Two boyhood friends, sixteen years old John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins, seventeen, head out from Texas over the border into Mexico in search of a life that is fast disappearing at home, the life of the cowboy. They are soon joined by a wild young boy who calls himself Jimmy Blevins; they tolerate Jimmy's company despite their fears that he will bring nothing but trouble.

The story follows their progress through Mexico, and the troubles that inevitably come their way. It is a story of the friendship of the two boys, of their quest for adventure, of John Grady's love of horses, of teenage love that cannot be. It is a story about the West and Mexico. It is a story filled with drama, of loss, retribution and redemption.

Cormac McCarthy's sparse prose initially seems lacking in emotion, and for a while the characters seem as remote from the reader as they appear to each other, but after a short while the reader is drawn in by the mood of starkness and we then see the depth of the two boys' friendship, their trust, loyalty and integrity. McCarthy's economy of prose extends to minimal use of punctuation. Sentences, often lengthy, are unbroken by commas, and quotation marks are not used for speech. Some of the dialogue is in Spanish, but this does not hinder the understanding.

All the Pretty Horses is a story with a beauty all its own; at times it is harrowing, even disturbing, but always gripping, and one cannot but feel for these two decent boys. It is a moving and rewarding read.

To Pakistan

got it in mail today with an awesome postcard :P