giving beauty.
Review Appendix: There's a band I've recently come across who write the kind of music that would make for a wonderful soundtrack to McCarthy's Border Trilogy. The Division Men (a husband and wife duo) play a music that sounds like Leonard Cohen lost in the desert. Take a listen: http://divisionmen.bandcamp.com/track...
Listen to the whole album Under The Gun here: http://divisionmen.bandcamp.com/album...
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Reading Progress
March 24, 2013
– Shelved
August 4, 2013
–
Started Reading
August 7, 2013
–
Finished Reading
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Trudi wrote: "Great review. This trilogy has been on my to-read list for a long time. Maybe after Lonesome Dove. I think it would be a marvelous study of stark contrasts.Also this: "music that sounds like Leon..."
Yes to everything you said, Trudi!
Matthew wrote: "Well that was poetic :)"I would say thank you if I didn't have such an aversion to poetry. Ah hell, thanks anyway!
Miriam wrote: "Nice track."They've got a good sound, if you're in the mood for moody.
So I promised myself a third McCarthy book - you've just made this a contender, Jason. I'll look up the band, too. Thanks.
Andrew wrote: "So I promised myself a third McCarthy book - you've just made this a contender, Jason. I'll look up the band, too. Thanks."Just put the music on and imagine yourself out there on the plains. This book's a scene setter.
Sounds interesting - I'll give it a try!
Jason wrote: "Andrew wrote: "So I promised myself a third McCarthy book - you've just made this a contender, Jason. I'll look up the band, too. Thanks."Just put the music on and imagine yourself out there on t..."
Hey, have you ever watched the Lord Huron videos that are done as a loosely connected film?
Miriam wrote: "Jason wrote: "Andrew wrote: "So I promised myself a third McCarthy book - you've just made this a contender, Jason. I'll look up the band, too. Thanks."Just put the music on and imagine yourself ..."
No, but that sounds intriguing! I'll check it out.
My fave is the one that's like a spaghetti western with subtitles in some language I don't recognize (Farsi?).
You can lead a metaphor to water...
Just goes to show one never knows from whence their next -- spot on -- music recommendation will come.Thanks!
Also this: "music that sounds like Leonard Cohen lost in the desert"
Oh yeah. Gonna Spotify these Division Men right now.