"The desert he rode was red and red the dust he raised, the small dust that powdered the legs of the horse he rode, the horse he led."
Have you ever chosen a book for it's title? Cormac McCarthy's book All the Pretty Horses did just that. It beckoned me to read it. Even before opening the pages I was humming the folk song bearing the same name.
John Grady, the main character, was a naive young cowboy who experienced love, pain, and struggle over his chosen companions. He yearned for a simple life where he could work, love, and co-exist with his horses. Instead he discovered a world of jealousy and deceit. A world that was not so simple.
Mr. McCarthy's words painted a world where life was concurrently moving quickly and slowly. As a reader I felt as if I were watching an independent western film where life seemed simple on the surface. Where cowboys and horses could simply exist without worry. A place where the horses set life’s pace. Where horses were not just property but lifelong companions.
This blog was written in concurrence with the National Book Awards 60th year anniversary.
