All the Pretty Horses

In early September I read All the Pretty Horses, the first in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. Being McCarthy, the novel has its gory moments, to be sure, and some of those unfortunate scenes remain with me. But mostly I’m left with an overwhelming sense of awe at the beauty of the (non-gory) prose. Certain scenes, beautifully evocative ones, keep returning to me as well. Here are three short passages that capture just a bit of what makes this book so special:

1. Conversation with a horse
"The horse had a good natural gait and as he rode he talked to it and told it things about the world that were true in his experience and he told it things he thought could be true to see how they would sound if they were said."

2. Rumination about life's joys and sorrows
"He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activities in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they’d have no heart to start at all."

3. A desert sunset
"The last of the day’s light fanned slowly upon the plain behind him and withdrew again down the edges of the world in a cooling blue of shadow and dusk and chill and a few last chitterings of birds sequestered in the dark and wiry brush."