Cities of the Plain

The novel starts with a bunch of young cowboys in the American southwest — just after World War II — volubly choosing whores in a tavern-cum-bordello. That image evokes the cities of the title, which were in the end, it should be observed, destroyed by God. This is the last volume of a border trilog......more

The Border Trilogy – Part 3 of 3 In this final novel of The Border Trilogy, both John Grady Cole and Billy Parham are working at Mac Ranch, owned by a fellow named McGovern. Everyone calls him Mac, and all the cowboys on the ranch know that their time together appears to be limited as the government......more

Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy is a masterfully crafted conclusion to the Border Trilogy, blending lyrical prose with profound themes of love, loss, and fate. McCarthy's writing is hauntingly beautiful, immersing readers in a stark, yet deeply human world. The characters are rich and complex......more

For me the least successful of the trilogy though there was still much to love. This brings back the central characters of books one and two. It's essentially a love story. John Grady Cole falls in love with a young girl who suffers from epilepsy and works in a Mexican brothel. His aim to rescue and......more

A Real Cowboy Never Sells His Horse Billy, from “The Crossing,’ is older now and is working on a ranch in Southeastern New Mexico. The year is 1952. John Grady, a character from maybe “All the Pretty Horses,” is there too. Ranch work can be interesting, that is, if you only talk about the interesting......more