All the Pretty Horses Fifth Reading

For this fifth reading I read from page 132 to page 180.  This section was much sadder than the others I have read.  The first part is about John Grady and Alejandra’s relationship and that ends rather sadly, at least at this point in the story, for John Grady because Alejandra leaves to go to France.  The story takes its first real serious turn when John Grady and Rawlins are arrested.  They are taken out to the town where Blevins took back his horse and are actually reunited with Blevins there.  The police captain doesn’t believe anything they tell him.  Blevins, unfortunately, is in prison for killing some people.  According to Mexican law, there can be no executions as punishments for crimes.  This would be good for Blevins except the captain agrees to help out the brother of a man Blevins killed.  Blevins, John Grady, and Rawlins are taken out to an abandoned place and Blevins is murdered.  I never really cared for Blevins, but this part made me quite sad.  Although I didn’t like him much, I became somewhat attached to this character and was upset that he was killed.

All the Pretty Horses Fourth Reading

For this fourth reading I read from the start of part two to the break on page 132.  While John Grady first sees Alejandra in the first part of the book, it is in this reading that a relationship starts to form between them.  John Grady and Rawlins begin breaking horses and John Grady gets a promotion. And although he doesn’t say it, I think that Rawlins is a little upset that he and his friend are becoming more separated with John Grady moving out of the bunk house.  He’s a good friend though and tells John Grady to take the promotion.

On the note of style, something I noticed before but am going to point out now because it occurs in this reading is that McCarthy has people come into the story or mentioned in dialogue throughout the story but does not outright explain who they are.  This makes the reader feel more like he or she is in the story, experiencing things as they are happening in the lives of the characters because in life there is no narration to explain everything you don’t understand.

All the Pretty Horses Part One 20 Questions

1. Setting - In what time period does the story take place?
2. Character - Why does John Grady smoke if he gets upset about his dad smoking?
3. Action - Why won't John Grady's mom lease her ranch to him?
4. Action - Why did John Grady hide from his mom in the hotel lobby?
5. Action - Why does John Grady tell his dad "You ain't got no business smokin them things" on page 8?
6. Character - On page 15, why does John Grady's dad look so skinny and "agonized" as he paces?
7. Action - What happened between John Grady and Mary Catherine?
8. Style - Why does Cormac McCarthy not use quotation marks?
9. Style - Why does McCarthy use run-on sentences?
10. Action - Does Rawlins have a reason for leaving Texas othe rthan being company for John Grady?
11. Action - Do the Mexicans chasing Blevins catch him?
12. Action - Why do the wax makers want to trade for Blevins?
13. Action - Why do John Grady and Rawlins allow Blevins to travel with them?
14. Character - Is Blevins' name really Jimmy Blevins?
15. Action - Why don't the boys try asking for Blevins' horse back before trying to steal it back?
16. Action - Did as many people in Blevins' family get struck by lightning as he says did?
17. Action - On page 94, when the girl passes, why does John Grady continue to stare the direction in which she went even when she's out of sight?
18. Action - Why doesn't John Gardy answer right away when the wax makers ask if he wants to sell Blevins?
19. Character - Why does Rawlins dislike Blevins as much as he does?
20. Action - Will Blevins find the other boys again or vice versa?

True Grit

On the note of Westerns, I saw the new True Grit movie about a week ago.  I haven't seen the original so I can't compare this new one to it, but I thoguht the movie was pretty good.  Jeff Bridges did a nice job as the tough, one-eyed U.S. marshall "Rooster" Cogburn.  There was plenty of adventuring and old Western justice, and I'd recommend seeing it.

All the Pretty Horses Second Reading

My second reading of All the Pretty Horses was from page 30 to page 59.  I’m really liking the book now.  John Grady and Rawlins are on their journey to Mexico.  I’m not quite sure what they hope to find there, but I guess they probably just want to get away from the problems at home.  A new major character, Jimmy Blevins, joins the quest in this section.  John Grady doesn’t seem to care much about him though does defend him once.  Rawlings on the other hand dislikes him, as can be seen by his talking down to him and calling him names.  At this point Rawlings is my favorite character. He’s funny and he’s a lot less serious than John Grady, though I’ve nothing against him.  In contrast I find Blevins to be overconfident, too prideful, and rather annoying. 

Since my last reading I’ve gotten a lot more used to McCarthy’s style.  Not using quotation marks for dialogue has a cool effect because it feels like the story flows more smoothly because there is less separation between narrative and dialogue.  It also makes you feel more involved in the story than if there were quotation marks.  I’m not totally sure why but I think it does. Anyway the story is getting good and I’m excited to see what will come next.

All the Pretty Horses First Reading

So I just read to the break on page thirty in All the Pretty Horses.  The story hasn’t been all that interesting so.  The protagonist, John Grady Cole, and his dad are sad; reasons for this include the recent divorce of Joe’s parents and the recent death of Joe’s grandfather.  It’s only at the very end of this reading section that things appear to be getting good as he and his friend Rawling are to be about to start an adventure of some sort.  That should be cool.  The characters’ dialect is nice because it effectively characterizes them as Texans.  The lack of quotations was a little difficult to get used to, but it is an interesting technique, somewhat blending the dialogue in with the rest of the text.  Also, many pronouns are used where it would be clearer to use actual names.  This makes it somewhat hard to understand what is happens at times but can actually add an air of mystery to conversations between characters when this occurs in the things they are saying.