Book Review: Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy



I finally got around to reading the third and final book of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy.  (Cormac McCarthy also wrote No Country for Old Men.)



First, was All the Pretty Horses.  In this book, the main character, 16 year old John Grady Cole, runs away after his grandfather dies and he learns the family ranch is going to be sold.  He heads south to Mexico with his buddy, Lacey Rawlins, where he experiences things that most grown men could not handle.  It is a tragic, deep, adventurous, slightly dark, and sometimes funny (especially that Belvins) coming of age story. You can't help but absolutely adore John Grady. 

I loved this book.  The prose is beautiful, the characters are deep, and the story makes you feel something.  The boys lifestlye is so simple, yet complicated and very different than my own.  They lived day to day with what was in there pocket and on there back.  There is omething about living off the land and calling no place home that is romantic and appealing.



Second, was The Crossing.  The plot had no connection to All the Pretty Horses.  Although, it was another coming of age tale set in the southwest and Mexico, it is the story of Billy Parham and brother Boyd.  They set out for Mexico to retrieve their family's stolen horses, surely unaware of the perils they will face. 

Being that I only have a sister, I have always been intrigued by the relationship of brothers. The relationship of Billy and Boyd wass what I can only expect is typical of a set of 16 and 14 year old boys.  While All the Pretty Horses was tragic, the Crossing took tragedy to a whole new level.  Think Hardy Boys meets Legends of the Falls meets the southwest.



The final installment of the trilogy was Cities of the Plain.  John Grady Cole (of All the Pretty Horses ) and Billy Parham (of the Crossing) are working on a ranch together.  Where each character was between the end of their respective stories and Cities of the Plain is never revealed to the reader, which frustrated me greatly. 

The story again was set in the southwest (New Mexico this time) and Mexico.  John Grady falls in love with a 14 year old girl who works in a Mexican whore house.  They are in love, and he will do whatever it takes to marry her and give her a better life.

I was highly disappointed in this book.  The plot was weak.  There were lots of characters whose names I could not keep straight who played no real role in the story.  John Grady was completely irrational; I think he was meant to be potrayed as romantic, but I found him insane.  And the ending was anticlimatic and shocking (Yes, I realize anticlimactic and shocking are almost antonyms, but trust me, it was both).  I didn't expect it to end happily ever after, but really?!  After investing so much in both characters, I was thoroughly disappointed with the outcomes of their lives.

McCarthy's writing style was beautiful and similar to the first two books of the trilogy, but the story itself was lackluster.  If I had read Cities of the Plain first, I doubt I would have picked up any other works by McCarthy. 

While I don't recommend Cities of the Plain, I still highly recommend All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing.

Have you ever been disappointed by the end of a series?

Book Review: A Stolen Life

I finished "A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard this weekend.

Wow.  What this woman went through is unfathomable.  Even while reading the detailed account, it is hard to imagine that this was real. 

It was a very easy read written from Jaycee's point of view.  She goes through details of her life, from the day she was kidnapped until the day she was rescued.  While she talks about how she felt durning the days of her captivity and rescue, it feels a bit disconnected.  She focuses more on the actual events than her emotional journey.

The biggest life lesson I took from the book was that the easy and comfortable thing isn't always the best thing for us.  After 18 years, Jaycee's entire world was her backyard prison.  It was hell, but it was how she grew up and all she knew.  She was convinced by her manipulative captor that the outside world was dangerous and evil, so even though her situation was miserable, she was complaisant.

She writes about how terrified but happy she was during and after the rescue, but does not elaborate extensively on how she felt about the separation from her kidnappers.  Jaycee had never provided for herself.  She was dependent on her kidnappers for everything in life for 18 years, so you have to wonder exactly how terrified, upset, happy, and sad she was to separate from them.

Jaycee is inspirational.  She is not angry and does not focus on the past, because she knows she cannot change it.  She is focused on healing, recovering, and the future for herself and her daughters.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has curiousities about this case.  It answered a lot of questions I had, but also led to more questions. 

I have to admit, since I started reading this book, I have been a little paranoid about going out and about by myself.  Every run, I have thought about that innocent little 11 year old girl who was walking to the bus, like she did everday, and was stolen.

Book Nerd Alert

I am supposed to be reading Jaycee Duggard's book for book club. But when we met and decided on that book, I was in the middle of "Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy.

 

I took me about 3 months total to finish this book.  It was recommended by a friend who was a literature major.  He said it was his favorite book, a must read, and loaned it to me along with a stack of other books. 

I understand why he enjoyed it.  It was one of those "make you contemplate life" books.  The book questions where we get our sense of right and wrong.  Does society dictate morality? Does the church? Is it how our parents raise us? Or is it something inate? 

This is something I had thought about before.  And something I still can't answer.

The story was very sad and depressing.  The prose was a bit wordy and drowsy at times, also.  But I finally finished!  Mostly because I wouldn't let myself move on to my next book without finishing, and I wanted to start on the Jaycee Duggard book.

Book #2

Then, someone at work was talking about this great book she read about the Lutcher Stark family from Orange, Texas. She had it on her desk and offered it to me.  I could not resist, because it sounded so good.  I hate to keep loaned books for too long, so I wanted to finish this one before I started the Jaycee Duggard book.

"If the Devil Had a Wife" by Frank Mills is a true story about the grandaughter of L.J. Stark's journey to uncover the family history.  I'm sure everyone from East Texas and West Louisiana has heard the names Lutcher and Stark.

At one point, they were the richest family in the South, with their fortune coming from timber on both sides of the Sabine River.  They had so many skeletons in their closet, the closet could have been a graveyard.  Deciet, murder, fraud, money laundering, DNA tests, lesbianism, theft.  You name the drama, their famiy had it. And its a true story!

This book further convinced me that money can be a curse.  When you have money, people will stop at no cost to get a cut of the pie.  The only heirs to a Texas dynasty were deprived of their inheritance and their relationship with their father because of one greedy, manipulative, awful woman.

I recommend everyone read this book.  At times, it was a bit hard to follow all the legal jargin, but overall a great story of a granddaughter trying to expose the truth.  It would make a great movie!

Finally

So I am finally going to start Jaycee Duggard's "A Stolen Life."  Tropical storm Lee has brought perfect reading weather!

Have you read any good books lately?