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  • All the Pretty Horses

  • The Border Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Cormac McCarthy
  • Narrated by: Frank Muller
  • Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (165 ratings)

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All the Pretty Horses

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Frank Muller
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Publisher's Summary

John Grady Cole is the last bewildered survivor of long generations of Texas ranchers. Finding himself cut off from the only life he has ever wanted, he sets out for Mexico with his friend, Lacey Rawlins.

Befriending a third boy on the way, they find a country beyond their imagining: barren and beautiful, rugged yet cruelly civilised.... A place where dreams are paid for in blood.

©1992 Cormac McCarthy (P)1992 Recorded Books Inc

Critic Reviews

"One of the greatest American novels of this or any time." ( Guardian)
"A darkly shining work...executed with consummate skill and much subtlety - the effect is magnificent." ( Observer)
"An exhilarating, exceptional novel." ( Spectator)

What listeners say about All the Pretty Horses

Average Customer Ratings
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Outstanding

I don’t have the skill to write a review deserving of this book.
Extraordinary, heartbreaking, brutal and raw.
I am forever changed.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Profound and poetic.

Cormac McCarthy writes with passion and uses language which is deeply poetic. This is a beautiful novel.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Exceptional, beautiful

I couldn’t recommend this book more. Exquisitely written, masterfully read. Harrowing, but impossible not to admire.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I loved "No country for old men". I realise that I shouldn't expect a re run of that book, but I was exceedingly disappointed with this. I am sure that it is well written, but the story tends to ramble and lacks any pace or direction. This may be an attraction for some people but doesn't hold my attention. I am a couple of hours in and unlikely to finish the book unless I run out of other stuff to read or listen to. Thinking of returning this.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • MD
  • 21-06-2023

5*

A saga of love, tragedy, loss, rejection and honour. The style is signature McCarthy, spare and elegant. A masterpiece, brilliantly narrated.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Better late than never

Finally got to listen to this evocative postwar tale of discovery, love and jeopardy in the border lands of the US and Mexico. Beautifully narrated. Close your eyes (if you can) saddle up and immerse your self in MacCarthy’s brilliance. You won’t be disappointed.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Aesthetically beautiful, enrapturing

A beautifully written novel delivered very well. When someone writes as literally as McCarthy it needs, in my view, an American accent. I am dying to get to the second in this trilogy.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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a book that will keep you home from work

always a good read, hard to find a bad book in the collection. best trilogy ever written

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

A meo no speako spanish

I didn't realise how much Spanish was in it but stuck with it good anyway

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • ST
  • 21-05-2021

This book made me a fan

All the Pretty Horses is a masterpiece. It totally sold me on McCarthy and I've enjoyed several of his books since. It tells the tale of two Texas cowboys and their coming of age journey into Mexico. McCarthy injects this somewhat simple setting with great power and majesty. It's not a perfect book and sections of it do drag a little, but overall the story will leave you with something to chew on once you're done reading.

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